The knowledge that any payment agreed upon will be retrospective will help to keep down the temperature of negotiations and will make teachers more ready to bear with the negotiations.Tinn lost no time as a new MP in pressing the President of the Board of Trade, then Douglas Jay, for new firms in his North East Teesside constituency. He was one of those who backed Nicholas Kaldor’s suggestion for a Regional Employment Tax to augment the benefit that had been brought about by SET, the Selective Employment Tax.Tinn spent much of his time supporting the Government’s policy of the nationalisation of steel. He firmly believed from spending seven years in the sweat of tending the coke ovens that a nationalised industry would provide better investment and better conditions for steel workers than the private companies.Along with Jeremy Bray, who was the MP for ICI at Billingham, and Arthur Bottomley, MP for the other Middlesbrough seat, he showed special interest in “Teesplan”, a scheme to develop Teesside. It was partly on account of this joint work and his known congeniality that Bottomley made Tinn his Parliamentary Private Secretary at a time when the portfolio covered the most delicate of all world affairs in which Britain was involved, the transition of Southern Rhodesia and the formidable problems posed by their Prime Minister Ian Smith.When Bottomley lost his ministerial post Tinn returned to the back benches but was soon to become involved in the strong support of the United States in relation to the Vietnam War. Many of his colleagues were angry with him about this, thinking that his attitude was determined by ambition to be a minister. Personally, I think this was unjust.It was understandable that he should join the right-wing Manifesto Group. He voted unlike most MPs against the second and the third reading of the Abortion Bill of 1967 promoted by David Steel.

Among his parliamentary interests was a national lottery and indeed he put forward a National Lotteries Bill several times in the early 1970s.Tinn was dismayed at what he thought was the Labour movement’s hell-bent urge on self- destruction. He was also very firm about MPs’ salaries and he was one of only five Labour Members of Parliament – it took some guts – who voted with rebel Conservative MPs to secure a 5.5 per cent pay increase in 1983. I remember talking to him about this and his response that he had impeccable working-class credentials and that the National Union of Blastfurnacemen passionately believed in the rate for the job.Along with his friend David Watkins, MP for Consett and Secretary of the Labour Group promoting Anglo-Arab understanding, Tinn was one of the first in the Labour Party to champion the somewhat unpopular cause of the Arabs. He foresaw a situation in which the Palestinians would demand and get their own state.James Tinn, cokeworker, teacher and politician: born Leadgate, Co Durham 23 August 1922; MP (Labour) for Cleveland 1964-74, for Redcar 1974-87; PPS to the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations 1965-66; Government Whip 1976-79, Opposition Whip 1979-82; died Durham 18 November 1999.. Sir: Not just a shock but shocking (“A new little Blairite is on the way, Cherie tells Tony”, 19 November). Just as in any other established pregnancy, we will all want to send warm messages of support and encouragement to the mother, the family and the new baby.

That said, we can deplore the selfishness of our nation’s leading couple in having a fourth child at a time when the world’s population is continuing to grow at an unsustainable rate, and their irresponsibility as role-models in enjoying recreational sex without adequate contraception, when just that behaviour results in our having the highest rate of teenage pregnancies in Europe, the birth of many “unwanted” babies and the abortion of huge numbers of foetuses

MERVYN CURRAN
Oxford. Paul Robeson acted and sung his way into the hearts of millions, highlighted racism in the United States and injustices elsewhere, was disparaged by white bigots for speaking his mind and condemned by younger blacks for not being radical enough. Paul Robeson acted and sung his way into the hearts of millions, highlighted racism in the United States and injustices elsewhere, was disparaged by white bigots for speaking his mind and condemned by younger blacks for not being radical enough.

The man’s legacy survives in films that are hardly shown and recordings that bypass those who struggle to accept that one of the century’s greatest bass singers favoured spirituals and simple songs of the people above grand operatic arias.
His views on civil rights, however, remain a powerful force almost 23years after his death, preserved in essays, speeches and autobiographical writings that underline the dignity and eloquence of his calls for racial equality, religious tolerance and social inclusion across the social spectrum.
The Robeson voice was revived as part of the London Jazz Festival, with the broadcaster, Trevor Phillips, unlocking the passion behind the great campaigner’s words, and Willard White surveying the range of songs in his repertoire. The package earned a standing ovation, richly deserved if intended to honour Robeson’s memory and spirit, less so if devoted to this performance, the first half of which suffered from the lack of White’s emotional and vocal commitment.
The opening spiritual, Witness, was strangely muted; likewise, Ellington’s Mood Indigo fell into that grey area between subtlety and indifference.

Henry Lowther’s occasional trumpet solos, tight, idiomatic playing from the Matrix Ensemble,reminded the audience of the concert’s jazz connections.
Things changed for the better in the evening’s second part when White proved more in tune with the Robeson spirit, indeed, more in tune with himself. All God’s Chillun Got Wings was straight from the heart.
As protest songs go, Oh, no John! packs a limp-wristed punch. White, like Robeson, used it to expose the links between traditional songs of black Americans and those preserved in the community songbooks of middle-class, white Anglo-Saxons.
The Jamaican bass-baritone was at his best, however, in songs with a genuine social edge, drawing tears from this reviewer with Joe Hill and Scandalize My Name. Vocal refinement and artistry were certainly not wanting in his account of Ol’ Man River, with White stamping his mark on Robeson’s signature tune and leaving his audience calling for more.. 16 Shells from a Thirty-Ought-SixTom Waits

16 Shells from a Thirty-Ought-SixTom Waits

Sometimes the main hook of a record can be a single noise ­ a brass lick, a high guitar chord, the catch in a vocalist’s throat. Sometimes these sounds, like the parping oboe in Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You Babe”, or the mighty timpani in Caston & Majors’ “Child of God”, are the only thing the record has going for it.