[Shasown]

Originally Posted by BB_Eye

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.

Lack of reinvestment made over the previous three or four decades, smaller wildcat strikes, secondary picketing, the NUM leadership pulling the miners out in support of other industries in dispute, all meant the NCB couldnt meet orders, so where were powers staions etc meant to buy coal to burn for electricity?

I dont know if you were around in the seventies, but the unions while helping bring about fantastic changes in health and safety, standards of living etc. also did a lot of damage to Britain's market economy.

Originally Posted by BB_Eye

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.

Thats the nature of the beast though isnt it? If its unviable do you continue to pump public money into supporting something that may be better off dying a death. Something has to give and at the time there were also problems with the Steel Industry, Motor Industry, Shipbuilding, Air Transport, Aircraft Building, the list goes on and on.

Protectionist policies that some political and union leaders advocated at the time would have simply drained the national economy, worse than Tony and Gordy have done over the last few years.