Gloucestershire’s phlebotomists have brought their historic strike to a close after almost a year of action, leaving a legacy of determination – and a clear lesson about the power of solidarity in the face of anti-union laws and austerity, says FBU general secretary STEVE WRIGHT
THE trial, which will begin soon, of an 88-year-old former junior school teacher, housemaster and deputy head teacher on 18 counts of child abuse may seem like a local affair, particular to a strangely rotten private school in Edinburgh, and of interest only to Scottish tabloids and the Tory press, and not to readers of the Morning Star.
But this would be wrong. This case is highly revealing of the ruling-class culture that fills the ranks of the government and professional classes that hold sway disproportionately in Britain, and it demonstrates uniquely both how vulnerable this culture is, and how the ruling class itself deals with the revelation of the abuse that lies at its heart.
It also shows that socially engaged and democratic oversight of schools, that has a track record in Scotland, points the way forward.
NORMA AUSTIN HART reports from a conference on on the rights of women prisoners in the Scottish criminal justice system



