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For those who recall the dark days of the 1970s and early 80s – when endless strikes and violent mass picketing brought British industry to the brink of ruin – the bully-boy tactics deployed by the Unite union during the recent Grangemouth dispute will have brought a chilling sense of deja vu.
Coordinated by Unite's sinister 'Leverage Unit', mobs of protesters were unleashed to intimidate managers and their families at their homes.
It was a clear attempt to terrify the management into submission.
The Prime Minister described this thuggish dirty tricks campaign - during the Grangemouth dispute - as 'shocking' and called for a thorough investigation
Children, neighbours and even the Grangemouth oil refinery's main customers were targeted.
The Prime Minister yesterday described this thuggish dirty tricks campaign – exposed by the Mail – as 'shocking' and called for a thorough investigation.
So will Labour leader Ed Miliband now launch a full inquiry? Don't hold your breath.
For several hours yesterday he refused to discuss the issue at all.
By evening he was prepared to condemn intimidation in general terms but remained careful not to condemn Unite.
Of course we all know why Mr Miliband is so reluctant to act decisively on both this affair and the Falkirk vote-rigging scandal, which also involves Unite officials.
Unite is by far Labour's biggest donor and its hard-Left boss Len McCluskey has threatened to cut off funding to the party unless it becomes more union-friendly.
Witness Labour's lurch to the Left under Mr Miliband, whose father was a Marxist who believed in the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Unite's hard-Left boss Len McCluskey has threatened to cut off funding to the Labour Party unless it becomes more union-friendly
Unsurprisingly British business leaders, who generally had a good relationship with Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, are becoming extremely nervous.
CBI chief John Cridland last night launched a scathing attack on Mr Miliband's recent socialist rhetoric, saying policies such as the plans to freeze energy prices and put up corporation tax 'raised the hairs on the back of my neck'.
In another disturbing twist, the Mail reveals today that the Unite mobs were provided with free mobile phone calls by a company founded by Andrew Rosenfeld, a significant Labour donor and close friend of Mr Miliband.
Could it be that Mr Miliband knew about Unite's odious Leverage Unit all along?
We repeat: the case for a public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the Labour party grows by the day.
The cost of migration
Despite persistent requests, the Government has steadfastly refused to publish its estimate of how many Romanians and Bulgarians are likely to come to Britain when their nations become full members of the EU next year.
Research by Salford University may reveal why: there are already 200,000 Roma migrants here, predominantly from those countries – four times more than Whitehall estimates of four years ago.
The study stresses this is a conservative estimate – and that's before the restrictions are lifted.
Meanwhile, separate research puts the number of illegal immigrants in Britain at around 863,000.
The annual cost of providing them with healthcare, schools and other public services is nearly 3.7billion.
Such figures are frankly breathtaking, and an insult to those in this country who have paid taxes all their lives and because of exorbitant fuel costs and eroding pensions face poverty in their old age.
The Prime Minister should defy the EU and extend the existing restrictions on migrants from Romania and Bulgaria, or at least prevent new arrivals claiming State support or social housing until they have worked here long enough to have paid a substantial amount of tax.
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