Is it time we gave the miners thing a rest?

[Noob]

Bores me to death when people start banging on about the miners and their whinging. So yes, give it a rest.

[Agent Orange]

Perhaps more to the point, why were they told their pits would stay open if they went back to work, then afterwards they were closed anyway.

 

Exactly. The Nottinghamshire miners were promised job security in exchange for their loyalty. However, the Conservative government lied through their teeth and made them redundant just like all the other miners. They were well and truly shafted, so to speak.

[Mr Prime]

The stated aim of the strike was not to protect jobs but to bring down the government. In that respect their efforts to overturn democracy and bring in a left wing dictatorship did make them the enemey within.

 

Let's not forget, the NUM started the whole thing. If there had been no strike and the miners simply done as their bosses told them, there would still be a mining industry in Britain today.

 

Exactly how was the strike if victorious going to tuen Britain into a left wing dictatorship? I have heard this many times but heard no details of exactly how this was going to happen, perhaps you can explain how the strike victory would have made this happen?

 

Your second paragraph is pure naivete. The profitable mining industry of the early 90's dominated by willing servants in Nottinghamshire was closed down almost overnight and reduced to a handful of pits.

 

The NUM started nothing. In 81 there was a wildcat walk out that the NUM leadership refused to back. Scargill and others ordered miners back to work. Ballots were held between then and 83 asking if national strike action was backed and these voted no so no strike. Then Thatcher decided to throw down the gauntlet at Cortonwood, in Scargill's backyard at a pit that had just had investment and a 5 year target set. This is basic knowledge and anyone making bold statements on the strike should have researched their facts first.

[Mr Prime]

You really ought to grow up if you're still using the childish abuse term "scab". The Nottinghamshire miners were the true heroes of the strike, the ones who realised it was unwinnable and that going back to work was the wisest option. We should be proud of brave men like that, who must have been incredibly courageous to run the gauntlet of Scargill's thugs in order to do the honourable thing.

 

As to why the Nottinghamshire pits closed, I can only assume that they were uneconomical. What's the point in producing thousands of tons of coal if no-one wanted it at the time?

 

Why don't you look up scab in the Oxford English dictionary?

 

The Notts 'men' were naive fools who blinded by a new Ford Granada and nice semi D's kidded themselves the letter from Thatcher meant something.

 

Scargill's thugs were thousands and thousands of men who represented the majority, not some small clique of hit men. Traitors are always despised by the majority throughout human history.

 

The Notts pits were profitable at their time of closure as were others like Hatfield which I believe has recently re opened under Russian management.

[esme]

here's a question

 

given that no government can tie the hands of the next government with legislation, because the next government can simply undo it

 

the Conservatives effectively shut down all the pits and passed legislation that crippled the ability of the miners unions to fight back with strike action

 

so Labour then came to power and stayed there for thirteen years

 

why didn't Labour reopen the pits and tear up the anti union legislation ?, the pits hadn't been closed very long it would have been relatively cheap to reopen them in the early days, admittedly the longer the wait the more expensive it got

 

but they had thirteen years to reopen the mines and didn't, why not ?

[Mr Prime]

here's a question

 

given that no government can tie the hands of the next government with legislation, because the next government can simply undo it

 

the Conservatives effectively shut down all the pits and passed legislation that crippled the ability of the miners unions to fight back with strike action

 

so Labour then came to power and stayed there for thirteen years

 

why didn't Labour reopen the pits and tear up the anti union legislation ?, the pits hadn't been closed very long it would have been relatively cheap to reopen them in the early days, admittedly the longer the wait the more expensive it got

 

but they had thirteen years to reopen the mines and didn't, why not ?

 

The mines needed constant maintenance to deal with subsidence, gas and water. The Tories obviously were not going to mothball the pits with an army of maintenance engineers working away for years just in case a new government wanted to re open them. The mines were also privatised so by the time Labour came in whatever was left were owned by private companies.

 

As for anti union legislation Blair agreed with it even if members of his cabinet did not. The intellectuals behind new Labour had nothing in common with Geoff and Pete from Barnsely or Doncaster and therefore no empathy. They did bring in reform to ensure union recognition if a majority of the workforce agreed with it.

[esme]

nonetheless the pits could have been renationalised and reopened, it would have been expensive but not impossible, they could be reopened now

 

I never knew Mr Blair agreed with the anti union legislation, thanks for letting me know

[Mr Prime]

I also remember hearing that some mines had cement poured down them or were sealed off with cement. Not sure how accurate that is but the point being made was they were closed beyond the point of no return to stop Labour re opening them.

[artisan]

Could they have accepted a pay cut?

 

They could have said they would work for nothing, but it would have cut no ice.

Thatcher was determined to destroy the Miners lock stock and barrel.

In her warped traitorous mind, the workers were the enemy.

The Miners, as the accepted leaders of the working class had to go in order to feed her fantasies, of a society without a working class.

 

Instead she created the Frankenstien Monster we have today.

Whole families who have never worked for 2 generations, horrible drug addicted feral youths, no go areas in many of our towns and cities, the list is endless.

 

If you think that communities were not affected by this vindictive butchering of them, I recommend a tour around West Yorkshire, to see for yourself.

 

She can never be forgiven, for her crime is the worst one ever visited by a leader of this country upon its people.

 

That is, Wholesale destruction, and the removal of all ambition and hope from a vast swathe of our people.

[artisan]

I also remember hearing that some mines had cement poured down them or were sealed off with cement. Not sure how accurate that is but the point being made was they were closed beyond the point of no return to stop Labour re opening them.

 

Nearly every pit was back filled and capped off.

200 years of energy sitting underground, wasted because of one womans perverted ideas.

No wonder she is still alive, even the Devil has no further use for her.