mt, which pit did you work at…

Just to play the devil with you (this has sadly amused me foe a number of years), it is ironic to read an apparent socialist bleating for a facist goverment that often used it’s navy to throw it’s own left leaning decenters out of planes and helicoters into the south atlantic

Eh? What on earth are you on about?
Exactly where did I express any support for Galtieri? Please, I’d really like you to point that out for me. Please. Go ahead. No, seriously; go on.

My point was that 600 men on the Belgrano died needlessly. Some of you lot are just conveniently forgetting and ignoring facts, just to back up your Thatcher supporting arguments. Behave yourselves, and stickto the facts. So, I criticise the needless destruction of Human Life, and I’m suddenly a supporter of the fascist Regime in Argentina? I’d love to hear you try to explain that reasoning..

You make me laugh. D’you really think Thatcher and her cronies actually gave a **** about any of us? Really? Because if you do, you’ve swallowed the biggest crock of shit ever. Only the most brainwashed and misguided fool would believe that she had the Nation’s interests at heart.

And as for you Union-bashers; as i have said before on here; it’s the Unions that allowed workers to actually have some say in their pay and working conditions; things like safety, and equal rights are the work of Unions. You really think the big corporations really want their workers to have many rights???

But carry on; use isolated examples of Union corruption to back up your pathetic arguments, and conveniently ignore the huge, unquantifiable benefit that Workers’ Unions have brought to people in this country.

At the time of the strike the disparity of miners ranged widely, whilst some earned very good money, that was down to the bonus system. Different pits in the same area and different faces at the same pit could be earning double their workmates if they were coaling well. Facemen and headers got their own specific bonus whilst haulage workers and switch operaters received a sliding scale of the pit average. It was only really the faceworkers on productive faces that got decent money as well as some of the heading teams.

Scargill used the strike for his own agenda as much as anything else, there were plenty of collieries that were ending their natural life and even more that were seriously unprofitable due to geological conditions. There was plenty of activity before the strike proving new coal seams that was intended to sink new pits or expand existing ones where practicable. Such exploration stopped after the strike. Scargill’s biggest mistake was to allow each NUM region to have their own ballot, had he called a national ballot the regions that didn’t vote for a strike in the regional ballot would have striked as a result of the national vote and the result may well have been totally different, though I suspect the miners still wouldn’t have won. I remember that power stations were invisible behind vast stocks of coal reserves, Thatcher knew what was coming and was well prepared.

The pits that have closed down may well be unserviceable but only from the existing sites, new mines can be sunk, indeed there is a programme of work at the moment to re-open some fields, a shaft sinking acquaintance is very busy at the moment preparing for some of that work. The vulnerablity of our energy reserves is well known, it seems the present government is gearing up for a return to coal, albeit to a limited degree initially. We’ll see.

But carry on; use isolated examples of Union corruption to back up your pathetic arguments, and conveniently ignore the huge, unquantifiable benefit that Workers’ Unions have brought to people in this country.

The whole point is the examples of union corruption, and abusing their power. I don’t think anybody is ignoring the good things unions do. I’m certainly not – in general I’m very much pro-union (wish we had an effective one where I work), just anti unions being too powerful and abusing that power.

My dancing shoes are polished and waiting by the door….
Thatcher fought the NUM and others purely for her own ego and political beliefs(and that of her henchmen) not the good or betterment of the country.
Yes some of the strikers went beyond what they should have done, but so did the police in equal measure.
When you see the total destruction of pit villages, and the families within, and these villages are still like that now- you get a different perspective of the economic viability of the mines. As some one previously posted regarding the total meltdown in these communities – when the pits were thriving, everyone had a job waiting, there was no underclass of chavs who hang about all day drinking/getting stoned/getting up to no good-costing the economy billions, yes they may have been a few layabouts but it wasn’t an accepted way of life as it appears to be now.
So what would be the real cost of having a UK coal mining/power generating industry? Fair enough some pits were finished, but many more not, and there are still enormous reserves of coal available.
Similarly the ship yards were shut due to being uneconomical, they were forced to tender for work on a global marketplace that was awash with subsidised yards in Europe and beyond.
That’s my twopennith worth!
The normal Thatcher apologists seem to be missing from here

Well I watched the miner program last night, and to tell the truth I didn’t think it was very good, it seemed to lack substance but it had lots of flashly graphics 🙁 and didn’t provide any real information.

The brutality of the Met came across though (even though it was watered down), especially when one of the Met chiefs justified beating women and children at wakefield, by saying ‘we had wifes and children at home we wanted to see again, so if we did what we felt had to be done, even if that included beating picketing women and children’

How a seemingly simple discussion about the low incidence of Alzheimers in regular curry eaters can lead to a debate about Thatcher vs Miners! STWtastic!

I’ve nothing further to add to this topic (other than to applaud Dibnah for his first post), but I will say that all those of you that are planning to dance on the sickening old ba5tard’s grave had better wear their wellies, cos it’ll be covered in my urine.

Never worked under ground as I was only a kid when the Miners Strike went on. But I remember it quite well. It certainly runined a lot of families in mining areas. Some of these areas have not yet recovered and maybe never will. My missus father was a miner and he hasn’t got a good word to say about Maggie and not many good ones about Scargil.
As for the army being used, interestingly one of of my work mates witnessed a bloke that was supposed to be serving in the army in Germany, wearing a Police uniform at a picket line. Urban Myth?!?
For all you that ride the Glyncorrwg skyline, before you get to the Will rock if you look north you should just make out Tower colliery, up until recently still bringing up coal. So how many others could have been kept viable.
Maybe just maybe that coal will be worth more than gold in a couple more decades. There has been considerable interest in sinking new shafts in the South Wales area. They wouldn’t do it for the fun now would they!

I’m too young to remember her reign properly.

But from what I’ve read she mucked the country up rather a lot. The lack of a manufacturing industry is a real problem in this country imo.

BUT despite this, I still think my overall feelings towards her are positive. She had balls. When she wanted something she went ahead and did it, and didn’t take any shite from anyone. Definitely not something which can be said of Gordon, Tony or John afterwards.

BUT despite this, I still think my overall feelings towards her are positive. She had balls. When she wanted something she went ahead and did it, and didn’t take any shite from anyone. Definitely not something which can be said of Gordon, Tony or John afterwards.

I don’t want ‘balls’ in a prime minister. I want clear level-headed thinking about what is right for the country. While I loathe him you can’t say that Blair didn’t have balls when he took us into what I consider to be an illegal war even though most people were against it. And lied to parliament/us.

Thatcher didn’t want what’s best for us (only what’s best for her party). Major same. Blair and Brown same. The only reason Brown is being nice to the banks is because he’s considering what his job is going to be after the next election.

For the first time ever I’m considering spoiling my ballot paper next time. They’re all **** useless and all talk the same complete and utter b*llocks. 🙁

I don’t want ‘balls’ in a prime minister……..you can’t say that Blair didn’t have balls

Hitler only had one ball when he became Chancellor of Germany in 1933 (the other was hanging on the wall)

.

……………..the prosecution rests its case, M’lud

was not it in a French Town Hall?

I’m too young to remember her reign properly.

Yes, you are.

was not it in a French Town Hall?

Mmm, it’s exact whereabouts has always been cause of some debate 😕

.

What is certain however, is that Himmler had something similar.

And of course poor old Goebbels, had no balls at all 🙁

Really???

No-Balls Goebbels!

Ah, you’re having me on!

I’ve been compared to Joseph Goebbels (nowt to do with testicular bereftness).

And someone once suggested that, had I been around at the time of the Nazis, I’d have been in the TotenKopf, the Death’s Head Brigade of the evil Waffen SS. The very worst of the worst.

Nice. 😯

Don’t know if this has already been posted above. Sorry, couldn’t trawl all the vitriol.

Photographer Martin Shakeshaft spent 12 months photographing the miners on strike. Take a look at his superb ‘then and now’ pictures here…..

http://www.strike84.co.uk/

RudeBoy – Member
Really???

No-Balls Goebbels!

Ah, you’re having me on!

I’ve been compared to Joseph Goebbels (nowt to do with testicular bereftness).

And someone once suggested that, had I been around at the time of the Nazis, I’d have been in the TotenKopf, the Death’s Head Brigade of the evil Waffen SS. The very worst of the worst.

Nice.

Your striking physical resemblance to the adopted Arian blueprint would also have helped in this respect….

Yes, that always puzzled me, actually…

Although, if you actually look at the true meaning of the term Aryan, then from my father’s side, it’s possible I am actually closer, in racial terms, than yer Nordic types..

I think it was more a statement about my personality, really.
😯