ABSTRACT
No national demonstration has recently produced significant disorder. Nor have any community disorders been headlined, though skirmishes between police and black youths were reported in 1987 from such diverse locations as High Wycombe and Wolverhampton, where the police introduced video cameras to scan the town centre. The greatest potential for industrial disorder arose during the seamen’s strike of early 1988. There were several superficial similarities to the miners’ strike. Management closely identified with the Conservative Party arbitrarily introduced a programme of new working practices and redundancies. The National Union of Seamen responded with mass national picketing. Sequestration of their funds followed. Eventually the strike was broken without significant disorder on the picket line. Again, the reasons for this absence would bear investigation.
