Conflict is liberty

I first came across the philosophical assertion that conflict is liberty at the knee of Ralf Dahrendorf, then head of the LSE, in 1975. I have often reflected upon this point subsequently. It has been against this background that I listened to Holding The Line on BBC Radio 4 last week and accordingly bought a copy of Barbara Kingsolver's account of the same name.

In 1983 Barbara Kingsolver went across from her home in Tucson, Arizona, to report on a freelance basis the miners' strike caused by a failure to agree fresh terms at Phelps Dodge's mining interests perhaps 200 miles away. She became more and more absorbed by this strike and encountered the women who stood by their husbands and held the line. It is a terrific read and costs a trifling £10 on Amazon. The breaches of the law engineered by Phelps Dodge are truly shocking.