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The workers at the condemned Peugeot plant at Ryton near Coventry, stupefied by the confirmation of what they had long feared, survey an empty horizon for alternatives to acceptance. Once, at about the time some of the Ryton workers got their first jobs, there would have been no need to think. They would go on strike.

A strike in defence of the Ryton jobs in those far-off days would be supported by car workers across the country. There would be mass demonstrations in sympathy. There would probably be talks at No 10, or at least tea at the Department of Employment (RIP).

In the end, the government would intervene: a contract would be found, a subsidy paid out, jobs would be saved ... until the next time, at least.

This week, the trade union leaders who talked of a strike got little support from the workers. "What's the point," one asked, "they'd only shut us down sooner."

When you know you and 2,300 others are headed for the job centre, there is little appetite for risking the mortgage.

Strikes don't happen any more. In 2004, the last year for which figures are available, there were just 130 stoppages in the whole year.

Catering workers are sacked for refusing to take lower pay. Migrant workers die in one of the most blatant cases of exploitation since the abolition of slavery. The even tenor of Britain's industrial life is undisturbed.

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This was to have been the Golden Age when, to live in comfort, we would have found it necessary to seek three or four days of paid employment per week.