YourSay... ç inviting letters, comments, tweets


Journalist article on NUJ charity got great results


On behalf of the beneficiaries and trustees of NUJ Extra, may I thank Ruth Addicott for the excellent explanation of the work of NUJ Extra The payment that changed my life, October/November 2019). As a direct result of the article appearing: three members volunteered as welfare officers; one member set up a Gift-Aided monthly donation; four members enquired about the charity helping them; one branch set up a monthly donation; and two branches made one-off donations. None of these members knew about NUJ Extra before your article. A lack of space meant you listed only one online fundraising method.


The full list is: Easyfundraising, TheGivingMachine, GoRaise, Give as you Live and Amazon Smile, as well as setting up a fundraiser on Facebook. Despite the payments per purchase often being in pence, these


methods contribute £100s each quarter. Many are automatic once online shoppers sign up, without any extra user input. I urge online shoppers to enrol with one or more of these and select NUJ Extra as their chosen charity. You can also donate via payroll giving, Gift Aid, using our online Caf Bank donate page, setting up sponsorship pages through the likes of JustGiving or Virgin Money Giving and in wills. Thanks for all The Journalist’s support.


Chris Wheal Chair, NUJ Extra


H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H


The East End News opened doors to many It’s a pity there was no room in Phil Chamberlain’s piece about the alternative press (Paste-up politics, December 2019) for the weekly East End News, which was also represented at the Bristol event. Founded after a series of industrial disputes by members of London East NUJ Branch, including Aidan White, Kate Holman, Phil Mellows and myself, it broke new ground as a workers’ and readers’ cooperative backed by the union and the tenants’ movement. At the time, it was also a beacon for


diversity when journalism was even whiter than it is today. NUJ stalwarts such as Beulah Ainley, George Alagiah, Arjum Wajid and photographers Chi Chan and David McCalla began their careers on the paper. Ian Cobain, Zelda


20 | theJournalist


Curtis and Sally Hibbin, who went on to produce films with Ken Loach, were among our contributors. Val McCalla, who edited our Black Voices page, would eventually turn it into The Voice newspaper. Viv Walt went on to become an award-winning foreign correspondent with Time magazine, and Len Brown became a TV producer. And as well as featuring women


sports reporters – another rarity in the early 1980s – we had Gladys, Cath Jackson’s scathing cartoon character tearing a strip off politicians and the prevalent racism and sexism of the day, alongside work by many graphic artists who honed their skills with us. Sadly, we lacked the business acumen


to keep it going, but it was fun while it lasted and we learned a lot. Mike Jempson Bristol


Anarchy in the UK? If only that were the case Séamus Dooley asked in the last issue if Brexit presents a vision of anarchy in the UK (Why did the media not ask the Irish question?, December 2019). Anarchy is a situation where


government and social hierarchies cease to exist and power rests with the people. WB Yeats knew this well, as he was


acquainted with anarchists including William Morris, Oscar Wilde and Jack White. It might even have been a dig. similar to his reminiscences of the rebel sisters Eva and Constance Gore-Booth: Two girls in silk kimonos, both Beautiful, one a gazelle. Alas, what we have not got in the UK is anarchy. We have the opposite – another Bullingdon Club member


Please keep comments to 200 words maximum


H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H


Email to: journalist@nuj.org.uk Post to: The Journalist 72 Acton Street, London WC1X 9NB Tweet to: @mschrisbuckley


back in No 10 with an increased majority, workers’ rights facing more restriction, longer prison sentences and, most likely, empty promises on ending austerity. As trade unionists, we could do with just a little bit of mere anarchy to show the government of this country who should really be in charge – the people. Donnacha Delong London


Catch up with 400 years of regal history I was disappointed to see a reference to our present monarch as the ‘Queen of England’ in the Journalist (Why did the media not ask the Irish question?, December 2019).


England has not had its own queen


since 1603 (more than four centuries ago – surely long enough for anyone to have caught up), yet such references are common even in good newspapers and magazines. To paraphrase a Guardian letter-writer on a day a few years ago when I was doing a shift on the letters desk – and you wonder why a lot of Scots want independence. Sheila Miller London


Serious words on Europe are needed, not jokes Nick Inman’s letter is greatly appreciated (Journalism fails public duties over Brexit, Letters, December 2019). This time last year, some of us were bemoaning the lack of a Ladybird book on the EU: not a clever, flippant joke book but a coherent, well-researched 52-page guide to what it is, how it works and the pros and cons of membership. But here we are a year later and it’s


still needed – for most journalists, never mind the general public. (And not to mention members of parliament.) Susi Arnott London


DENIS CARRIER


£30 prize


letter


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24