The Fleet Street disaster

The book describes the restrictive trade practices - the "old Spanish customs" they were known as - common to the skilled and unskilled print unions in the British newspaper industry up until the 1970s. Most of them had never previously been revealed, and the book had a substantial impact on the subsequent political developments that led to the re-establishment of management control under the Thatcher government.

The history of the development of union dominance in the industry is traced in the historical sections of the book back to the 17th century.