Scargill, still causing trouble

[Lost_BMW]

retrorider said:

And the deep coal seams will be brought back in the near future not by miners, but using automated underground coal gasification.The U.K is sitting on millions.Should play a significant role in getting us out of the mess we are currently in...

Ssshhh! Don't tell the Green Party, they'll try to get this banned too.

[Hackney]

Eliser said:

Scargill
Prescott
Blair
Brown
Crow

Thay are from the same good ol' Socialist feather me own nest class

2 legs good - feel sorry for the 4 legs..

Funniest thing I've seen today. You seriously believe Scarill and Crow have anything in common with the others?

Scargill managed to keep his barbican flat even after the NUM moved headquarters to Sheffield.
C**t of the highest order.

[jimmyjimjim]

Wacky Racer said:

The only time I've seen Scargill speechless......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrnBenKLeT8

He just looks more brain dead than usual there.

[don4l]

Derek Smith said:

'Most people' may or may not have been sick to death of militant unions but there was considerable support for the miners, especially so in the early months.

I can remember seeing an enormous convoy of Police Transit vans going up the A1.

I wound down my window and gave them a big "thumbs up".

...I was a bit of a leftie at the time.


Don
--

[pacman1]

Some good posts above. As a kid in the 70's, with the 3 day working week, it was fun to get the candles ready, and look in the local paper to see when your district was due a power cut.

The likes of Jack Jones and Scargill eventually took the militancy to the wire. No compromise for the great workers of the country.

But we were the sick man of Europe.

Something had to be done, and given their immoveable stance, Thatcher had no choice other than to crush the unions.

To see what Scargill is up to now beggars belief.

[crankedup]

retrorider said:

And the deep coal seams will be brought back in the near future not by miners, but using automated underground coal gasification.The U.K is sitting on millions.Should play a significant role in getting us out of the mess we are currently in...

Agreed, and it will bring employment back into the industry.

[Apache]

crankedup said:

retrorider said:

And the deep coal seams will be brought back in the near future not by miners, but using automated underground coal gasification.The U.K is sitting on millions.Should play a significant role in getting us out of the mess we are currently in...

Agreed, and it will bring employment back into the industry.

It's a lovely thought but I can't see this fitting well with Cameron's plans to reduce carbon emissions by 25% by 2014/15

[DonkeyApple]

crankedup said:

Agreed, and it will bring employment back into the industry.

Indeed. They will need tens of thousands of workers with little buckets to collect and carry the gas.

[turbobloke]

Apache said:

crankedup said:

retrorider said:

And the deep coal seams will be brought back in the near future not by miners, but using automated underground coal gasification.The U.K is sitting on millions.Should play a significant role in getting us out of the mess we are currently in...

Agreed, and it will bring employment back into the industry.

It's a lovely thought but I can't see this fitting well with Cameron's plans to reduce carbon emissions by 25% by 2014/15

The CMD lime green tie was surely quivering as you were typing.

[crankedup]

As somebody mentioned earlier, its all in a different era. Something had to be done but I will always maintain that the Government of the day not only destroyed Unions but they destroyed swathes of society and towns which have still not recovered. They took away the livings of not only coal workers but all of the supporting SME behind the industry.
I am not supporting the role of Scargill and his Union, the idiot should have led with moderation and compromise, the same goes for that Government. Cutting off the nose to spite the face.

Edited by crankedup on Sunday 19th February 12:37

[crankedup]

Apache said:

It's a lovely thought but I can't see this fitting well with Cameron's plans to reduce carbon emissions by 25% by 2014/15

And as usual the U.K. seems to be the only E.U. Country to take its obligations seriously. It sickens me that whilst we are forbidden to benefit from our underground resource we have China flicking two fingers at us by opening new coal fired power stations weekly.
We have the technology to extract valuable coal and gas and use it to our advantage, bringing some prosperity and work. I am all for Green but would rather see us subsidise coal/gas rather than wind power.
I have just purchased some coal for my home stove, guess where it came from, Germany!

[turbobloke]

crankedup said:

As somebody mentioned earlier, its all in a different era. Something had to be done but I will always maintain that the Government of the day not only destroyed Unions but they destroyed swathes of society and towns which have still not recovered.

"Job for life son, no need for them hoity toity O-levels, sign here, union card over there, pay yer dues, we're on strike next week, Arthur's on the case"

Is that 'destroying' as in 'destroying' the structural deficit?

The context is akin to lancing a boil in both cases.

[Derek Smith]

don4l said:

I can remember seeing an enormous convoy of Police Transit vans going up the A1.

I wound down my window and gave them a big "thumbs up".

...I was a bit of a leftie at the time.

Don

As the strike went on the police attitude to the strikers changed more than a little. Despite all the aggro, some of it really vicious, against the non-striking miners and the police, there was massive sympathy. I heard rumours of collections for the strikers. There's more than one striker fed on police issue sarnies.

I've seen one PC laughing about how much money he got from all the overtime being unceremoniously put down by an ex-squaddie who mentioned that there were families going hungry.

Every police officer I ever spoke with had nothing but contempt for Scargill but the odd thing was not for calling the strike or even the violence. The main thing was the self engrandisemnt and the sacrifice of the miners and their families on his alter.

There was criticsm of Thatcher as well, the suggestion being that she would ensure the miners were never a force again. Even those who stayed at work, and risked everything, were, in the opinion of many a police officer, and I bet many a non-strikign miner, betrayed.
It was a very strange time in the job.

[M3333]

crankedup said:

As somebody mentioned earlier, its all in a different era. Something had to be done but I will always maintain that the Government of the day not only destroyed Unions but they destroyed swathes of society and towns which have still not recovered. They took away the livings of not only coal workers but all of the supporting SME behind the industry.

Thatcher did a good job in the Northeast of rebuilding the broken communities, you still get the die hard lefties who hate this fact and to this day wont accept it.

She grafted Nissan to Sunderland - It is the largest car plant in the United Kingdom, and the most productive in Europe.

My Fathers business is a supplier to Nissan just like thousands of other SME's in the Northeast.

The working conditions were much nicer than down a pit!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyLbfia6zfY

[shauniebabes]

turbobloke said:

crankedup said:

As somebody mentioned earlier, its all in a different era. Something had to be done but I will always maintain that the Government of the day not only destroyed Unions but they destroyed swathes of society and towns which have still not recovered.

"Job for life son, no need for them hoity toity O-levels, sign here, union card over there, pay yer dues, we're on strike next week, Arthur's on the case"

Is that 'destroying' as in 'destroying' the structural deficit?

The context is akin to lancing a boil in both cases.

Lancing a boil with a shotgun and then telling everybody the patient has become leaner and fitter.

[fido]

shauniebabes said:

Lancing a boil with a shotgun and then telling everybody the patient has become leaner and fitter.

A tumour is a better analogy .. these unions started off with good intentions but inevitably destroyed the organisations they resided within.

[Apache]

fido said:

shauniebabes said:

Lancing a boil with a shotgun and then telling everybody the patient has become leaner and fitter.

A tumour is a better analogy .. these unions started off with good intentions but inevitably destroyed the organisations they resided within.

The trouble was they had to be seen to be doing something to justify the contributions they raked in, and they competed against other Unions. Add a self obsessed megalomaniac like Scargill and the outcome was inevitable really

[crankedup]

turbobloke said:

"Job for life son, no need for them hoity toity O-levels, sign here, union card over there, pay yer dues, we're on strike next week, Arthur's on the case"

Is that 'destroying' as in 'destroying' the structural deficit?

The context is akin to lancing a boil in both cases.

Of course I knew that my post would not get a positive response, but I do wonder at Thatchers lack of imagination regarding the coal industry. Hardly dare mention the ill fated Poll Tax that was introduced under her stewardship! Even Portillo, one of the main architects of Poll Tax, admitted it was a disaster waiting to happen.
Incidentally, those 'Hoity Toity' qualifications you mention, plenty of people were gaining those at the time and look at the contribution they have made to the Country

[Andy Zarse]

crankedup said:

turbobloke said:

"Job for life son, no need for them hoity toity O-levels, sign here, union card over there, pay yer dues, we're on strike next week, Arthur's on the case"

Is that 'destroying' as in 'destroying' the structural deficit?

The context is akin to lancing a boil in both cases.

Of course I knew that my post would not get a positive response, but I do wonder at Thatchers lack of imagination regarding the coal industry. Hardly dare mention the ill fated Poll Tax that was introduced under her stewardship! Even Portillo, one of the main architects of Poll Tax, admitted it was a disaster waiting to happen.
Incidentally, those 'Hoity Toity' qualifications you mention, plenty of people were gaining those at the time and look at the contribution they have made to the Country

I'm not so sure. What always exasperated me about the miners and their communities was the singular lack of imagination they showed. For every Kes or Billy Elliott there was a hundred who never had - or were ever encouraged by the dismal state education system - any ambition other than to go down t'pit.

And on one level, why should they? The state subsidised wages from mining gave a very comfy living thank you. What they couldn't grasp was their livelihood had to be paid for by someone and they never could grasp that the money deducted from the meagre pensions of grannies who could ill afford it was lining their pockets. It was deeply resented.

The public largely hated the miners, rather like they hate bankers today; for similar reasons stemming from the unearned assumption of privilege.

[crankedup]

M3333 said:

Thatcher did a good job in the Northeast of rebuilding the broken communities, you still get the die hard lefties who hate this fact and to this day wont accept it.

She grafted Nissan to Sunderland - It is the largest car plant in the United Kingdom, and the most productive in Europe.

My Fathers business is a supplier to Nissan just like thousands of other SME's in the Northeast.

The working conditions were much nicer than down a pit!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyLbfia6zfY

One example hardly demonstrates Thatchers success in rebuilding mining communities with work. Thatcher poured millions of pounds into defeating Unions in a attempt to satisfy the political agenda. Then poured more millions into supporting a Japanese company to set up shop here. Yes I know its a success and provides valued work, but it hardly fills the gap left by our own industry. Yup, great work by Thatcher, close down British industry and support the Japanese. You couldn't make it up.