I was opposed to the amalgamation of the NUT and the ATL to form the massive NEU. Teachers have never been militant enough, and during my career I saw classes get bigger, bureaucracy burgeon, pay freezes imposed for years, ignorant Ofsted inspectors breathing repressively down teachers' necks, out-of-school time swallowed up by compulsory excessive preparation, meeting after pointless meeting and over-detailed marking regimes, not to speak of turning teachers into box-tickers and children into test-zombies so that schools could be shamed in league tables. In my heart of hearts I'm still that militant leftie London NUT attack-dog of the 70s :-) but now I sit here, long-retired as a sleeping (in more ways then one) retired member...but still a member....