NPLA caused the downfall of British coal mining, loafing, ragging up, chucking a spanner in the works, losing money hand over fist, 1 strip max, if you were lucky, I've done my bit, I get full pay. Then the strike, and branch officials and the village mafia stealing the money and the food while most miners had to put up with £1 and a soup kitchen while their strikemasters were rolling in it, beer swilling, steak noshing, their kids got the train sets, scalectrics, hypocrites. And the thieves became MPs and top councillors, bought themselves guest house in Bridlington while the sheeples were solid and got NOWT. B29s, D21s, T03s, P12s PG33s, PG35s, PG3s, DS1s, DS4s.
I picketed at manton colliery in 1984, before the national strike.The issue was about meal break times underground. On speaking to the lads going on shift one of them,a young bloke playing to his mates said ' If your pits aren't any good they deserve to be shut'.I've never forgot that lad, back here in Yorkshire there is a lake and an Aldi where our colliery was. Now i read that there is a B & Q where Manton stood.I wonder where and what life had in store for the eager pit shuttting lad?They do say ' what goes around'.
Joseph Grace (my father) lost his life on the coal face at Manton Colliery Worksop Notts 1955 he was 37 ♥️ Gary Grace 1975..1985 left after the miners strike 👍
both the sandwich factories are built on one of the spoil heaps nearby and B&Q fooked most of the polish off and replaced them with Romanians who work for less than the minimum wage and some of them lived in the manton pit tip woods
Some faces were freezing cold,others boiling hot depending on where you where in the pit,and being semi naked,for many,was the most comfortable way of working for many.yes they were hot,bloody hot at times,and many were deeper than a mile here in the UK at one time.
If we look beyond the money, the least appealing energy source would be coal. Between the healthcare costs and social security necessary for miners (who need and deserve every cent of it, since coal mining ain't the easiest or safest job), the emissions and pollution and the problems of mine fires, tailings and the question of sustainability, coal is economically cheap but socially and environmentally expensive.
I'd rather this than nuclear. regardless of whether it's 'safer', any accident pollutes a massive area, to there point of not being able to live there for decades. coal will be the future, once we discover a way to trap the CO2 emmisions and sulphur dioxide etc. and i'm sure we will. just no more nuclear!!
I seen the miners strike and the total closure of deep mining in Scotland thatcher fucked this industry over , there are billions of tons of high quality coal left to claim in fife and we still import ???????????
I 100% agree with you about all the coal left in the UK, and about importing, but Wilson closed more pits, and Blair, in over 10 years of power, never reopened one single pit.
Our coal industry was sold out to the EU. We import 25+ million tons every year from other EU countries. Official figures quote coal from south America included but the bulk comes from Germany, Poland, CZ republic etc. The miners strike was a stage play designed to rob us.
@xMnP1 "it costs the country nothing to produce it's own" You got to be kidding? =P If you want to build a coal mine then you need to buy equipment, employ hundreds architects, geologists, miners and buy lots and lots of building material. This costs billions and billions of dollars! Then you have to sell the energy produced with a profit so that it pays for everything and for British coal, that price was way higher then energy from abroad. Imports increase exports...economic fact!
@salladsdressing, So here we are in 2011 and all uk electricity consumers are moaning about energy prices, Its a direct result of thatcherism. We now have Finland making wind turbines and installing them in the UK and charging the uk consumer for what they produce and don't produce.Well done thatcher again! You need to look beyond the MONEY it blinds you, governments are elected to serve their people ,Social responsibility not personal gain and greed!
I'm 57 and lived in the heart of the midlands, UK. It wasn't Thatcherism that destroyed the industry but the Maxist trade unions. They are also responsible for destroying our car industry, as well.
@Salladsdressing The cheapest energy is that which is self produced. It costs the country nothing to produce its own, it only costs when you import. Importing shifts jobs and money abroad and creates unemployment and social crisis amongst your own people; well done Thatcher!
@xMnP1 Why not buy energy from where Britain can get it cheapest and save 1,3 bllion each year? That is by far the best solution and i am glad Thatcher did just that =)
"high productivity rates" "healthy profits" Yeah...if i get 1.3 BILLION dollars from the government each year (1982) i could also have a high productivity rate and make a healthy profit! =P LOL!!!