{"product_id":"law-and-politics-at-the-peter-oldham-9781509985418","title":"Law and Politics at the National Industrial Relations Court 1970-75: 'Rather Peculiar Things'","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis book gives extraordinary new insights into the legal, political and industrial strife in the UK of the early 1970s, focusing on the National Industrial Relations Court and how its independence came to be injured at a time of national crisis. \u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eConstitutional and employment lawyers, and indeed anyone interested in the history of the times, will not want to be without this deeply researched yet entertaining work. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhen the Heath Government came to power in 1970, it set up the National Industrial Relations Court to referee highly contentious disputes between unions and employers. Regarded with hostility by the labour movement from the start, the Court and its President, Sir John Donaldson, faced mounting suspicion, and were regularly front-page news. When Donaldson jailed five dockers in 1972 - the Pentonville Five - for defying the Court's orders, strikes erupted and the docks closed. With the country's food supplies dwindling, a state of emergency loomed. How had it come to this? Could a way through be found? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis is a revelatory account of the National Industrial Relations Court's defining crisis, set in the context of a wider, and frequently startling, exposition of how Donaldson went about his role as its President. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAuthor Peter Oldham KC fuses decades of experience as a barrister with archival research to shine a bright new light on how and why the Court found itself doing - in Donaldson's own words - 'rather peculiar things'.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Peter Oldham\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1509985417\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781509985418\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Hart Publishing\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/16\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 240\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.00lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.21h x 6.14w x 1.00d","brand":"Peter Oldham","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":47244153291007,"sku":"9781509985418","price":120.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_1e4ac5b6-0eef-4e43-811c-4e0a1d960f90.jpg?v=1758135061","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/law-and-politics-at-the-peter-oldham-9781509985418","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}