The Miner's Strike - 25 years ago yesterday..

Yes, and your namesake Mr Scargill was the voice of reason, who had no ill feelings towards the Tories.......

Then, as now, discussion of this issue just descends into petty tribal squabbling. I'd say class warfare, but that's to ignore the fact that back then most of the working-class Press was against the strike.

The fact that families and communities are still divided over this and prepared to use petty, pathetic playground insults like 'scab' tells me all I need to know.

[Arthurgray50@blu]

ChrisCFT, l agree with what you are saying, when l read this article about this mine that is still going, It brought up the 'scab' problem, and how it has cut ties with members of families today, I can always remember, l was working in Wales at the time, and saw the Lorries full of coal coming towards the Severn Bridge, under police convoy, and it brought a lump to my throat.

The Mining Industry was brought to its knees by an old bag of a woman, who tore the heart out of the working industry as we know it, I am very proud of my father, who worked down the mines, and taught me right from wrong, and how respect others peoples views, and respect people as they are and too talk it over instead of fighting.

I fully support the mining folk, as they stood for what is right, sometimes they were wrong, but this is part of life, and you have to live with it.

[Julian]

I don't imagine that David Wilkie's family will look back with anything other than utter contempt for some miners.

[piggy]

Originally Posted by Julian

I don't imagine that David Wilkie's family will look back with anything other than utter contempt for some miners.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_David_Wilkie

reference for our younger readers

Originally Posted by Chris

And expecting deep coal mines to be profitable, efficient operations was an alien concept to Scargillites.

have to say i agree with chris on this.Even my father who was a deputy down the local pit said the pits weren't run very efficiently and something needed to be done
whether "maggies way"was the right way is a matter of opinion ,i agreed with alot of the changes she made to the country , and in SOME ways,NOT all i think we are better off
however i do think that now is right time to look at re-opening some of the pits,given the level of modern technology compared to 25yrs ago i think we could make a much better job of it

[LondonRoad]

Originally Posted by martyh

however i do think that now is right time to look at re-opening some of the pits,given the level of modern technology compared to 25yrs ago i think we could make a much better job of it

Most if not all, abandoned pits can't be reopened without spending an unrealistically large amount of money and untried engineering. Once a pit is allowed to flood and fall into disrepair it's gone for good.

[Arthurgray50@blu]

If they decided to re -open the mines tomorrow, the mining families would all get together and dance with joy. And bring plenty of employment to those effected areas.

And with all the money this government and that governments before have waisted on new contraptions to create energy for the future, we have got that under the soil, we still import coal, so why not create our own.

Originally Posted by harmitage

Most if not all, abandoned pits can't be reopened without spending an unrealistically large amount of money and untried engineering. Once a pit is allowed to flood and fall into disrepair it's gone for good.

i agree that is the problem .It was very shortsighted of the gov. to allow this to happen some of the larger pits should have been maintained .I do remember it was a big political issue at the time (shortley after the strike and the pits started to close ) but as usual maggie got her way and had them closed instead of mothballed
maybe the gov. should look at long term spending over say 10-15yrs to re-open some of the larger ones or even sink new shafts in new fields ..if there are new fields to be found

---------- Post added at 21:20 ---------- Previous post was at 21:18 ----------

Originally Posted by Arthurgray50@blu

If they decided to re -open the mines tomorrow, the mining families would all get together and dance with joy. And bring plenty of employment to those effected areas.

And with all the money this government and that governments before have waisted on new contraptions to create energy for the future, we have got that under the soil, we still import coal, so why not create our own.

would the youth of today work down the pit?

[Arthurgray50@blu]

I think the youths of today, Would go down the pit, it would give them an sight into the fact, that they are producing something.

The mining industry brought familes together, and with all the gear available, it would not be too long to produce the coal within a month and to meet health and safety needs.

Youths and say for example young lads and lasses who have been before the beak, could take an offer go and get trained to go down the pit and earn money and repay society or face other dull duties. You would be surpised at what incentives that would give them.

Originally Posted by Arthurgray50@blu

I think the youths of today, Would go down the pit, it would give them an sight into the fact, that they are producing something.

The mining industry brought familes together, and with all the gear available, it would not be too long to produce the coal within a month and to meet health and safety needs.

Youths and say for example young lads and lasses who have been before the beak, could take an offer go and get trained to go down the pit and earn money and repay society or face other dull duties. You would be surpised at what incentives that would give them.

i would love to agree with you ,i think a month is a bit optomistic though,
seriously though i know it would be a huge challenge both financialy and in engineering but wouldn't it be great if a gov. decided to invest in re-opening pits
it could put us back on the world stage as far as engineering breakthroughs are concerned, it would be a huge challenge but well worth it to bring back some self esteem to this once great manufacturing nation
after all, you can't run a country on kebab shops and supermarkets

Originally Posted by martyh

after all, you can't run a country on kebab shops and supermarkets

No, and you can't run it on an environmentally disastrous fuel like coal, either. Let's not forget that the carbon capture technology that has been postulated has never been shown to work on a commercial scale, let alone work profitably. It will be many years before we can hope to run coal-fired power stations that do not make a nasty big contribution to climate change.

We would be better off showing our engineering prowess as a nation by seeing how much wind and wave energy we can harness.

[LondonRoad]

Yes, with you on that Chris. Unfortunately, successive governments have failed to invest in the home educated talent that could drive forward advances in the utilisation of wind, wave and even cleaner fossil fuel technology.

We're going to be stuck with fossil fuels as a major energy player for sometime to come. The fuel will have nearly run out before our leaders give other means of generating energy the priority it urgently merits.

[Flyboy]

Originally Posted by harmitage

I agree although I don't think the outcome would have been different. It was a strike that was always going to be lost. The human cost was not important to Thatcher, she was hell bent on revenge for what the unions did to previous Tory administrations. Thatcher had the support of the press, especially the red tops, and hence the British public.

It's interesting that Scargill recently revealed that their had been strike deals agreed on 5 separate occasions and the first four were sabotaged by Thatcher.

They may will be flawed recollections but I wouldn't really be surprised if it was the case. I suspect that Thatcher knew she had won but wanted to make the victory final.

Precisely, Thatcher would have just changed the law, to suit her agenda. Even if there had been an overwhelming majority, she would have declared it illegal and forced another until reached the result she wanted.

Originally Posted by Flyboy

Precisely, Thatcher would have just changed the law, to suit her agenda. Even if there had been an overwhelming majority, she would have declared it illegal and forced another until reached the result she wanted.

a) The "evidence" is hearsay, supplied by Mr Scargill, not exactly an uninterested party in the dispute, who may have an interest in rewriting history to perhaps show him in a more favourable light.

b) "changing the law to suit her agenda" - supposition, not fact - I beg to differ on your premise. Under that viewpoint, it would be equally as valid to state that even if Arthur Scargill had held a ballot and lost, he would still have held an illegal strike - it is too easy to rewrite history to support one side or the other of a viewpoint by changing facts.