From guest,



I don't know the song but from reading the lyrics, I'd say he was referring to the Victoria Line which was added to the London Underground in the 70s IIRC. So the 'shuttering jams' would be the shoring used as they dug the tunnel, before they came behind to build the walls properly.

They earned good money on the project, it was 24/7 working but the conditions were atrocious and several men died. As many of them were 'casual' ie not properly employed and insured there wasn't much in the way of compensation for their families either.

There's a place on Cricklewood Broadway where men without work go and stand at 5am, in the hope of getting taken on for the day. The subbies (sub-contractors) came by in vans if they need extra workers. To my mind it's utterly degrading and as casual employees they have no rights really. Nowadays it's as often East Europeans as Irish, Scots or English, poverty having no nationality. You see allsorts of men, from ones just down on their luck to the homeless old drunks waiting and hoping 'for a start'.

Sorry to go on I've always thought it one of the most disgraceful sights I've ever seen. We all live in houses and travel roads, with little thought to what's gone into the making of them.

Fiona