miner strike

[bigdaz27]

today its 25 years since the miners strikes started just wunderd what your veiws and memoirs of it history is somthing that intrests me and wanted real peoples opinions

[Smudger105e]

At the time I lived in Sussex and to be honest I only heard about it on the news, and it didn't seem such a big deal.

 

When I moved to Notts/Derbys deep in mining country, and I also work with some ex-Yorkshire miners too, I realised that the feeling run deep and there was real hardship for those involved. It was not just a strike. Saw a guy on the tv today who said when asked about strike breakers said 'I wouldn't talk to them, once a scab always a scab'. Strong words indeed.

[Mr Sam]

im going to try and get to some of the few remaining derelict mines this year, another tradition/industry pretty much dissapearing in this country

[Fishtailparka]

The way I remember it, it was a vicious political battle between Maggie Thatcher and Arthur Scargill. Scargill lost and the miners were the ones that paid the price.

There was a lot more to it than that, and it went back to the strikes that brought the blackouts in the 70s (?). A bit like the government now won't let another oil blockade succeed.

 

Some very savage stuff went on, by all sides back then.

[bigdaz27]

i think Margaret Thatcher should have been sacked buy the queen for what she done and gone before the courts for war crimes

[FredTransit]

Might be a bit more work for me

 

 

On a serious note, a lot of the 'battles' were hyped up. We were still living in Sheffield when it began (actaully the first action was in Mirthyr Tidville in 1983, I researched it for the promo the pic above was set in).

 

We drove through Wath on Dern the day after it was supposed to have been the venue for a pitched battle, and it was supposed to have been trashed. We saw one boarded up shop window.

 

 

Funeral For A Friend - History

[over_head_cam]

All I seem to remember is that Arthur Scargill had hair like 2 shredded wheat

[Daggle]

Speaking to some of the older lads at work and all they tell me is the amount of money they earnt up there coming from Kent. They were earning from the moment they left, till the moment they returned home about a week or 2 later. For that money all it seems most of them did is sit in the back of a Ford Transit and gamble. Some of them wanted new drives back home with ASPOW written into them on the ground, (Arthur Scargill Pays Our Wages)

Plenty of new cars and fridges came out of that strike

 

i can't really comment on my memories, don't really remember it tbh.

[Vista]

i think Margaret Thatcher should have been sacked buy the queen for what she done and gone before the courts for war crimes

 

excuse me? The doris that saved the country from the unions that paralysed its industry throughout the 70's? she deserved a medal for breaking scargill!

[bigdaz27]

she should have been King hung she wasnt intrested in peoples lives just saving a few pound shes scum if she wouldnt have done some of the things she done we wouldnt be in the shit now and what about when she orderd the argentinien ship to be blown up when it was retreating!!! we need a Prime Minister like David Lloyd George at least he fort of the lower class not just the rich

[jimbo]

i think Margaret Thatcher should have been sacked buy the queen for what she done and gone before the courts for war crimes

 

excuse me? The doris that saved the country from the unions that paralysed its industry throughout the 70's? she deserved a medal for breaking scargill!

 

Here here!! The Thatcher years intrigued me, so I did some reading around. From what I can see, Scargill and the NUM made British coal uneconomic, by demanding too much in the way of H&S and wages. It was inevitable that industry started looking to cheaper foreign supplies.

 

Say what you want about Thatcher, but she was the last real leader this country had....

[bigdaz27]

and Scargill he was the bigest two faced barstard who worked the earth he shat on the miners and they ended up with fook all

[Fishtailparka]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sout ... 923138.stm

 

I would say that was a fair account. I'm sure both sides would disagree, but it's close.

It was the unions that were doing their best to bring the country down, maggie put them straight. It wasn't all one sided, but Maggie wasn't too far out most of the time. She did this country the world of good tbh, but she did go a little bit dippy towards the end.

I am old enough to remember as an adult and make my own mind up, not as a youngster fed biased opinions from parents or newspaper reports.

[duchy boy]

i think Margaret Thatcher should have been sacked buy the queen for what she done and gone before the courts for war crimes

 

excuse me? The doris that saved the country from the unions that paralysed its industry throughout the 70's? she deserved a medal for breaking scargill!

 

[Guest chriscapriman]

i think Margaret Thatcher should have been sacked buy the queen for what she done and gone before the courts for war crimes

 

excuse me? The doris that saved the country from the unions that paralysed its industry throughout the 70's? she deserved a medal for breaking scargill!

 

im sure it was ted heath that paralysed the country, not the unions who were reacting to conditions like those shown in the dagenham dreams prog last nite, fighting for sick pay, decent holiday entitlement, safer working conditions and better pay etc, think on next time your off work ill but getting payed all thatcher done was make it harder for poor people to get rich or even have a decent quality of life but easier for the rich to stay that way, i fukin hate her and will dance a jig the day the witch is dead

[mk2griff]

Whats changed country,s still up shit creek without a paddle.thatcher was a power crazed bitch who would not be beat no matter how much others struggled.but she had her own private army to support her.sorry i mean police..scargil was a conplete prick who looked after number one.while all the fooking idiots bitched the rest of the country struggled .thatcher was and still is a name remember but for all the wrong reasons.bring back winston churchill.

[pauln]

I occasionally work at Betteshanger in Kent right next to where the pit was. It's weird to think theres fuel to power our country down there (and before you get all enviromental rather than burn it here to make things they are burning it in china to make things to sell to us). As for Thatcher she was a power crazed lunatic who dismantled our countries infrastructure and sent our soldiers to their deaths to keep herself in power on a wave of nationalism.

[Vista]

I occasionally work at Betteshanger in Kent right next to where the pit was. It's weird to think theres fuel to power our country down there (and before you get all enviromental rather than burn it here to make things they are burning it in china to make things to sell to us). As for Thatcher she was a power crazed lunatic who dismantled our countries infrastructure and sent our soldiers to their deaths to keep herself in power on a wave of nationalism.

 

Sent our soldiers to their deaths to keep herself in power on a wave of nationalism? It may or may not have kept her in power but the suggestion that is why she did it is complete nonsense.

 

She did it because she had to do it, and what's more she took a lot of advice from her senior ministers and armed forces advisers over whether she should do it. As far as I remember, the first Sea Lords advice to her was "not only can we do it, we should do it" The Falkland islanders consider themselves as British as we do and they had the right to be defended against an invasion by a foreign power. I was not in the services then but if I had been I would have been far happier with my mission statement than the poor sods who are losing their lives in the middle east now.

 

It's just a shame Maggie didn't defeat the unions sooner, we might still have had a British owned car industry to speak of if she had.

[Mk2Jo]

I was 17 at the time and to be honest I don't really remember very much about it. I think at 17 I was more interested in going out and enjoying myself and didn't really watch the news and being from down South it didn't affect us directly

[Guest cortinamad-gonetoo]

minor strikes = margret thatcher

[Fishtailparka]

im sure it was ted heath that paralysed the country, not the unions who were reacting to conditions like those shown in the dagenham dreams prog last nite, fighting for sick pay, decent holiday entitlement, safer working conditions and better pay etc,

After the unions got all those things, how long was it before Dagenham stopped making cars altogether?

I guess the workers got a longer holiday than they were expecting.

[pauln]

I occasionally work at Betteshanger in Kent right next to where the pit was. It's weird to think theres fuel to power our country down there (and before you get all enviromental rather than burn it here to make things they are burning it in china to make things to sell to us). As for Thatcher she was a power crazed lunatic who dismantled our countries infrastructure and sent our soldiers to their deaths to keep herself in power on a wave of nationalism.

 

Sent our soldiers to their deaths to keep herself in power on a wave of nationalism? It may or may not have kept her in power but the suggestion that is why she did it is complete nonsense.

 

She did it because she had to do it, and what's more she took a lot of advice from her senior ministers and armed forces advisers over whether she should do it. As far as I remember, the first Sea Lords advice to her was "not only can we do it, we should do it" The Falkland islanders consider themselves as British as we do and they had the right to be defended against an invasion by a foreign power. I was not in the services then but if I had been I would have been far happier with my mission statement than the poor sods who are losing their lives in the middle east now.

 

It's just a shame Maggie didn't defeat the unions sooner, we might still have had a British owned car industry to speak of if she had.

 

 

Don't get me wrong, to even get a task force to the Falklands in the time it was done was an awesome piece of logistics. I know know the falklanders see themselves as British but look at where the island is. I do wonder if the diplomatic option was tried hard enough. As for crushing unions i'm sure the Tories would quite happily have us queueing at the factory gate to see if employers want to use and pay us that day. The miners strike moved power back into the hands of employers but employers are greedy and unions create a balance (yes I am and proud to be a union member).

[Vista]

What diplomatic option? They are British and they didn't want to be Argentinian (having been there they are fervently british). In my opinion we could no more sell them out than we can any other part of Britain or the commonwealth. Where would it stop, what if Norway decided it wanted the Shetland islands? Or France the Channel islands? Equally, if NZ or Australia came under attack they are not even part of the UK and I would fully expect british forces to be deployed to assist them.

 

And equally, don't get me wrong. Of course unions have their place who else would fight for the employee when he's faced with the financial and legal muscle of the big employer?

 

But I'm sorry, the fact is in the 70's they got far too powerful and far too big for their boots and the whole of british industry suffered for it.

[pauln]

What diplomatic option? They are British and they didn't want to be Argentinian (having been there they are fervently british). In my opinion we could no more sell them out than we can any other part of Britain or the commonwealth. Where would it stop, what if Norway decided it wanted the Shetland islands? Or France the Channel islands? Equally, if NZ or Australia came under attack they are not even part of the UK and I would fully expect british forces to be deployed to assist them.

 

And equally, don't get me wrong. Of course unions have their place who else would fight for the employee when he's faced with the financial and legal muscle of the big employer?

 

But I'm sorry, the fact is in the 70's they got far too powerful and far too big for their boots and the whole of british industry suffered for it.

 

 

 

Diplomatic option, persuade them not to invade (the whole reason they did was they believed britain did,nt have the reach). The argentinians had the same problem as us at the time (over ambitious leaders). If they had known a vulcan bomber could reach Port Stanley they may not have been so keen to visit. I thought the Channel Islands were independant states that just had the queen as a token head of state.

I'm a bit torn about agreeing with you about the Minors and the Car unions in the 70s, yes they were very big and powerful. But when a government goes out to completly destroy you (as was the case of the minors) what can you do but fight for survival?

Mildly interesting postscript. I knew one of the electricity board (remember them?) engineers who went to the substations and tripped the breakers to save electricity. He said he did'nt know why he was doing it as the CEGB had massive stocks of coal for the power stations.

[Vista]

I don't believe it was the Government that destroyed the miners, it was Scargill not knowing when to quit that did that. You remember that he'd already brought down one Government (Ted Heath) in 1974 right?

 

Then we had labour in the mid late 70's inflation at 27% and the unions were at it again! Who that lived through it could forget the winter of discontent, power cuts, food shortages, hospital entrances blockaded and by the end of it even the bin men and grave diggers were on strike!!

 

Then the iron lady came in, swung her handbag at all of them and eventually the country was prosperous again. Ok it may have been painful at some points along the way but seriously, what other option was there?

 

Nope, she had her faults like all politicians but she saved this country from being flushed down the pan and there's no persuading me otherwise.