Original subtitles

...on Thursday next.

Vote for Frank Baraclough, your Labour candidate.

Forward with Labour, backwards with Tories.

Vote Labour on Thursday next.

Vote for Frank Baraclough.

Shut the bloody thing off quick, you'll make us unpopular.

Here, let me have a go.

I'm doing it.

Can't you say it all different?

I'm saying what I was told to say.

Vote Labour on Thurs...

Wiggle your own switch about, it's a bad connection.

What have I done?

I've done now.

Oh, stop nagging.

You're enough to make anybody vote bloody Tory.

You what?

Vote bloody Tory, I said.

Vote bloody Tory.

Vote Labour on Thursday next.

A penny for a vote.

Where have you sprung from?

I got back late last night.

Oh, we didn't expect you back till next week.

Finished early, they said I might as well come home.

Oh.

Frank taken you on as a skivvy, has he?

No, it's Saturday.

They're all out canvassing.

I said I'd do Eileen's housework for her.

You're back for good then, are you?

Aye, for good.

Kept you busy in this factory, did they?

I had three nights a week at tech on top of job.

Oh, that'll keep you out of mischief.

You reckon?

How much do you want to bet on it?

I'm taking a supervisor's course.

Go on.

Well, you'll not be round here for long then, will you?

You better not let Grandad hear you say that.

Doing good to be left on his own.

He can only fit company for himself, that one.

We're thinking of upping sticks, you know, me and George.

But where?

Cornwall.

Tin mines.

I need chaps like George for ripping till I sink new shafts.

You get £11 a week there, as against 70 gets here down the pit.

And if the closer could he, he'll get an out.

He'll not be permanent, though.

Two year.

And they'll keep him on in the mine after that.

One or two people gone from round here, you know.

It's a lovely place, Cornwall, you know.

Just think what he'd be like after here.

It's not just the place, Ethel.

I don't want to go, Sam.

Tell him, then.

No, I'll not.

And don't you neither.

I'm sick of the worry of not knowing how long he'll be in work.

He says he keeps hearing about pits that are not

paying their way, and what can he do else at his age.

Well, my life's here for what it is.

I shall abide by what he says.

And if your Grandad chips in, I shall tell him to mind his own business.

You can't order your life to suit everybody.

Sam Wilson's back.

He went down the street with a case.

He came out the car last night.

Did he say anything?

He asked how you were.

Did you tell him how I was?

I'd suit him right if I'd turn me back on him.

What do you mean?

Selling that land to Crossmans.

He had a good offer from me.

You've got your mate Granny to thank for that and all.

Did you tell him how I was?

No.

Not about your divorce, if that's what you mean.

Thought it might put him off, did you?

I'm serious.

You'd like me to get married again, wouldn't you?

To somebody like Sam.

Somebody you could go and have a pint with.

A mate.

I'm all you've got in the world.

And look at me.

I'm a lad.

What's going to happen to you both when I'm gone?

You should have thought of that when you were being sour with David.

All my fault, then, was it?

No, no, not all your fault.

At least you were honest about it.

More honest than you are in sticking that Labour poster in

the window after what you've said about the bloody government.

Who's going to see it anyway?

Has only the postman and the milkman ever come up here?

Hoping they'll tell your old friends that your

heart's still in the right place, are you?

Ah, nail your colours to the mast, Dad.

I have done.

I've voted Labour all my life against me own bloody interests, mostly.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Good heavens.

Good heavens.

Aren't people complicated?

You should know if anybody does.

What am I going to do about you?

Would you like me to take you out tonight?

We're going to have a meal at Wembridge.

Oh, another time.

I don't think I can make the effort tonight.

You read too much.

You stop in too much.

Yes, well, on polling day we'll go out and vote and change the world, shall we?

I stopped believing in fairies when I was ten years old.

Now then.

George and me'll do down here.

Have you told him what to say?

I know what to say.

We'll do this end.

Have you got that list I gave you?

Here.

Have it here.

That's fine.

Now then.

I'll take this side, you take that side.

Right.

Good morning, Mrs...

It's George Barraclough, isn't it?

Sylvia!

I've called on behalf of the Labour candidate to ask for your vote.

Go on, it's your frank, isn't it?

Can I put you down... to support him?

Depends, doesn't it?

What are you going to do for the widows?

What have you got in mind?

Well, other lad around here last night.

And they didn't have much to offer.

You'd better come in for a bit.

Yeah, these are fine.

The contractor's had a query on mountings.

Perhaps you could see to that on Monday.

Aye, all right.

Er... What do I call myself?

The jobber, me.

Oh.

I should have had a word with Braithwaite.

Got anything in mind?

You mean a title and so on?

No, no, I'm not bothered about that.

Just so as I know where I am.

Well, I suppose you just carry on with the liaison work.

Leave it loose for now.

Or doesn't that appeal to you?

Oh, it suits me.

How's the course going?

Fine.

I'll have to transfer to tech over here.

And you will carry on?

Well, I don't see why not.

Good.

Er...

Oh.

Er... Excuse me, I'll... I'll be back in a moment.

I've not put sugar in.

Biscuit.

Sorry, they're in halves.

It's for kids.

How's the good life, Cass?

The good life?

Isn't it?

I think so, yes.

Divide people, don't they?

Kids.

Divide?

Those that have from those that haven't.

In a way, I suppose.

Six months' work here, Cass.

It's been a lot of work for Peter.

Raising the capital was a headache, I think.

You won't let him down, will you, Sam?

I know my shortcomings better than you do, Cass,

and I don't run to letting people down on purpose.

I didn't mean on purpose.

You know what I mean.

Aye, I know what you mean.

You've stuck a label on me.

Sam Wilson.

Needs to be watched.

Not that, either.

I don't suppose you can help being restless.

What is it, Sam?

Wanderlust?

Nah.

No, I've done with that, I think.

Maybe you should get married.

That cures it, does it, Cass?

I don't know.

It's not something I've ever afforded, to be restless.

To follow your feelings.

Oh, look at them.

Oh, look at them.

Oh, now.

Here, go on.

Go on.

I've done them all at the rate you were going, you beautiful Christmas.

Do you know, this chap's gone in there, and it's never been seen them all.

Oh, give up.

Twice your size and bloody capability.

Sylvia Brightside.

Sydney Brightside, we did.

Him that would have met our Franks when we lived in Skeleton.

I know who she is.

She told me something I bet you didn't know.

She says our Frank were a communist with Sydney, back before war.

She said what?

Here, let's rag him, eh?

You say no.

What's up?

To nobody.

Well, it's a lark, isn't it?

To nobody.

Well, what have I said?

It's a lark, isn't it?

You're a quiet old devil.

Why didn't you tell me?

Well, I was saving it till after count.

And then I thought, I bet she'd like to wear it.

Who told you I wanted it mended?

Ethel.

It's not worth half a crown.

Dad bought it for me.

He got drunk and hit me and he was sorry, so

he got drunk again and went and bought me this.

Aren't people funny?

That's all those people who are canvassing today.

They knew I was embarrassed, but they stood there

and listened nicely while I floundered away.

Oh, I wish I was like Edith Summerskill.

I bet she just opens her mouth and it pours out like cream off a bottle.

You're worth 10,000 votes.

I better not be.

I might vote to have you stop at home.

Will you be able to manage every weekend?

At home, I mean.

Ah, pretty well.

Your dad takes it dead seriously, doesn't he?

Anyone would think it was a neck and neck instead of a 20,000 majority.

Nails in the Tory coffin votes, huh?

That's what he used to say.

Everyone counts.

We know they did, but they won't bloody lie down.

Besides, there's another candidate this time.

It's a three-way contest.

Will it make much difference, do you think?

There's not much of a communist vote round here.

I keep thinking I'll read more.

I've tried once or twice.

Politics, you know, those books of yours.

I think you have to start off on something simple, really.

Then the newspapers.

Well, then there's not much difference, is there, to read the newspapers?

Difference?

Well, apart from nationalisation and that.

I mean, what sort of world do they want?

What's it going to look like that's different from what it looks like now?

What's it going to feel like that's better than the way we feel now?

Is it like Russia?

What's Russia like?

I don't know.

Do you?

I mean...

I know what you're against.

But I can't grasp what you're for.

I'm in love.

It's not got through to me.

I'm hopeless, aren't I?

If that's what you think, perhaps it's us that's hopeless.

Anybody at home?

Oh.

We'll be down in a minute.

What do you want to eat?

What have we got?

Cold meat from yesterday, tomatoes, whatever that is, I think.

Same for me, then.

Oh, it's the wicked landlord.

We can kick him out on Monday week.

That's when I get the deeds.

What, taken this long, has it?

Haven't you noticed we've not got it settled yet?

Well, what's the price of a house to him, Lord Galwick?

Where's Grandad?

He's still out canvassing with George.

I, er... I could have stopped on another week, you know.

But I thought I'd better come home and vote for Frank.

If he loses for one vote, I'll never forgive meself.

One vote?

He says I'm worth ten thousand.

What, only ten thousand?

Hey, there's a communist standing, they tell me.

Ah, same name and all.

Barrowclough.

George.

Oh.

No.

Your second cousin, twice removed.

What, me old mate Fred from Skeleton?

Fred the Red.

I didn't know he was a communist.

No, neither did I, till he stood.

Did you know?

Me.

Well, didn't I hear you talking to him about it once when we were over at Skeleton?

I don't remember that.

Where's that cold beef, eh?

You were tossing and turning a bit last night, weren't you?

It's ten minutes since I called you.

Where have you been?

Finishing me dream.

You can dream up your breakfast in future if

you don't come down on time, it's in the oven.

If you can't come for it when I've gone to the trouble of bloody cooking it for you.

..

My turn tomorrow, you can have yours in bed.

The day I have breakfast in bed, my lad, them

stacks will come back where they come from.

I'm glad you're decent, I didn't knock.

So I noticed.

Did they deliver our Sunday paper here?

It's over on there.

Ah, thanks.

Good morning, Sam.

Good morning, Ethel.

Can't you cook a bit of bacon without burning it to death?

I cooked it.

Oh, well, same applies to you, don't it?

We could do with a bloody Siberian, never mind the Russians.

When do you start work then?

I have to see Crossman again today.

Sunday?

What union are you in?

I'm not.

I'm shop floor supervisor.

I'm management, I suppose.

You walk about in a white coat, do you?

I did two weeks on each operation down at that bloody factory.

Look at me hands if you don't believe me.

That's where they take them from, is it?

That born a union it shall be.

Reckon I could have been back born a union, do you?

You could have gone to the meetings at least.

There's not one in ten round here goes to union meetings.

Less is a pay dispute, less than in factories, they tell me.

How do you suppose Ben Raystreet got onto the branch last time?

His mates went down and voted him on.

All six on him.

Heroes of the Soviet Union.

They'll get his stocking from Moscow at Christmas.

You stop where you are and eat your breakfast at a...

Hello, is Sam in?

Aye, he's in.

There's a young lady for to see you.

So far as you're fit to be seen.

Hello, Jessie.

Hello.

I'm just finishing me breakfast.

Burnt bacon.

You don't know me grandad, do you?

I know who she is.

Jessie Moore, isn't it?

How's your dad?

I'm just going home from sitting the night with him.

It's the silicosis he's got.

I know what he's got.

Happen I should be grateful for them eight year I had out of work.

Eight year less muck in me lungs.

Tell him I asked after him.

Yes, I will.

Cooks don't wash up, you know.

You're living on your own, you two?

Aye, Darby and Joan.

Cassie told me you were back.

Have you seen Sarah?

Not since last time I was home.

You took her out then, didn't you?

We had a night out, yeah.

What's the situation?

What situation?

Between you and her.

Oh, come on, don't look so innocent, you know what I mean.

You don't bother to wrap it up, do you?

How are you for time?

Time?

Spare time, you got any?

I might have.

She's not been out since that time with you.

Except to see us once or twice.

She just stays in, looks after Corby, waits for a divorce to come through.

She'll go down with a ship if somebody doesn't drag her out of it.

What ship?

SS Corby?

There's only two men working for him now.

He spends most of his time at home.

They spend most of theirs playing cards.

Nobody's doing any work.

It's like...

It's like watching civilisation fall apart.

I'll take her out if she'll come.

I knew you would.

For old time's sake, eh?

Cassie said you would too.

Cassie?

She says you're very reliable, in an unreliable sort of way.

Where did you find this?

You left a lot of junk behind you when you left home.

1936.

A lot of waters passed under bridge since then, eh?

Aye, and still waters run bloody deep too, don't they?

You never told me you were in the Communist Party.

You never asked me.

Who signed you up?

Sydney Brightside from Little Moscow?

What makes you think so?

You were mates with him round about then, weren't you?

I remember wondering what the hell you had in common.

You know I didn't tell you, Dad.

You had about as much time for Communists in them days as you had for bosses.

Aye, and bloody good reason and all.

Little local squabbles.

Local squabbles were damn big issues in them days.

Bread and butter politics, eat or bloody die!

Well, you weren't a better prospect than that when you were young, Dad.

You think I don't know that?

You think I was never young in me prime?

Do you think I was never tempted to reach for the pie in

the sky instead of half a loaf to fill your bloody belly?

Hey, it's Sunday.

Can't we have a letter from politics just for once?

Aye, it's all in the past, Dad.

Is it?

What do you mean?

You know what I mean.

Dad, we're on tricky ground here.

Aye, we're on tricky ground.

I know every inch of it.

I trod it before you were born.

Now, look, you two... Leave us alone, love.

Go in the kitchen, eh?

Let's leave it where it is, Dad.

There's no end to it if we go on.

You know that, don't you?

Asking me to spare you?

I'm asking you to spare yourself.

You've fought your battles too many.

Now, let go, Dad.

Young Fred Barraclough.

You spent a lot of time with Fred, didn't you?

He needed somebody's time.

His mother and dad were rubbish.

All these bloody years I've watched you cross a table.

Watched you grow, watched you suffer.

Flesh and blood of your mother and me.

All these years you've kept me from what was in your mind.

Am I rubbish that you've kept it from me?

A bit of card, 15 years old.

Where's this year's card, Frank?

Don't crawl in the gutter with McCarthy, Dad.

Don't mention me in the same breath as McCarthy.

McCarthy's a disease that feeds on another bloody disease.

Dad, don't.

Don't?

Don't what?

Don't open me mouth.

Keep me mouth shut like you... Look here.

You're into Parliament Thursday with 30,000 votes behind you.

How many of them votes are for you, Frank?

Not many.

They're for party, mostly.

Ah, for the party.

Have you read Clause 2 of the Labour Party Constitution, Section 4?

You'll remind me what it says, whether I have or not, won't you?

It says that if you're found to be a member

of the Communist Party, you'll be expelled.

Ah, it says that, amongst other things.

Deny it, then!

Listen to me, Dad.

For God's sake, you think everything boils down to a simple yes or no, don't you?

Do you know what McCarthy's doing in America now?

A witch hunt.

People are being pilloried on the slightest suspicion.

You'd be one of them for having a son who had a Communist card in 1936.

What would you do when they knocked on your door?

Disown me?

People are being thrown out of work for good on suspicion.

And not told for what or why.

Or even who testified against them.

And people are going along with that.

Well, you heard her say McCarthy's a rough guy, but

where there's smoke, there's got to be fire, I guess.

Well, if you think you can smell smoke, you just yell fire.

You'll get no help from me.

Are you enjoying yourself?

Now, this?

Yeah.

It's what you'd really like to do, isn't it, at the foundry?

Things like that, not engines.

Engines are a living, Cassie, for the many.

This is a living for the few.

Yes, boss.

Hmm?

Boss, I said.

Boss.

You're a boss.

Are you trying to start an argument?

You don't like being called boss, do you?

No, I don't like the word.

I'm just a chap who likes making things in metal, that's all.

And a living?

Yes, and a living.

Will Sam be a boss?

Sam, in due course, will be whatever Sam wants to be, provided he wants it enough.

You're depending on him, aren't you?

To stick at it, I mean.

Well, you've got to trust people, you know, Cassie.

And if there's no trust, there's nothing.

He's a bit...

unreliable, you know.

Oh, Cassie, you hardly know him.

Maybe not.

We were at school together.

He was a prop from Skeleton and I was a Galwick slugger.

Hmm?

Don't ask me what that means.

It's what we used to call each other.

All the big girls were after him.

Oh, including you.

Me?

Heavens, don't tell me I look as old as Sam.

You know, when you were in infants, do you know where I was?

Just starting at the foundry with Dad after a three-year course in metallurgy.

Don't start all that old man stuff again with me.

Can we do a tour again next summer?

Yeah, where would you like to go to?

Well, they say Scotland's beautiful.

Better than Wales, even.

Why not a week in London?

Why does it mean so much to you, the country?

I don't know.

Living in Galwick all my life, I suppose.

I've lived in Galwick all my life.

Not in Missy Street.

Oh, looked different from Missy Street, did it?

Everything looked different from Missy Street.

You do like it better here, then?

You'll never know, will you?

Won't I?

You need to have lived in Missy Street to know,

really know, the differences inside you, I suppose.

Well, you're one up on me, then, aren't you, if that's true?

No!

Because I shall never know what it's like to have lived like this always, will I?

How it's shaped you.

Why you feel differently about some things than I do.

Because you lived here, and I lived in Missy Street.

Oh, it's you, is it?

Going down to the cow?

I'm just from there.

I'm off straight out again.

I'm pinching a quid from the kitty.

Where are you off to this time?

I'm, er, off to Corby's.

Oh, aye?

What's he doing with himself these days?

Not much, I think.

He stopped going into the cow soon after you left.

Happened he got fed up, standing in the best room on his own.

Froze him out, did you?

Aye, he froze his head out.

He chose to stand in the best room.

They, er, they say that, er, that lass of his is getting a divorce.

Who says?

I heard it in the bar.

You're like a pack of old women in that bar.

Don't wait up for me.

I shall not wait up for you.

Why should I wait up for you?

Wait up for you.

I used to wait up for your mother.

Oh, aye?

Aye.

I used to wait up for her when she went out with that... that Harry.

What is your dad to you now?

Oh?

No.

No, nor neither should he be.

It's what you do that counts.

To hell with flesh and blood!

Here's George.

He'll keep you company.

He'll keep me company, will he?

Dad, see you later.

I shall not wait up for you.

That's a grand fire you've got there.

Aye?

You what?

I said that's a grand fire you've got there.

I'm not bloody deaf.

If you speak up first time, I shall hear you, won't I?

Just thought.

Thought?

Thought what?

Note.

We might go down to Cornwall.

There's jobs there.

Eleven pound a week.

Can't tell what's going to happen round here.

If I leave it too late, I shall be past it.

I don't want to go.

Going for her, really, I suppose.

What do you do?

Don't know what union's up to these days.

You get a feeling they're outside the bosses these days sometimes.

Bosses?

Oh, on the call board, you know.

How long, old lord, how long?

Eh?

It's your own damn fault.

Eh?

If you've got to complain against the union, it's your own damn fault, I said.

I've done out.

It's a democratic process.

They're voted on by you.

Don't come complaining to me about the union.

I didn't vote them on.

I never vote.

Except to go back to work or stop out.

I've never voted in me life, me.

It's not my fault.

By bloody hell!

What's funny about it?

Can't say old funny about it.

Cornwall, eh?

When you get past there, you're in the sea, aren't you?

Aye.

I reckon.

Like lemmings.

Into the bloody sea.

Give her a visit, eh?

Sarah?

Sam.

I was just going upstairs.

I'll be down in a minute.

You've been having a lazy day.

You know how it is.

You get stuck by the fire.

I've tried to get her to go out, but she'll not budge.

I'm glad you've come.

You can laugh, but it's true.

I don't believe it.

Honestly.

Eileen.

I'm trying to do some work.

I'm sorry.

Oh, I'll go.

Don't go on yet.

I know when to go.

I've plenty to do any road.

House is a full-time job for anybody.

Why don't you come round to our house later on if you feel like it and watch telly?

All them politicians with their lies.

Tell you what.

We'll write down all the promises on a bit of paper and see how many they live up to.

Cheeky bee.

Well, you asked for it.

You didn't have to be so rude.

You could see I was trying to work.

You want to try using your brain with a lot of women cackling?

But I can't use for it.

I don't have, can I, Frank?

I mean, I don't have a brain, do I?

You know that better than anyone else.

You've made it very plain.

When?

All the time.

Like after your father was here this morning.

I mean, all that ranting and raving.

You couldn't tell me what it was about, could you?

Oh, no, that's all over my head.

Politics.

Just for men.

I'm the one that gets told the tales and has to vote for the best of a bad job.

Oh, that's right.

Run away.

Run away.

It's closed.

I know.

I've just realised it's Sunday.

You don't even know which day of the week it is, do you?

There's no one talking.

Thanks.

It's quite up here, eh?

Yes.

Your dad says you don't get out enough.

Does he?

What do you say?

What am I supposed to say?

Whose idea was it?

A divorce?

Mutual.

How will you manage it?

David will provide the evidence for...

what do they call it?

Infidelity.

Adultery.

What a farce it all is.

What a joke.

Why don't you laugh then, if it's that funny?

Oh, shut up.

Go on then, laugh.

I'll hit you in a minute.

That's more like it.

Experimenting.

Didn't do me much good last time, happened.

Went off and married another chap.

Oh, wanted to marry me, did you?

No.

No, on your damn will you didn't.

Any more than you do now.

It's marriage that worries me, Sarah.

Not you.

We're mates, aren't we?

Is that what you call it?

It's the biggest compliment a woman can have from a man, that.

Go on.

What are you doing here?

Where's your grandad?

Oh, I've got to knock.

Can't you see, darling?

Look what I found knocking at the door.

I've been asleep.

Was he trying to wake me then?

Oh, what a thing.

Oh, did he want his grandad?

He daft old grandad, eh?

You want something to drink, don't you?

Yeah, I'll take him.

I'll see to him.

There we are.

What are you back for?

It's closed.

We forgot it's Sunday.

I'll take him upstairs when he's had his drink.

I'll not be down again.

Well, you can't go to bed at this time.

No, I'm a bit fragged.

It'll do me no harm.

I'll not come down again.

I like you, don't you?

Sleep well.

Come on, then.

Let's be seen to you.

Daft old grandad.

Daft old grandad.

You'll be hungry.

No, I'm not.

It was somewhere to go, that's all.

Night out.

For me?

For both of us.

Whose idea?

Jesse or Cass?

Mine.

Truly?

Don't say that.

Oh, what?

Imply I'm an object of charity?

I'm not proud, you know.

I came to take you out because I wanted to.

I'm grateful.

I'm sorry I was such a mess when you arrived.

Oh, such a mess I am.

Sure are.

Do you know you're the only man, apart from my husband,

my ex-husband soon to be, that I've ever been to bed with?

Am I?

I know it's no record, but it's not bad, is it?

Not bad.

And it was only the once.

And I've no regrets about it ever.

Not one.

I'm embarrassing you, aren't I?

No.

I think I could be quite promiscuous.

You know, given the chance.

I feel I could sometimes.

It's good to be wanted, isn't it?

For something, at least.

It's more to life than sex, Sarah.

Straight from the horse's mouth.

Best place to get it from, isn't it?

Yes.

What do you think I get from life?

A damn sight more than I get, Sam.

Probably because you deserve it more.

I put nothing into life.

Why should I expect to get anything out?

What do you want?

Almost anything but what I've got, perhaps.

A failed marriage.

A boy I haven't been able to keep a father for.

He'll not thank me for that as he grows up, will he?

I am not all that against you.

What do you know about it?

About as much as anybody.

You're me mum all over again.

You're talking about me, Sarah.

Can you hutch up a bit so I can get in?

Sorry?

That's all right.

Oh, didn't you mean that?

Sorry for what?

For taking up the bed, of course.

Oh, I see.

I thought you might have meant sorry for being nasty downstairs.

I wasn't.

You were nasty to yourself.

Running yourself down, assuming things, putting words into my mouth.

Look, I know I'm not bright.

In fact, I'm probably not far off stupid.

There's a lot like me.

And if I'm not given a chance to understand, what

hope is there for the rest of them that's like me?

Not much of a compliment to you, is it?

What isn't?

Being voted into Parliament by a bunch of morons.

Look what the rest of the population is going to say.

Look what those morons have voted into Parliament to run us lives for us.

There's a lot through that wall, you know.

And so did five doors, but one I should think the way you were going on.

Why don't you go and make it up with him?

He's not a bad old stick.

He started it.

Oh, it's childish.

There'd be a row.

The biggest you've ever heard.

He'd hang on to it and worry it like a terrier.

What?

His old bogeyman that he thinks has gotten into me.

And has it?

It's not a simple situation, Eileen.

Oh, I see.

Go to sleep, Eileen.

I mean, it's not simple for anybody, not just you.

Plain as day to you, though, isn't it?

No.

You sooner had have stopped at teaching instead of going into politics, wouldn't you?

Yes, I would.

Well, why didn't you say so?

Would it have made any difference if I had?

It might.

It'll come between us.

I don't see why it should.

It'll come between you and your dad.

Only in his mind.

And what about my mind?

Suppose I decide I don't agree with you.

Why shouldn't you?

Well, you wouldn't like it if I did.

I'd have to live with it, though, wouldn't I?

You wouldn't say that if I was worth 10,000 volts.

You're saying it for peace and quiet.

I'm not.

Well, I shall give you no peace, you know.

You'll not pull the wool over my eyes.

I don't want to pull the wool over anybody's eyes.

Then tell me what you are.

Where you stand.

You're like Dad, are you?

You want to put a tag on me?

I want to know what goes on inside your mind.

I live with you.

I share this bed with you.

Why don't you ask me what I'd like to be?

It couldn't be a better measure of a man than what he achieves.

Life comes across what you want to make of yourself.

Life and your own limitations.

You'd like to be like your dad, would you?

In a way, I can.

I mean, Dad and those like him...

they're the best of all generation of working men.

Spat on, belittled, undervalued.

But there's no real rancour in him.

No real malice.

Not the kind you carry to the grave.

For all he blows off steam.

He'd shake the hand of anybody the hell there's out to him.

Trouble is, he's shaken a few that he took to be honest and turned out otherwise.

It soured him a bit.

And you?

What do you want?

A gift from God to tell you what's honest and what's lies?

It's not all that difficult.

He's fighting it in the right way that's difficult.

In the open, honestly.

There's a temptation to be devious.

To be clever instead of honestly angry.

To become the thing you're fighting against.

To be just another politician.

Oi!

Oh, it's thee.

I brought thee a pint bottle from Cal.

Well, I shouldn't have done that.

Here, I'll give thee brass for it.

Nay, I'll not.

It's a present.

A what?

A present it is.

Am I lost touch then?

Is it Christmas?

Hey, go on, get it down there.

Ben Raistret were in Cal.

I took him on.

You did what?

He were talking politics, so I took him on.

I'll give him a bit of me tongue.

You should have had more damn sense then.

He can run thee into the ground when it comes to words, can Ben Raistret.

Aye, he didn't though.

I had him.

The lads were with me in the road.

What did you say to him?

I don't know.

I got all flushed up like and he'd just come out.

I've been trying to remember all the way back what I said.

It must have been right though, because the lads were with me.

I can do it when I want, you know.

I didn't shame thee.

You'll be up early in the morning to get to work, won't you?

Aye.

I'll get up and make the breakfast.

I can manage.

Don't tell us, burn the bacon.

Go on.

My God, you'll never be rich.

How much tea do you put in here?

Five.

Five bloody shovelfuls, you mean.

Dad.

A bit of fraction, that's all.

Will you be coming campus in tomorrow night?

I support the Labour Party, don't I?

Aye.

I shall be coming canvassing then, shan't I?

You want me to lend a hand?

Aye, if you can spare the time, thanks.

Hadn't you better put him straight on what he'll be working for?

He'll be working for Labour, same as you.

Aye, but I had to choose, hadn't I?

If I turn me back on you, I had to turn me back on Labour the way things are.

You might at least give him the choice.

What choice?

He found an old Communist Party card of mine from before the war.

And he's given me an up-to-date one, haven't you, Dad?

In his mind, he has.

Frank's not a Communist, Grandad.

Is that a fact?

Ask him.

Go on, bloody ask him.

I've asked him.

A bloody McCarthy, I'd call me.

I don't need to ask him.

Don't you?

You can tell him, can't you, by the badges they wear, by the flags they bloody fly.

Tell him what he wants to know, Frank.

Would you believe me?

Of course he'll believe you.

Tell him you believe him, Grandad.

They say there's 20 to 30 Communists or fellow travellers

in the present government masquerading as Labour.

Crypto-Communists, they call them.

Do they admit it?

Of course they don't.

If they did, they'd be expelled from the party.

And if they were expelled from the party, they'd

not get in under the banner of Labour, would they?

They've got no option but to do as they do.

Because if they didn't, nobody'd bloody vote for them, would they?

Tell him, Frank.

What about the unions, Dad?

Same bloody tale.

They get voted on because they do the work.

They do what nobody else seems willing to do.

Give the time for the kind of world they want.

Listening to them, are you?

Taking it in, are you?

I give my time, don't I?

They used to say you were a Communist in the old days.

You had a big following down in little Moscow.

Where's your CP card, Dad?

Don't you chuck your bloody red earrings at me, my lad.

God's gift to the Tories.

That's what the Communist Party is.

They talk about the proletariat.

They sin against the proletariat because they divide the ranks of socialism.

They don't give a bugger for the proletariat against what they want for themselves.

Their bloody world, their bloody dogma, them in

charge and the rest to do as they're told or else.

Power they want over me and him and the rest of us.

Hand over you when your stomach turns against them in the end.

I'm the proletariat.

And they take off me the thing that I value most.

The right to speak against them.

Them!

Come out in the open, Frank.

Play it straight.

You think I'm not?

You know what to do, don't you?

Vote against me.

We live in a democratic society, Dad.

Make it work.