Strike a light

In times where everyone's job is about as secure as the buckling foundations of the Celebrity Fit Club mansion, it is at least mildly heartening to see people take on a bit of 'Blitz spirit' and unite against the common enemy, which in this case is 'being poor'. Slightly less terrifying than the gun-blazing Luftwaffe swooping through the night indiscriminately bombing the hell out of houses as the term suggests. But still, no one wants to be poor do they?

Unfortunately for people like me who have tentatively bought into this gotta-laugh-or-we'll-cry mentality, just when we're all trying to make the most of a pretty dour situation the Union which seem to own the brains of all London Underground drivers has decided to piss on everyone's parade.

Our faithful leader, Boris Johnson, went tête-à-tête with some socialist trout called Bob Crow (General Secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers) on Radio 4, and for once in his political career came out on top. Mr Crow, you have been beaten by a man who can barely ride a bicycle and has perpetuated an unfathomably successful career out of bumbling aimlessly and endeeringly from one political blunder to the next. How does that feel Crow? Yeah? You should feel silly.

So they're pretty much going to bring London to a stand-still for two days - who do they think they are? Two inches of snow? The cheek.

But these people must have good reason, afterall they won't get paid for being on strike. There must be solid moral grounding behind a ploy which will cause the vast majority of working Londoners a whole heap of extra hassle. I'm assuming there has been some heinous injustice at work here, perhaps London Underground has got Karl Lagerfeld to design the new uniforms. That would make me strike.

Oh hang on. Turns out they're doing it because they're unhappy about the company not backing down on having to make compulsory redundancies in this unprecedented period of global recession, which has seen countless people already lose their jobs. And the other reason, which they're now claiming isn't a factor, was because they didn't fancy the above inflation pay rise packet.

Sort it out yeah?

Oh and if you're not from London and reading this, I apologise. To you this is just another thing for us insular, whinging southern nancies to moan about instead of having real problems like the outdoor lavvy breaking, or running out of bread to mop up your dripping with.