Gala Today
No deep mines remain in the Durham Coalfield, down from the over hundred that were present at the coalfield's peak. Despite this, the Gala continues to be organised.
The 122nd Gala, held in 2006, attracted over 50,000 people, and approximately 100,000 attended in 2009, making it one of the biggest political gatherings in Europe. During the morning banners are still marched to the racecourse with its tradition of speeches (recent notable speakers have included Tony Benn, Billy Bragg and Ken Livingstone) then in the afternoon to the cathedral.
In 2012 Labour Party leader Ed Miliband addressed the 128th Gala; he was the first Labour Party leader to speak at the Gala for 23 years, the last one being Neil Kinnock in 1989. He praised the event as a "a great North East tradition" and attacked the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government, saying it had "lost a generation of young people". There were several criticisms however, such as protesters that were removed by the police force, and also 14 year old Isaac Duffy, who's video of him questioning and being ignored by Ed Miliband recently went viral.
Read more about this topic: Durham Miners' Gala
Famous quotes containing the words gala and/or today:
“This fat pistache of Belgian grapes exceeds
The total gala of auburn aureoles.
Cochon! Master, the grapes are here and now.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“The late Président de Montesquieu told me that he knew how to be blind—he had been so for such a long time—but I swear that I do not know how to be deaf: I cannot get used to it, and I am as humiliated and distressed by it today as I was during the first week. No philosophy in the world can palliate deafness.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)