[BB_Eye]

Originally Posted by Shasown

She didnt close down the mines, lack of orders, bad management, during the miners strike some mines were allowed to fall into disrepair. Lots of mines would have closed anyway as they were at the time economically unviable.

And the reason for this was the outsourcing of our coal-mining industry to foreign countries brought about by Thatcher's economic reforms. As a result we have become dependent on imported fossil fuels and fell into a trade deficit from which we might never recover.

If you want to know what really screwed up the coal industry look at Uncle Arthur and the leadership of the NUM, flogging a dead horse. Not allowing the industry to be slimmed down into something that could have survived. Miners out on strike living on handouts, yet Arthur and co had practically a millionaires lifestyle. In fact he is still living a good life on his NUM pension. True representation.

Scargill is just about the most extreme, militant example of a British trade unionist you could have mentioned. Nobody is saying unions should be given the clout they enjoyed back in the 1970's, but it's not too much to ask that an employer isn't given carte blanche over making large sections of his workforce redundant whenever he pleases. If this were an indigenous industry such as coalmining, the government would have offered its support before Thatcher made our industries subordinate to the whims of the global market without considering the inevitable trade deficit and of course the social consequences.