[Pierre]

There's still lots of coal in the UK. Problem now is though, where the pits once where are now industrial units or "eco" towns.

The cost to reopen many closed pits, at the moment, are to prohibitive. But the price of coal will go up. Everybody I know has ripped out, or is planning to rip out, their gas fires and are replacing them with open fires or stoves. So the demand may make it viable to reopen some pits.

In regards to the strike, the unions needed breaking. They had already destroyed the motor industry and had held the country to ransom in previous years with powercuts and blackouts a plenty.

I have no sympathy for the miners, had they held adult talks witht he government and accepted that change was necessary we might have had more of a coal industry than we do now.