Well not all coal is the same especially if it's converted to petrol substitute. And the green agenda certainly isn't gas is brilliant.
The miner's strike was complex, perhaps the NUM needed to go and Scargill needed to be shot. But firing 100,000s of people including those who didn't strike (most miners remember the NUM didn't take a fair ballot and used flying pickets) was was out of order.
It's the equivalent of you going to prison for 6 months because some one was mugged in London.
Quote: Aaron @ June 11 2009, 2:33 PM BSTBesides, I thought coal was bad and polluting and we shouldn't be using it anymore? Or are you not a subscriber to the green agenda?
Personally I would have liked the mines to have stayed open and so saving millions on unemployment benefit, social deprivation funds, crime and drugs and spent that money on new technology to make coal fired power stations environmentally friendly.
Admitted Scargill was a mistake but a skilled politician should have been able to have dealt with that threat without closing down the whole of the mining industry. Sledgehammer to crack a walnut and all that.
I'm glad the mines are shut. I don't subscribe to this tradition of father and son working down a dangerous pit of death because it paid twice the national wage.
How could anyone encourage their children to work down a mine? It boggles the mind.
Quote: Renegade Carpark @ June 11 2009, 3:51 PM BSTI'm glad the mines are shut. I don't subscribe to this tradition of father and son working down a dangerous pit of death because it paid twice the national wage.
How could anyone encourage their children to work down a mine? It boggles the mind.
Because it's better than wandering down the street of a thousand muggings and used needles.
Quote: roscoff @ June 11 2009, 3:48 PM BSTPersonally I would have liked the mines to have stayed open and so saving millions on unemployment benefit
True, true.
Quote: roscoff @ June 11 2009, 3:55 PM BSTBecause it's better than wandering down the street of a thousand muggings and used needles.
That's a good parenting choice, 'Hey son, you either work down the mine or become a crackhead.'
Growing up in London, we didn't have a mining community, that's why everyone I know is mugging people for heroin money, except they're not.
Your argument is flawed Mr. Roscoff.
I wish I was a Conservative some times.
It's so easy to blame the poor.
Quote: Renegade Carpark @ June 11 2009, 4:01 PM BSTYour argument is flawed Mr. Roscoff.
"If you look at the levels of crime when the pit was open they were low. Most of the vandalism, drug-taking and car crime is the result of the colliery closing."
Full article here
http://www.unison.org.uk/features/features/0403miners.asp.
And I think you'll find backed up by national crime statistics. Fact is when you create such a vacuum. People can't pay the mortgage, buy clothes for the kids and there is no employment for the 18-20 year olds then you are looking at a sorry state of affairs. No not everyone would turn to crime etc but it will w increase. You are not comparing like with like. If a huge employer in your area was to pull out do you think that things would stay the same? All academic research would beg to differ. As does reality. Flawed argument?
Quote: Curt @ June 11 2009, 4:11 PM BSTI wish I was a Conservative some times.
It's so easy to blame the poor.
And so often correct. 
Quote: Renegade Carpark @ June 11 2009, 4:01 PM BSTThat's a good parenting choice, 'Hey son, you either work down the mine or become a crackhead.'
Growing up in London, we didn't have a mining community, that's why everyone I know is mugging people for heroin money, except they're not.
Your argument is flawed Mr. Roscoff.
London's a diferent case there's way more jobs here than job seekers even now.
Open any local rag or even Metro and there are dozens of posts.
The problem with London is high cost of living and high cost of property, especially with councils booting people out by stealth.
But go somewhere like Hull or Grimsby where local industries collapsed and see what a diference there is.
The minimun wage should be increased. It's stupid asking some one to work for less than benefits or a slight improvement for full time hours.
The hopeless cowardice of this current Labour party is a disgrace.
Quote: Aaron @ June 11 2009, 4:24 PM BSTAnd so often correct.
Damn it. All my ardent Conservative friends are just like you. 
Quote: Aaron @ June 11 2009, 4:24 PM BSTAnd so often correct.
Poll Tax and joining the ERM were some of the better ideas so I remember.
Quote: roscoff @ June 11 2009, 4:16 PM BST"If you look at the levels of crime when the pit was open they were low. Most of the vandalism, drug-taking and car crime is the result of the colliery closing."
Full article here
http://www.unison.org.uk/features/features/0403miners.asp.
And I think you'll find backed up by national crime statistics. Fact is when you create such a vacuum. People can't pay the mortgage, buy clothes for the kids and there is no employment for the 18-20 year olds then you are looking at a sorry state of affairs. No not everyone would turn to crime etc but it will w increase. You are not comparing like with like. If a huge employer in your area was to pull out do you think that things would stay the same? All academic research would beg to differ. As does reality. Flawed argument?
Oh I get it, use facts and figures to back up your argument. You swine!
I agree that losing a major employer of any kind in a remote community will have disasterous effects on the population.
Though I'm still of the opinion that working down a mine is dangerous and if I ever met any of my kids, I would do everything in my power to make sure they wouldn't pursue such an occupation.
Crime maybe up, but I bet that death by black lung, cave ins and poisonous gas asphyxiation is way, way down.
I think I'm just flabbergasted that when these miners were in full time employment and bringing home wedges of dosh, they didn't send their kids to private schools or universities.
Maybe they just had thick kids from the coal dust contamination or some type of avian canary flu.
Quote: Yellows 586 @ June 11 2009, 5:07 PM BSTPoll Tax and joining the ERM were some of the better ideas so I remember.
The whole of Europe is a colossal mistake and should be obliterated immediately. Naughty God.
Quote: Renegade Carpark @ June 11 2009, 5:08 PM BSTThough I'm still of the opinion that working down a mine is dangerous and if I ever met any of my kids, I would do everything in my power to make sure they wouldn't pursue such an occupation.
I was the first male in my family (not that they let women down t'ut mine) not to have a job down the mine. My father was an electrician down the mine and grandparents on both sides were miners all their working lives. So education got me out of the mine thank god. I wouldn't of wanted to work there. It was hard but there was a sense of community because everyone worked down the mine or had relatives that did. I too would have not wanted my kids to go down the mine but for some it was the only option. Often groups of friends worked there for others their dads worked there. It was a guaranteed job. You took it. And as you said, well paid.