My mum worked on the buses.

So she had first hand knowledge of Bob Crow’s predecessors. She wasn’t a great fan of the transport unions because she never forgot them saying “We’re not giving our jobs to women or blacks”. That sort of misogyny and racism may have been reined in but their “Stuff you. What’s in it for me?” attitude still prevails. The trade union movement was a very noble and necessary one but by 1973, it was rotten to the core. Which is why this satirical record struck such a chord with the public. There’s a tube strike in London today, designed to cause maximum hurt to the workers – the very people trade unions were formed to protect. As a society, thankfully, we’ve evolved. We generally don’t discriminate against “women and blacks”. And we don’t call strikes that will hurt innocent people. Sadly, Bob Crow still does. So just for today, this song’s sentiments are as true as they were in 1973.