finish. Thanks, and I hope everyone has an excellent day. There are major demos all over France, where May Day is still a relatively politicised event with a lot of union participation. The only downside is the obligatory presence of bandwagon-hitching politicians hoping to get their mugs and soundbites in the press... "Beltane is a rural pre-Christian prehistoric tradition which saw communities come together after long winters of isolation," she says. "It marked their connection not just to nature but to each other. That need to belong to something or someone hasn't changed. We can be just as isolated living in the city or in a town as the ancient Britons were in their round houses." The roots go back many centuries before industrialisation and its essence of community spirit and the celebration of the arrival of summer lends itself well to the struggle of workers to free themselves from the excessive demands of the owners of the industrial means of production. The recent political history of a workers' struggle against oppression is impressive, but leftwing ideology has often been weakened by not acknowledging ancient folk and spiritual traditions, even demeaning them, preferring to see everything in terms of historical materialist narratives. Beltane, fire festivals to mark the beginning of summer, wildness and celebration, all these things should be incorporated into May Day festivals (and in some sense, that rebellious spirit drives the celebrations). It is far deeper than Morris Dancers with bells in quaint villages dancing around the Maypole!