Why did the Labour government close so many coal mines?

[Bonzo77]

She improved the country as a whole; It was a minority of people that were affected negatively by her policies, but you can't make an omlette without breaking a few eggs.

 

I'm not saying everythings rosey, perhaps she shoulden't have deregulated the banking industry as much as she did for instance; but on the whole we all benefit now greatly thanks to Thatcher. Imagine the downward spiral this country would have gone in had Labour stayed in power through the eighties.

 

Nothing you will EVER say will convince me that making millions of people unemployed was a good thing.

 

You will never convince me that hiring the met police to beat the living crap out of miners having a sit down protest, was a good idea.

 

How close did this country come to total financial meltdown in 2008? Would that have happened if the banks were still regulated?

 

Would we see energy prices shooting up as quickly as they are if our services weren't privertised and sold to greedy fat cat city billionaires who want to do nothing but make as much money as possible??

 

I could go on repeating what you've already read on other posts. Things have started going round and round in circles now & I'm beginning to get bored of it.

 

But as long as you know one thing, that you will never, ever convince me that Thatcher was anything other than an evil barbaric witch.

 

I know it's quite selfish, but I was happier when I heard Thatcher had died than when the US shot Bin Laden or captured Saddam, or when the wall came down, or any other significant historical event that liberated millions of people!

[harvey19]

It amazes me the uproar there is about the steel and mining industries but no one seems to be concerned about the loss of the cutlery trade in Sheffield.

As I remember the steel workers got massive redundancy payments helped out by the EU not sure about the miners.

[mossdog]

There is nothing wrong with closing down the filthy industry that took the lives and health of thousands of men over decades. The issue I have with the Tory decimation of heavy industry is that they did it on a grand scale with absolutely no regard to the consequences for the communities who relied on those industries for their very existence. Mines and steel works closed with nothing to replace them. Money, jobs and hope sucked out of towns and villages across Wales and northern England

 

The Tories vindictive hatred of unions and their members overshadowed everything and we will see the consequences for generations to come.

Don't think she had a hatred for the Union movement itself,it was more down to some of the politically motivated characters in charge of the unions that led to their own downfall.

[MrSmith]

wheres the links to show your figures ? 1 in 5 households are now in debt according to uswitch not all that cheap then http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2013/apr/09/households-debt-energy-supplier-uswitch

 

In the post you quoted.

[Chris_Sleeps]

but the MO of the union movement is anti-modernisation, because it's in their vested interests to stay inefficient.

Not really, because it caused such problems that ultimately led to their downfall. The previous governments, especially Labour, should have taken the political power away from the Unions. Democratically elected government shouldn't be dictated to.

 

The ideal should be healthy unions which work with business, not against it; and employers that can make money and have a trained, healthy, dedicated labour market.

 

Maybe I'm being an idealist and expecting capitalism without the conflict, but I just feel the whole thing was a mess. Pre-Thatcher was a mess, and Post-Thatcher is equally flawed.in different ways. A business being subsidised is worthless, and a country in which millionaires prosper and others freeze homeless in the snow is equally unjust.

[Owethemnowt]

Heath was humiliated and lost office due to the Winter of Discontent. A Tory Government went out.

 

Thatcher back satbbed Heath for the leadership and took on the Unions. First, she had coal stock piled; a year's supply. Then turned to the Miners.

 

In defeating this industry, by way of then closing 140 pits and leaving only 14 she signalled her intention to reign in the power of ALL unions.

 

Remember, the difference with Wilson and Callaghan, is that they re-structured the industry, tough as it was. They down sized and streamlined.

 

Thatcher decimated it. Jobs were cut as she continued her policies of privatisation which lead directly to furtehr job losses across all industries. The Steel industry went; utilities were privatised and banking de-regulated. All of which realised massive job losses.

 

The cruel economic policies of Thatcher delivered no support or safety net within a civilised society. That is where she differs from any other PM. Her extreme single minded belief, one without regard of others views, isolated her and resulted in the Poll Tax.

 

She was simply out of touch.

 

She used the Miners in the same way as she used the Falklands. That was to merely achieve a political agenda. The former to smash all unions, she'd had Wapping already when she welcomed MURDOCH to Britain, and the latter was to sacrifice British soldiers in order to win an elction.

 

She hated the working classes.

 

She made a very few, primarily the private sector and City Bankers, extremely rich. Whilst at the same time she increased the numbers of those living in Poverty. That being the first reversal in over a 100 years of economic progress for the poor.

 

She made her own family [ Mark ] extremely rich through his personal involvement in arms sales. She also abused her power in misusing assets in having the RAF search for him when lost in the desert during a car rally!

 

She made whole estates suffer from a starvation of funding after she'd sold off council houses in order to win votes in non-tory areas.

 

It is her overall cruel, vindictive and extreme policies, the worst of which was the Poll Tax, that singles her out from all other politicians that do have to take the tough decisions.

 

Remember, they call it 'Thatcherism.' Not Torism. And the Tories abandoned her as she did the communities of Britain. She became toxic to the Tory party itself long after she became toxic to the working families of Britain.

 

She was shunned by the Tories as she was shunned by the people.

 

She remained isolated once ejected from office.

 

Cameron has a fine balancing act of making the right noises whilst not aligning himself with her.

 

Whereas ordinary people can express their true feelings openly. Hence, the outpouring of vilification for this egotistical monster that sacrificed much of Britain in favour of so few.

 

The greed we see every where today was initiated by Thatcher' Loadsamoney City Bankers and the attitude that selfish is good society is bad.

 

Oh, nearly forgot ................. ''no such thing as scoiety''.

 

Really Margaret?

 

Ding Dong.

[AdamSmith]

Heath was humiliated and lost office due to the Winter of Discontent. A Tory Government went out.

 

Thatcher back satbbed Heath for the leadership and took on the Unions. First, she had coal stock piled; a year's supply. Then turned to the Miners.

 

In defeating this industry, by way of then closing 140 pits and leaving only 14 she signalled her intention to reign in the power of ALL unions.

 

Remember, the difference with Wilson and Callaghan, is that they re-structured the industry, tough as it was. They down sized and streamlined.

 

Thatcher decimated it. Jobs were cut as she continued her policies of privatisation which lead directly to furtehr job losses across all industries. The Steel industry went; utilities were privatised and banking de-regulated. All of which realised massive job losses.

 

The cruel economic policies of Thatcher delivered no support or safety net within a civilised society. That is where she differs from any other PM. Her extreme single minded belief, one without regard of others views, isolated her and resulted in the Poll Tax.

 

She was simply out of touch.

 

She used the Miners in the same way as she used the Falklands. That was to merely achieve a political agenda. The former to smash all unions, she'd had Wapping already when she welcomed MURDOCH to Britain, and the latter was to sacrifice British soldiers in order to win an elction.

 

She hated the working classes.

 

She made a very few, primarily the private sector and City Bankers, extremely rich. Whilst at the same time she increased the numbers of those living in Poverty. That being the first reversal in over a 100 years of economic progress for the poor.

 

She made her own family [ Mark ] extremely rich through his personal involvement in arms sales. She also abused her power in misusing assets in having the RAF search for him when lost in the desert during a car rally!

 

She made whole estates suffer from a starvation of funding after she'd sold off council houses in order to win votes in non-tory areas.

 

It is her overall cruel, vindictive and extreme policies, the worst of which was the Poll Tax, that singles her out from all other politicians that do have to take the tough decisions.

 

Remember, they call it 'Thatcherism.' Not Torism. And the Tories abandoned her as she did the communities of Britain. She became toxic to the Tory party itself long after she became toxic to the working families of Britain.

 

She was shunned by the Tories as she was shunned by the people.

 

She remained isolated once ejected from office.

 

Cameron has a fine balancing act of making the right noises whilst not aligning himself with her.

 

Whereas ordinary people can express their true feelings openly. Hence, the outpouring of vilification for this egotistical monster that sacrificed much of Britain in favour of so few.

 

The greed we see every where today was initiated by Thatcher' Loadsamoney City Bankers and the attitude that selfish is good society is bad.

 

Oh, nearly forgot ................. ''no such thing as scoiety''.

 

Really Margaret?

 

Ding Dong.

 

your user name probably sums you up far more than your vitriolic postings:suspect: thats a huge chip on your shoulder borne out of jealousy like you and a few others on here conveniently forget how labour destroyed this country far more than thatcher including shutting pits....whats that phrase "labour isnt working"

[harvey19]

Oh, nearly forgot ................. ''no such thing as scoiety''.

 

.

Apparently this is only a tiny section of her full quote and used out of context.

The full quote has been posted if you are interested on this or a similar thread.

[ricgem2002]

In the post you quoted.

so you were wrong then

[Chris_Sleeps]

The other thing I dislike about this past week's coverage has been the notion that Thatcher was a core Conservative, with good old fashioned conservative values. She was an outright radical, and at times dragged her own party and cabinet kicking and screaming through her policies. She opposed socialism, but her own party were another barrier to what she wanted to achieve, and ultimately her own party were the cause of her demise.

 

This festival of praise is so visibly shallow from certain parts.