Outside it is rainy, grey and ‘mild’, the latter of which isn’t actually that bad for this time of year so we can’t complain. Although we have no need for complaint anyway, because the sun is shining in the Biteback offices. Last night’s Newsnight was our night.
This week’s keyword has undoubtedly been ‘strike’, touching the lips of anyone who is part of, has been affected by, or has an opinion of the tube, fire department or NUJ strikes, which is probably a fair few people (it’s a fair few things to try and fit into a sentence). After the fire fighters decided not to strike on bonfire night, Newsnight ran a feature about how union action has changed since the 1980s and the famous ‘winter of discontent’.
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Walking into a party and knowing everyone in the room is a myth none of the Biteback team subscribe to (making us sound really popular, I know), but last night it actually happened. The report was made by our mate Nicholas Jones, with whom we recently published Campaign 2010: The making of the Prime Minister, an account of the countdown to the coalition by one of Westminster’s most seasoned observers.
Then the big cheese himself, Iain Dale, was interviewed in his office (which, if you could tear your eyes away from the impressive view out the window, was shamefully messy... shame) about the big important topic and highlighting the differences in attitudes between the 1980s and now. I don’t think you’re allowed to call the boss “mate”, but we still know him, so it still counts.
And then David Seymour, author of the rather brilliant Why Join A Trade Union?, was being interviewed about his expertise on the topic. Being an expert he, obviously, gave a rather expert judgement on modern thinking regarding trade unions and comparing the present-day actions to those of earlier times.
And now, Newsnight is our mate.
Jeremy Paxman got the name of our book wrong though, so, even though we don’t know him, we’ll retain our perceived popularity by not inviting him to our next party.
David Seymour’s topical Why Join A Trade Union? is available now for £7.99
And Nicholas Jones’ Campaign 2010 is available now for £9.99