General secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions GAWAIN LITTLE calls for support and participation in the national partnership organised to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 1926 general strike
Silent spring?
Spring has sprung in all its glory — but DAVE BANGS is disturbed by the absence of a crucial sound

I HAD planned a more sharply political topic for these notes, but spring has arrived full-on. It demands attention. If you’ve any free time, then let it demand yours.
The oaks are in golden-green leaf. The bluebells are a hyacinth-scented carpet of blue-purple. Small lanes and woodland rides are a garden of colour. Cuckoo flower, stitchwort, wood spurge, bugle, fading primroses.
Only one thing spoils it. It’s full of odd silences. Odd absences of hoped-for sound.
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