In a thread below the line recently, a fellow mudcatter expressed the opinion English industry had declined because of lousy working relations between management and workers. Indeed this was a constant theme of newspaper articles throughout the 1970's. It was at variance with my experience, but I think the the reluctance of Sam to pick up his shovel and get bloody working is somewhere deep in the English psyche.

Whilst in American folksong - the worker gets a fairly good press. John Henry dying with his hammer in his hands, even though the banks are stuffed with silver that the workers sweated for loading sixteen tons etc. In England, we're different.

Think about the bastards populating Jeremy Taylors Jobsworth, Flanders and Swann's The Gasman Cometh, The Strawbs Part of the Union (picked by one trade union leader as his favourite song!).

Thoughts....?