WOW! Nice work if you can get it. The Trough beckons again

[Dryce]

Horrible cow, she's part of the reason why this country is in so much **** now.

My recollection of the late seventies and early eighties suggests that she was probably the right person at the right time between 1979 and 1986.

 

[Red C220]

Our PM's salary goes straight to charity, I'd expect the same from MT if she had a heart......

I have a feeling MT donated a large proportion, if not all of here income as PM to charity whilst in power.

I've heard it more than once (I knew a few diplomatic protection officers that looked after her).

 

[Scott_F]

My recollection of the late seventies and early eighties suggests that she was probably the right person at the right time between 1979 and 1986.

I'm not sure that the 3.5 million unemployed (many of whom were destined never to work again) would agree.

 

[clever dicky]

Its not the PM's, but the thousands of clowns and their bloated salaries and gold pensions in all the quango Government Depts that cost the country.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

I'm not sure that the 3.5 million unemployed (many of whom were destined never to work again) would agree.

Not to mention all of those mining communities that she has destroyed so that she could line the pockets of her cronies.

 

[WDB124066]

............

 

[Dieselman]

Currently four.

How many retired police, Fire, Ambulance, Civil Service do we have?

They all get fat pensions at an early age, should we stop them all?

and on that note, someone I know who will be a retired Copper in 2 years time recently attended a 2 day retirement course...WTF..???

What did they tell them for 2 days...there's the door, go through it buy some golf clubs and book some holidays...

 

[WDB124066]

They probably told them not to do that unless they could afford to, you know, Greece spings to mind.......

 

[WOODYTHEWISE]

Not to mention all of those mining communities that she has destroyed so that she could line the pockets of her cronies.

Sod the fifth....I live in Cumnock E Ayrshire, look it up....a once prosperous mining village....when the mines closed a lot of miners upped sticks, the lucky ones found jobs in Yorkshire. What happened to the mines in Yorkshire??? The very mention of her name up here is tempting fate.

 

[Scott_F]

......the lucky ones found jobs in Yorkshire. What happened to the mines in Yorkshire???

And Lancashire ? And Staffordshire ? And Nottinghamshire ? And Leicestershire ? And South Wales ? And Derbyshire ? And Fife ? And Kent ? etc. etc.

Maggie's list is a long one.

 

[Dieselman]

And Lancashire ? And Staffordshire ? And Nottinghamshire ? And Leicestershire ? And South Wales ? And Derbyshire ? And Fife ? And Kent ? etc. etc.

Maggie's list is a long one.

Being fair though, She probably did less damage to British industry than Red Robbo and Scargill, et al.

 

[Scott_F]

Being fair though, She probably did less damage to British industry than Red Robbo and Scargill, et al.

I don't think either of them put 220,000 miners on the dole, decimated our entire manufacturing industry or squandered billions in North Sea oil revenues to prop up destructive economic policies.

 

[Dryce]

I don't think either of them put 220,000 miners on the dole, decimated our entire manufacturing industry or squandered billions in North Sea oil revenues to prop up destructive economic policies.

I think that Scargill and his politicised peers in the NUM contributed mightily to the whole morass.

The NUM had detached itself from the economics of its industry. My recollection is that Scargill made it clear that it was unacceptable for any pit to be shut down for economic reasons.

Basically a union put itself in the position where it put its members' livelihoods ahead of common sense at the expense of the UK tax payer and UK economy.

It faced down a strongly led government that was motivated not just to deal with the economic aspect but the political aspect - not just with regard to the coal industry but also to face down its peer unions.

And as to the electorate. They didn't rise in support of the NUM. They may not have been happy with the outcome - but not so unhappy with it that they were willing to protest sufficiently or vote sufficiently to change the government's course or demand that tax payers' money be used to prop it up.

The irony I suspect is that a weaker union might have achieved a better outcome.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Sod the fifth....I live in Cumnock E Ayrshire, look it up....a once prosperous mining village....when the mines closed a lot of miners upped sticks, the lucky ones found jobs in Yorkshire. What happened to the mines in Yorkshire??? The very mention of her name up here is tempting fate.

I was born, raised and live in Doncaster, which iirc had one the biggest population of miners in the country.

Those who aren't from mining communities will always waffle on about how Thatcher was correct to destroy people's livelihoods because the unions were 'too strong'. But just like the witch herself, they don't have to live with the aftermath of what she did.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

And Nottinghamshire ?

They made their own bed and had to suffer the consequences.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Being fair though, She probably did less damage to British industry than Red Robbo and Scargill, et al.

I think that Scargill and his politicised peers in the NUM contributed mightily to the whole morass.

I've always found this view rather strange.

Scargill said that Thatcher wanted to close every single mine so that they could push towards gas. Which would be supplied by her other nice bit of privatisation and guess what? He was correct....

"The miners are holding the country to ransom".

How are those foreign oil/gas oligarchs treating us now???? The decision to sell off our means of powering ourself has left us at the mercy of these fluctuating markets and we have these wonderful situation where the 'free market' ramps the price up whenever they see fit. Leading to old folk and the poor freezing in winter because the cant afford to heat their home in the 21st century.

 

[Palfrem]

It won't be in my lifetime, but when the gas has all gone / become too expensive coal mines will re-open.

We are sitting on hundreds of years of coal and I'm sure technology will make for clean burn.


CO2 capture / global warming concerns will have to be sidelined as dead and frozen pensioners don't make for endearing party political broadcasts.

..or we go nuclear?

 

[clever dicky]

Er, excuse me. Where do you think most of our gas we use comes from?

That's right, and who now owns most of the shares that were issued? Yes correct again.

And so who is the comon factor, and no its not still Maggie? Yes that's right, the other **** that was tied in with the unions of the 80s who is now and has been a major player in the EU screwing us for all its worth. Red LORD Kinnock. The failed labour plonker has been doing THE DIRTY on us.

 

[Dryce]

I've always found this view rather strange.

Fair enough. You finding that view strange is maybe ... rather strange to some of the rest of us!

Scargill said that Thatcher wanted to close every single mine so that they could push towards gas. Which would be supplied by her other nice bit of privatisation and guess what? He was correct....

Scargill would say anything to keep his membership under his thumb.

And the problems with the mines are separate to privatisation.

Coal production simply wasn't economic at many pits. The union was blocking closure of uneconomic pits.

"The miners are holding the country to ransom".

Sadly they kind of proved that along the way in the 70s.

How are those foreign oil/gas oligarchs treating us now???? The decision to sell off our means of powering ourself has left us at the mercy of these fluctuating markets and we have these wonderful situation where the 'free market' ramps the price up whenever they see fit. Leading to old folk and the poor freezing in winter because the cant afford to heat their home in the 21st century.

No. Not the same.

Paying many £ subsidy on each ton of coal produced at a loss and having major power outages every few years (or a ratchet up in that loss) as the NUM flexed its muscles wasn't an option.

It's not as if the NUM gave a proveribal about people being short of power and going cold when they striked.

Whether we should have some sort of strategic rump coal industry is another issue. Which is one reason I think the NUM were as culpable as any other participant. Scargill was the right man to leverage some benefits for his membership over a decade - at the expense of what came the decade after for his membership.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Scargill would say anything to keep his membership under his thumb.

And the problems with the mines are separate to privatisation.

Coal production simply wasn't economic at many pits. The union was blocking closure of uneconomic pits.

I'm not a great lover of Scargill just for the record, but never mind him saying anything to keep his membership under his thumb; the facts are that he was correct. Thatcher & MacGregor were intent on destroying the unions without a thought to what it would do to towns and villages that were built solely to house the mining families.

What a wonderful legacy Thatcher will leave; sold the country's assets, threw millions on the dole, sold all the council housing and brought capitalism to these shores. All of which have turned into a catostrophic failure, none more so than her 'free market' thinking. The same 'free market' that was that great a big chunk of it had to be nationalised!!!!! And then you get people slagging off Gordon Brown for selling off the gold reserves cheaply; it's all he had left to sell, the Tories had sold everything else off!

I gather from your earlier posts that you're Scottish, I don't know if you live near any former pit towns/villages but there's not much left now. That also goes for the other industries they destroyed, like the steelworks etc.