ABSTRACT
Pitmen and Pilgrims The President of the Immortals used his left hand, for a change, in the coincidence of a miners' strike with the television adaptation of Close the coalhouse door. Beyond that, of course, his powers are limited; the issues are between people. When Lawrence wrote Touch and Go, the last but not the best of his plays about colliers and their families, Katherine Mansfield objected that it was "black with miners". Last week, in public, another woman objected to the titlesong of Close the coalhouse door: if there was blood inside, bones inside, bairns inside, where was there room for the coal? Order up, dear, they'll soon be back at work. A pleasant announcer will tell us the good news that the pits are no longer "idle".
