Requiem for Corus.
A lone bugler played the The Last Post. Battle weary men of steel stiffled a gulp. The embers of the mighty furnaces died down.
It was the end of an era for Corus today, the end of 150 years of producing the best steel in the world.
The final hours of a craft that was admired around the globe, in the days when the globe was coloured pink. Steel from the Redcar works had gone by boat to build the railways in India, the bridges in Persia, the sky scrapers in Hong Kong, the tanks that won freedom for us in Europe.
The men who had stoked the furnaces stood dumbfounded, barely able to comprehend the enormity of the workless future that lay ahead of them; men who had spent their spare time in the working clubs, fundraising, debating, encouraging their comrades to take up political positions, had supported the emerging Labour Party that had promised to protect the working man. Had returned a Labour candidate time after time with pride.
And today, today when it had all vanished in front of their eyes, where were those representatives? Where was Vera Baird MP for Redcar?
She didn’t show her face. Shame on you scarlet woman!
You would have been there quick enough if there had been any credit to be taken – but you didn’t have the grace to appear before those men, didn’t want to be associated with the shame of letting them down, not right before an election.
Do you really think they will forget?
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February 19, 2010 at 20:04 -
Yes. Sadly they probably will along with a surprisingly large slice of the voting population of Great Britain they will vote Labour because they always have and anyway isn’t the Redcar closure simply the fault of the Indian owners?
It’s nothing to do with McSnotty is it? -
February 19, 2010 at 20:14 -
A lone list of errors in a computer program played the The Last Post
WTF?
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February 19, 2010 at 21:03
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February 19, 2010 at 20:49 -
“….isn
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February 19, 2010 at 21:04
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February 19, 2010 at 20:51 -
How much more will people take before people take…. to the the streets?
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February 19, 2010 at 20:51 -
And not a mention that this is about international carbon trading v British manufacturing.
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February 19, 2010 at 20:51 -
Sickofit,
I was a contractor at Redcar up until last August. The plant has closed solely because of the taxes levied on it. Mr Tata was granted carbon credits because without them the plant would have closed before he bought it. But due to the global warm-mongerers, the carbon credits can be traded for rather more than the profits on making steel. Mr Tata can, of course, make steel in India without paying this absurd levy; for some reason, carbon dioxide emitted in India doesn’t cause global warming.
All the people of Redcar who voted Labour: more fool you. The Labour party are not the party of the workers; the Labour party are the party of the parasites.
This closure is damned annoying, not just because it cost me my job, but because it is entirely due to the arrogance and stupidity of the Government.
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February 19, 2010 at 21:23 -
Glad to oblige Anna.
I feel for the workers at Redcar. The g/f spent 25 years working in export sales for steel companies – China and Turkey were her markets. But at least when her place closed down all the local politicians rallied round to try and help. They couldn’t, but they tried.
Bottom line is, when steel companies are multinational they’ll invest wherever it’s cheapest to produce, be that Finland, India, Russia or wherever. And with the overheads we have, it won’t be here.
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February 19, 2010 at 22:13 -
Vera Baird was there, I saw her on the local news here on Tyne Tees and she said, just after a worker spoke. He said, “I’ll never vote Labour again, they sold us down the river.” Her reply was, “They always blame Labour but they don’t know that we have been working hard behind the scenes to keep the plant open.”
Bullshit!
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February 19, 2010 at 22:27
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February 19, 2010 at 22:19 -
The sad truth of Redcar can be found at the excellent EUReferendum blog . Nulab gave an honorary knighthood to Ratan Tata in 2009. What does Vera Baird think about that?
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February 19, 2010 at 22:45 -
”The balance participation of both women and men is an indispensible element for full personal and collective development and for consolidating inclusive democratic models based on innovation, solidarity and sustainability.
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February 19, 2010 at 23:03 -
For crying out loud, why do you get so misty-eyed about the steel workers? They’re not the only ones to have lost their jobs recently, but they get a nice wedge to leave with, have a good pension scheme and got help retraining and finding another job. How many people can hope for that?
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February 19, 2010 at 23:03 -
It’s clear that Ms Baird had done all she could to support Corus and its workers – clearly one of them bet her that if she stood by and did nothing while Corus closed (despite the government assurances to the contrary) than she should get her piccy taken for the mainstream media standing next to Lord Of All Self-Righteousness with him. And so she did, with her hair that extraordinary shade of Labour Red.
On Redcar’s Front, there’s an ice cream parlour called Pacitto’s, should offer the faithful buying-public an alternative to the Lemon Top and see how many people are prepared to buy a ‘Vera’ – an ice with a topping as red as her Party-faithful hair … and I bet no-one would want a ‘Red Top’.
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February 19, 2010 at 23:29 -
Tomfiglio,
If one were never to get misty eyed about the millions of people who have been dumped on the scrap-heap by successive Labour and Conservative Governments, who will be misty eyed for me and thee, when they come for us? More to the point, who will think twice, other than me, for the future of my children, or yours?
Perhaps your alright though, Jack?
One day, and soon, if things carry on the way they are, the poo will hit the propellor, and that ‘working class’ angst will be seen in all it’s glory.
Believe me, if we remove the working class, or subvert them into some kind of under-class, the country will collapse, and all the non-jobs with it.
The chaos that will ensue will be Biblical in its slaughter.
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February 20, 2010 at 06:32 -
“Where was Vera Baird MP for Redcar?”
As TheBigYin points out, she was pontificating on the ‘Jeremy Vine’ show on Radio 2 – and claiming to be at the protest – about how Labour had done its best for the Corus workers aand was still doing it, and was blaming the recession (with, naturally, no mention of how that recession arose).
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February 20, 2010 at 08:36 -
The super improved new New Labour election slogan — and remember, Gore-doom Brown has been working on his vision (excuse the pun) for 30 months now — is, steady chaps, here we go; prepare to be astonished. It’s…
[drum roll]
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February 20, 2010 at 12:59 -
English Viking said: “If one were never to get misty eyed about the millions of people who have been dumped on the scrap-heap by successive Labour and Conservative Governments, who will be misty eyed for me and thee, when they come for us? More to the point, who will think twice, other than me, for the future of my children, or yours?”
All that is required for a healthy economy is that people are productive. Is bashing metal to ship around the world in any way more worthy than repairing cars, working in a call centre, painting and decorating, etc? It may be human nature to loathe change but the world will stand still for no man.
I’m not sure what Labour could have done with the Corus plant. They keep saying they’ve been trying to find a buyer but I can’t imagine Tata have any interest in selling it. It would mean a competing firm making more steel and they won’t want that. Plus they can currently make use of the carbon credits here and the clean development mechanism funding going into India to fund a shift in production back to their own shores where labour is cheaper.
It’s like the subsidies foreign firms were given to bring production to Blighty but in reverse. We are effectively paying for them to leave. This is the redistribution of wealth by force that Gordon wants.
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February 20, 2010 at 13:19 -
English Viking:
“Believe me, if we remove the working class, or subvert them into some kind of under-class, the country will collapse, and all the non-jobs with it.”
Mate, that’s what Lieboar’s been up to for the past 13 years
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February 20, 2010 at 13:58 -
The main point here, is that the North East is and always has been a Labour heartland. The people there vote for whoever is wearing the red rosette. This is not blind allegiance, merely voting for the party that they think has their best interests at heart. Recent comments made by Nick Winterton reinforce the suspicion that the working class of the area have, that the Tories are the party of the better off.
The failure of the Government to intervene in this case, considering they are their staunchest supporters speaks volumes for working class people all across the country. A lot of the locals have intimated they will not be voting labour again. The present incumbents may be shocked out of their complacency in the coming election. Roy Hattersley’s smug confidence on the recent episode of Question Time is a dangerous stance to take. The bloody minded electorate of Middlesbrough and Redcar should not be taken for granted.
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February 20, 2010 at 15:11 -
“isn
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February 20, 2010 at 15:49 -
Alan,
‘All that is required for a healthy economy is that people are PRODUCTIVE. Is bashing metal to ship around the world in any way more worthy than repairing cars, working in a call centre, painting and decorating, etc? It may be human nature to loathe change but the world will stand still for no man.’
Repairing stuff, answering phones and painting produce absolutely nothing, that the problem. They do not create wealth, buy adding value to a commodity and then exporting it at a profit. Taking iron ore from the ground, turning it into steel and then selling it does create genuine wealth.
The world will not stand still, you are correct. It will continue to spin out of control, devastating families, communities and even entire countries.
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