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Nottingham was hit first: a militia of angry weavers invaded textile mills and smashed up the equipment therein. The surrounding industrial towns suffered next, and then locations in the nearby counties of West Yorkshire and Lancashire were targeted.
Armies of furious artisans would meet on the moors at night to organise manoeuvres for the serious crime of machine breaking. Come morning, the hordes would attack.
They were vicious, making use of death threats, arson and, in at least one instance, assassination.
But even though the Luddites – for it was they – quickly gained popular support following their inception in 1811, they couldn’t stop that to which they objected: the replacement of handlooms with mechanised alternatives.
In my most self-pitying moments I feel like a 19th century owner of a wool mill. There are people out there who object to my professional self. Of course, I never fear for my life or even worry that my keyboard will be set on fire.
I am, however, occasionally told – not always politely – that what I’m doing as an online editor is nonsense, an attempt to force tax professionals to waste their time on their computers instead of knuckling down with their work and then curling up with the latest paper copy of Taxation.
There is, of course, no such conspiracy. Unlike the move to automated looms, which removed the need for expert use and allowed for unskilled labour, provision of offerings such as web-only news, networking groups, tweets and e-newsletters is meant to enhance working people’s lives, not diminish them.
And while I encourage readers to get online, there is absolutely no need for anyone to do so.
I usually assume – quite safely, I think – that most (working) people these days have freely available computers and internet connections, in the same way that I assume more or less everyone has a television and a mobile phone of some kind.
I’m aware, however, that some people don’t have easy access to the web, or they do but they don’t care to spend much time surfing the net.
Those individuals need not fear: living with Taxation’s foldable medium only won’t give you just half the story; you’ll always get the full lowdown thanks to our in-house tax experts and a league of highly capable contributors.
Travel with us down the digital route and you’ll be privy to additional exposition, data and anecdotes, which you’re welcome to acknowledge or ignore as you will.
