The kids were in the back of the car discussing rail strikes. The 15-year-old thinks strikes would be more effective if they were a surprise: when they are announced in advance, people just plan around them and it deadens the impact. It would be much more chaotic if they were decided on the spur of the moment, and left us all stranded on trains. The 13-year-old thinks, conversely, that strikes should be banned because they are annoying.
What’s my move, here, I wonder. Do I introduce them to the concept of the wildcat strike, followed by a whistle-stop tour of the coolest wildcat strikes in UK history? Do I threaten to disinherit my little Tory? Maybe just a casual introduction to the proud history of the trade union movement, and the importance of power equipoise between capital and labour?
