tankie

[W]e also desired to shock the staid older party members and the tankies. The tankies and softliners differed as to what sort of magazine Challenge should be.

As far as the Sparklies were concerned the new comics were scruffy herberts who shouted ‘Fuck Thatcher’ over and over, while raving Tankie Stalinists hooted indiscriminately in the front row.

Obviously a thrust by the tankies over the ridge and through the minefield was just not on, there and then in broad daylight, a fact they appeared to recognise. At that stage the Germans were well positioned to give them a warm reception with their powerful 88s and other artillery.

The "tankies", as they were known, shunted empty carriages from Copley Hill sidings onto the buffers at Leeds […]