Yesterday I attended Seetec to hear Sainsbury’s explain their recruitment process and give those of us who could make it a head start, and registered online as suggested so that as soon as jobs become available in King’s Lynn I will be able to apply. This is important because there is often a very short window, sometimes as little as 12 hours in which to apply for them.
In the evening, the final ODI of the series between England and Australia took place, much to the credit of the groundstaff. For the foruth time out of four matches that went ahead Australia simply weren’t good enough (we saw the reverse situation often enough in the 1990s).
As I prepare myself for a day’s voluntary work at Learning Works, I am also recreating the atmosphere of Marxism 2012, and in particular of the Thursday, listening to recordings of the meetings I attended that day, both of which I have on CDs.
The first meeting I attended, on Climate Change, was a foretaste of what was to come, both in being full to bursting and in the excellence of both the main speech and the contributions from the floor. Among the contributors from the floor were people from Ireland and Canada who talked about significant events in their localities. The mentions of problems with public transport struck an obvious chord, especially given the way First Capital Connect have ramped up their open return fares (£42.40, as against £34.40 this time last year, a 23% increase).
The second meeting I attended was on “Does the Media Control Our Minds?” (the overall answer, given a packed house attendance at a meeting of that title at an event called Marxism , being no).
After these two meetings was a two-hour break before the opening rally (the scheduled half-hour between the end of the first meeting and start of the second not being worth considering as a break given the necessity of getting to venues early if one wanted to be sure of getting in) during which I touched base with the Norwich comrades and made final arrangements for getting to my accommodation. Since the person who was very kindly putting me up felt too tired to come in that day I was happy to make my own way there (especially as consultation of the A-Z I had had the foresight to bring with me revealed that her flat was practically on top of Clapham North station).
The Opening Rally was absolutely packed, and although George Galloway was unable to put in his scheduled appearance, we still had a panel of speakers who were brilliantly inspiring. Maria Stylou, from our Greek sister organisation the SEK opened proceedings with an account of recent developments in the Greek struggle. She was followed by Preston councillor Michael Lavalette, a speaker from World Pride and finally SWP industrial organsier Martin Smith. The noise of 2,000 people giving someone a round of applause has to be heard to be believed.
As usual, here some photos…
aspiblog 