Mark Metcalf – författare

In addition to being the most bitter industrial dispute the coalminers' strike of 1984/5 was the longest national strike in British history. For a year over 100,000 members of the National Union of Mineworkers, their families and supporters, in hundreds of communities, battled to prevent the decimation of the coal industry on which their livelihoods and communities depended. Margaret Thatcher's government aimed to smash the most militant section of the British working class. She wanted to usher in a new era of greater management control at work and pave the way for a radical refashioning of society in favour of neo-liberal objectives that three decades later have crippled the world economy. Victory required draconian restrictions on picketing and the development of a militarised national police force that made widespread arrests as part of its criminalisation policy. The attacks on the miners also involved the use of the courts and anti-trade union laws, restrictions on welfare benefits, the secret financing by industrialists of working miners and the involvement of the security services.All of which was supported by a compliant mass media but resisted by the collective courage of miners and mining communities in which the role of Women against Pit Closures in combating poverty and starvation was heroic. Thus inspired by the struggle for jobs and communities an unparalleled movement of support groups right across Britain and in other parts of the world was born and helped bring about a situation where the miners long struggle came close on occasions to winning. At the heart of the conflict was the Yorkshire region, where even at the end in March 1985, 83 per cent of 56,000 miners were still out on strike. The official Yorkshire National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) area photographer in 1984-85 was the late Martin Jenkinson and this book of his photographs - some never previously seen before - serves as a unique social document on the dispute that changed the face of Britain.

The rip-roaring story of Manchester City's red-hot goalscoring hero Erling Haaland.Unlike his seafaring forefathers, Haaland arrived in England peacefully in 2022. But the result was the same with the Viking running riot before heading to European shores to rampage through even the most stubborn defences.Haaland helped sweep Manchester City to a record-equalling treble of Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup glory. The Striking Viking smashed home a record-breaking 36 Premier League goals and continued his incredible Champions League record to make it 35 in 29 games.This book is packed with exclusive unpublished material, including the story behind his transfer to England. It features the words of the great man himself, team-mates, opponents and Pep Guardiola. It explores his early career in Norway, and his later successes in Salzburg and Dortmund, before bringing us up to date with his Man City and international heroics.Want to know Haaland the player and the man? This is the book for you.