A frequent criticism of this site is the dearth of top quality showbiz gossip. I will try to put that right in 2008.  Thanks to Rick for pointing this out. And a happy new year to all.

Independent on Sunday Review ( 30 December 2007 p16)

The great and the good 2007

Ken Loach on Alan Thornett

The rebel

Ken Loach, 71, is a film maker.  Alan Thornett, 70, is a left wing political activist, journalist and writer.

I met Alan in the 1960s at political meetings; he stands for those many people who struggle to keep the idea alive that society can be organised in another way socially, industrially and politically.  He was a senior steward at the Cowley car plant through the 1970s, and like many union members, didn’t think his union leadership represented the workers’ interests.  He was victimised for his views and subsequently lost his job.

He wrote about that period and has this ability to be clear and articulate on the issues he cares about.  He contributed to a documentary series I worked on in the 1980s called Questions of Leadership, about the willingness of rank and file union members to take on the government.   It was never broadcast because it was deemed, wrongly, to be defamatory.

Since then Alan has been speaking and writing really persuasively in left-wing newspapers.  There is a whole other world that runs parallel to the mass media, a real political alternative, and Alan is prominent in that world; he is also senior in the Respect Renewal party.  Alan has battled illness over the past few years, yet he is finding renewed energy in his work as a Marxist and a Socialist.