As an indication of the contemporary relevance of episodes like Jarrow. I heard Melvyn Bragg recently, claiming that the survivors of the 1934 Gresford mining disaster had been docked for the last quarter of the shift on the day the disaster happened. This despite the fact that most of the survivors immediately went back underground to rescue their trapped mates.

At the time, I was inclined to dismiss this as an urban myth. Surely, even by the standards of the times, and the notorious cruelty of the coalowners, a bit more compassion would have been shown than that.

Recently however, I was talking to a welfare official from the National Union of Seamen about Somali pirates. He told me that immediately a British crew is taken hostage, their pay is terminated and they are not taken back on the payroll until they are freed and able to start working again. Thus, their dependents are left high and dry with only state benefits to keep them going through no fault of their own. What was that about welfare scroungers Mr Osborne?