Adrienne Rich has died at the age of 82 and was working at the coalface of poetry right up till near the very end.
Hamm is not self-consciously Hollywood, showy or full of himself, which probably comes from several years working at the coalface of showbusiness and before that as a waiter and a teacher.
When Iain Duncan Smith resigned on Friday, claiming in his resignation letter "the latest changes to benefits to the disabled and the context in which they've been made are a compromise too far", many people working at the coalface in deprived communities around the country took his words with a considerable pinch of salt.
It also highlights that the rot starts at the top, damaging the bottom and that it is support for people working at the coalface, rather than the creation of more chiefs and czars that is likely to sort out child abuse issues in the long term.
Passing was his bread and butter, his raison d'être: his wonderful technique allowed him to create and maintain a consistent and well-oiled link between the hard-working coalface merchants in the tight five and the runners in the outside backs.
The joy of working at the existential coalface, capturing a moment when and where it happens: this has a special, honest urgency beside which the long game can seem unnaturally contrived.
"We don't work at the coalface, we don't work with the victims".
Those who should know – the naval, medical and social welfare officers who work at the coalface in the southern Mediterranean – have reacted with unanimous horror.
However, Brendan Quinn, who works at the coalface of worker burnout at The Causeway Retreat mental health clinic, says the recession makes it more important than ever that we take time off work.
Experience matters more than a further, more vocational degree — digital is constantly changing and evolving, and to work at the coalface is the most valuable way to find out what areas of the industry you are most interested in.
"I work at the coalface of those who have been diagnosed, and when people share their transmission story I am hearing more women saying they are contracting HIV in this way".
