The Miners' Strike 1984: The Battle for Britain
Discussion
Interesting program.
I grew up in a mining town in South Yorkshire. My friends dads were miners.
My dad ran one of the two estate agents and grandfather on my dad’s side a GP, on my mums side a retired miner. The strike affected everyone in the community
This area has long memories and at least one ex Pitt village were burning effigies of Margaret Thatcher on the night she died.
I grew up in a mining town in South Yorkshire. My friends dads were miners.
My dad ran one of the two estate agents and grandfather on my dad’s side a GP, on my mums side a retired miner. The strike affected everyone in the community
This area has long memories and at least one ex Pitt village were burning effigies of Margaret Thatcher on the night she died.
surveyor said:
Interesting program.
I grew up in a mining town in South Yorkshire. My friends dads were miners.
My dad ran one of the two estate agents and grandfather on my dad’s side a GP, on my mums side a retired miner. The strike affected everyone in the community
This area has long memories and at least one ex Pitt village were burning effigies of Margaret Thatcher on the night she died.
Whilst I was just down the road in North Derbyshire.I grew up in a mining town in South Yorkshire. My friends dads were miners.
My dad ran one of the two estate agents and grandfather on my dad’s side a GP, on my mums side a retired miner. The strike affected everyone in the community
This area has long memories and at least one ex Pitt village were burning effigies of Margaret Thatcher on the night she died.
I was trying to explain to my teenage daughter how many pits, steel works and other associated industries there used to be around here, but as usual her eyes just glazed over.
When you think back 40 years, it seems like a different world, and I’m not so sure that what we have now is any better.
I've already watched episode 2 which focuses on the events at Orgreave, well publicised at the time.
Listening to some of the miners 40 years later reminded me of the sentiments I had during the recent post office dramatisation.
Whatever your politics I think it's difficult to defend the police that day. Serious physical assaults with batons used to beat miners on the head in some cases, by the the police. Officers told not to record anything in their pocket notebooks. Senior officers dictating statements to the lower ranks to be used in court.
Over 70 miners charged with riot which carried I think I heard, a 10 or 15 year min sentence. The trial collapsed due to unreliable police evidence.
Small amount of compensation paid several years later and nobody ever held to account. Sound familar?
Listening to some of the miners 40 years later reminded me of the sentiments I had during the recent post office dramatisation.
Whatever your politics I think it's difficult to defend the police that day. Serious physical assaults with batons used to beat miners on the head in some cases, by the the police. Officers told not to record anything in their pocket notebooks. Senior officers dictating statements to the lower ranks to be used in court.
Over 70 miners charged with riot which carried I think I heard, a 10 or 15 year min sentence. The trial collapsed due to unreliable police evidence.
Small amount of compensation paid several years later and nobody ever held to account. Sound familar?
hidetheelephants said:
I'm generally not subject to conspiracy theory thinking, but I harbour thoughts that Arthur Scargill was actually an MI5 plant bent on giving the govt reasons to neuter the unions. He did a good job if so, to the detriment of workers rights ever since.
Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.jamie w said:
I've already watched episode 2 which focuses on the events at Orgreave, well publicised at the time.
Listening to some of the miners 40 years later reminded me of the sentiments I had during the recent post office dramatisation.
Whatever your politics I think it's difficult to defend the police that day. Serious physical assaults with batons used to beat miners on the head in some cases, by the the police. Officers told not to record anything in their pocket notebooks. Senior officers dictating statements to the lower ranks to be used in court.
Over 70 miners charged with riot which carried I think I heard, a 10 or 15 year min sentence. The trial collapsed due to unreliable police evidence.
Small amount of compensation paid several years later and nobody ever held to account. Sound familar?
I would add Hillsborough to that, another example of cover up, denial and outright corruption. Listening to some of the miners 40 years later reminded me of the sentiments I had during the recent post office dramatisation.
Whatever your politics I think it's difficult to defend the police that day. Serious physical assaults with batons used to beat miners on the head in some cases, by the the police. Officers told not to record anything in their pocket notebooks. Senior officers dictating statements to the lower ranks to be used in court.
Over 70 miners charged with riot which carried I think I heard, a 10 or 15 year min sentence. The trial collapsed due to unreliable police evidence.
Small amount of compensation paid several years later and nobody ever held to account. Sound familar?
jamie w said:
I've already watched episode 2 which focuses on the events at Orgreave, well publicised at the time.
Listening to some of the miners 40 years later reminded me of the sentiments I had during the recent post office dramatisation.
Whatever your politics I think it's difficult to defend the police that day. Serious physical assaults with batons used to beat miners on the head in some cases, by the the police. Officers told not to record anything in their pocket notebooks. Senior officers dictating statements to the lower ranks to be used in court.
Over 70 miners charged with riot which carried I think I heard, a 10 or 15 year min sentence. The trial collapsed due to unreliable police evidence.
Small amount of compensation paid several years later and nobody ever held to account. Sound familar?
The miners shouldn't have been at Orgreave in the first place. It wasn't a mine. It was a gas coking works.Listening to some of the miners 40 years later reminded me of the sentiments I had during the recent post office dramatisation.
Whatever your politics I think it's difficult to defend the police that day. Serious physical assaults with batons used to beat miners on the head in some cases, by the the police. Officers told not to record anything in their pocket notebooks. Senior officers dictating statements to the lower ranks to be used in court.
Over 70 miners charged with riot which carried I think I heard, a 10 or 15 year min sentence. The trial collapsed due to unreliable police evidence.
Small amount of compensation paid several years later and nobody ever held to account. Sound familar?
The picketing miners shouldn't have been allowed to stop honest people from going to work.
jamie w said:
I've already watched episode 2 which focuses on the events at Orgreave, well publicised at the time.
Listening to some of the miners 40 years later reminded me of the sentiments I had during the recent post office dramatisation.
Whatever your politics I think it's difficult to defend the police that day. Serious physical assaults with batons used to beat miners on the head in some cases, by the the police. Officers told not to record anything in their pocket notebooks. Senior officers dictating statements to the lower ranks to be used in court.
Over 70 miners charged with riot which carried I think I heard, a 10 or 15 year min sentence. The trial collapsed due to unreliable police evidence.
Small amount of compensation paid several years later and nobody ever held to account. Sound familar?
I don't recall sub postmasters refusing to work?Listening to some of the miners 40 years later reminded me of the sentiments I had during the recent post office dramatisation.
Whatever your politics I think it's difficult to defend the police that day. Serious physical assaults with batons used to beat miners on the head in some cases, by the the police. Officers told not to record anything in their pocket notebooks. Senior officers dictating statements to the lower ranks to be used in court.
Over 70 miners charged with riot which carried I think I heard, a 10 or 15 year min sentence. The trial collapsed due to unreliable police evidence.
Small amount of compensation paid several years later and nobody ever held to account. Sound familar?
Alickadoo said:
The miners shouldn't have been at Orgreave in the first place. It wasn't a mine. It was a gas coking works.
The picketing miners shouldn't have been allowed to stop honest people from going to work.
Yes it wasn't a mine and the workers who worked there were steel workers who were not on strike and in fact wanted regular deliveries of coal to keep everything running as otherwise parts of the plant may have been damaged.The picketing miners shouldn't have been allowed to stop honest people from going to work.
So it was actually a blockade of infrastructure elsewhere and so really came down to a question of who governed Britain not the rights of workers to strike.
jamie w said:
I've already watched episode 2 which focuses on the events at Orgreave, well publicised at the time.
Listening to some of the miners 40 years later reminded me of the sentiments I had during the recent post office dramatisation.
Whatever your politics I think it's difficult to defend the police that day. Serious physical assaults with batons used to beat miners on the head in some cases, by the the police. Officers told not to record anything in their pocket notebooks. Senior officers dictating statements to the lower ranks to be used in court.
Over 70 miners charged with riot which carried I think I heard, a 10 or 15 year min sentence. The trial collapsed due to unreliable police evidence.
Small amount of compensation paid several years later and nobody ever held to account. Sound familar?
Was any compensation paid to people who were injured by striking miners?Listening to some of the miners 40 years later reminded me of the sentiments I had during the recent post office dramatisation.
Whatever your politics I think it's difficult to defend the police that day. Serious physical assaults with batons used to beat miners on the head in some cases, by the the police. Officers told not to record anything in their pocket notebooks. Senior officers dictating statements to the lower ranks to be used in court.
Over 70 miners charged with riot which carried I think I heard, a 10 or 15 year min sentence. The trial collapsed due to unreliable police evidence.
Small amount of compensation paid several years later and nobody ever held to account. Sound familar?
I don't recall effigies of Harold Wilson being burnt.
Clement Attlee’s Labour government closed 101 pits between 1947 and 1951
Macmillan (Conservative) closed 246 pits between 1957 and 1963
Wilson (Labour) closed 253 in his two terms in office between 1964 and 1976
Heath (Conservative) closed 26 between 1970 and 1974
Thatcher (Conservative) closed 115 between 1979 and 1990.
Clement Attlee’s Labour government closed 101 pits between 1947 and 1951
Macmillan (Conservative) closed 246 pits between 1957 and 1963
Wilson (Labour) closed 253 in his two terms in office between 1964 and 1976
Heath (Conservative) closed 26 between 1970 and 1974
Thatcher (Conservative) closed 115 between 1979 and 1990.
JagLover said:
Alickadoo said:
The miners shouldn't have been at Orgreave in the first place. It wasn't a mine. It was a gas coking works.
The picketing miners shouldn't have been allowed to stop honest people from going to work.
Yes it wasn't a mine and the workers who worked there were steel workers who were not on strike and in fact wanted regular deliveries of coal to keep everything running as otherwise parts of the plant may have been damaged.The picketing miners shouldn't have been allowed to stop honest people from going to work.
So it was actually a blockade of infrastructure elsewhere and so really came down to a question of who governed Britain not the rights of workers to strike.
It's an interesting topic in general. My wife, who is quite socialist generally thinks Maggie Thatcher is great because she squashed the miners and was from down south so just saw the news. I was a child, but looking back think her stance very much suited the politics of the day and she wanted outright confrontation.
Not downplaying any of the hardships suffered by anyone resulting from those awful times but for me when anyone mentions the miners strike I immediately think of "The Flying Pickets". I detested their music and developed an irrational dislike for all involved, you just couldn't get away from them with every radio station and pub juke box playing their a cappella nastiness.
I am alright Jack said:
Not downplaying any of the hardships suffered by anyone resulting from those awful times but for me when anyone mentions the miners strike I immediately think of "The Flying Pickets". I detested their music and developed an irrational dislike for all involved, you just couldn't get away from them with every radio station and pub juke box playing their a cappella nastiness.
Just for you...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiDWGC3wxPk
The govt were definitely spoiling for a fight, massive coal stocks had been built up at power stations, steelworks etc to allow the rest of the economy to function during a prolonged strike and the nuclear and oil fired power stations built since the previous coal strike in the early 70s mitigated the power of the miners.
FourWheelDrift said:
I don't recall effigies of Harold Wilson being burnt.
Clement Attlee’s Labour government closed 101 pits between 1947 and 1951
Macmillan (Conservative) closed 246 pits between 1957 and 1963
Wilson (Labour) closed 253 in his two terms in office between 1964 and 1976
Heath (Conservative) closed 26 between 1970 and 1974
Thatcher (Conservative) closed 115 between 1979 and 1990.
Wow. Just how many pits were there in the UK? There is 741 just it that list!Clement Attlee’s Labour government closed 101 pits between 1947 and 1951
Macmillan (Conservative) closed 246 pits between 1957 and 1963
Wilson (Labour) closed 253 in his two terms in office between 1964 and 1976
Heath (Conservative) closed 26 between 1970 and 1974
Thatcher (Conservative) closed 115 between 1979 and 1990.
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