Hypocrisy of Tory attacks on strike ballots

IT is very easy to hoist Coun Barry Anderson, of the Leeds Conservative Group, with his own petard (The Yorkshire Post, July 16). He rails against trade unions which strike on the basis of 20 per cent support, whilst overlooking the fact that his party leader David Cameron is in No 10 on the votes of similar levels of support at a general election with 60 per cent turnout and a third or so of this going to each large party. Even so, he does well to imply that a better level of visible commitment would boost democracy, even though abstentions may denote satisfaction with the leadership on offer. This also applies to shareholders’ turnout at company meetings.

Last week I, at 86, was happy to join our librarians’ peaceful picket and to join the NUT contingent in the huge procession at the annual Durham Miners’ Gala, where 150,000 citizens gathered to “Rise like lions after slumber in unvanquishable number” (Shelley). Honest citizens have been held to a one per cent increment while I and all pensioners – and financiers – are fully protected from the cuts which drive one family in six to moneylenders. Teachers aren’t mere childminders.