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 minor but pushy aristocracy of Britain are a snobby lot who believe they have some God-given right to rule the land.
One way they try to enshrine that right is by sending their male children — and today females too — to schools where they can learn to spout a few phrases of Latin and adopt an enormous, if totally unjustified, self-confidence.
(Who can he mean? Can’t think of anybody in an important position today who exhibits that particular bundle of characteristics, can you?)
ANDY HEDGECOCK and MARIA DUARTE review The Ceremony, Eddington, The Life of Chuck, and The Thursday Murder Club
After a ruinous run at Tolkien, the streaming platforms are moving on to Narnia — a naff mix of religious allegory, colonial attitudes, and thinly veiled prejudices that is beyond rescuing, writes STEPHEN ARNELL



