The Battle of Orgreave

[original PM]

It is true Only MF omitted to point out that the left is always on the look out for victims in order to pursue their war against freedom and capitalism especially. Essentially the miners believed they were entitled to be employed and supported by the rest of the country and they themselves were prepared to go to extreme levels of violence to defend their positions.

Indeed and also condemn their off spring to a life of poverty, Blacklung, alcoholism, casual domestic abuse, incest and child abuse, zero education or chances to do anything but go down pit or get knocked up at 15 by someone who works down pit.

[vetran]

Indeed and also condemn their off spring to a life of poverty, Blacklung, alcoholism, casual domestic abuse, incest and child abuse, zero education or chances to do anything but go down pit or get knocked up at 15 by someone who works down pit.

Good old fashioned values hey?

Sounds like a Catherine Cookson novel.

[LondonManc]

They were not as bad as each other. The miners were prepared to go to any lengths to protect their jobs despite the fact that they were being subsidised by the rest of the population. I am not quite sure how else the police were supposed to deal with these people.

Perhaps as bad as each other was a bit strong but I was more defending the innocent fans who died at Hillsborough

[DodgyAgent]

Indeed and also condemn their off spring to a life of poverty, Blacklung, alcoholism, casual domestic abuse, incest and child abuse, zero education or chances to do anything but go down pit or get knocked up at 15 by someone who works down pit.

Is mining all that they and their offspring were ever capable of doing?

[DodgyAgent]

Perhaps as bad as each other was a bit strong but I was more defending the innocent fans who died at Hillsborough

Quite. To equate the two is dishonest cowardice. At Hillsborough South Yorks police were culpable whereas with the miners they defending law and order.

[LondonManc]

Is mining all that they and their offspring were ever capable of doing?

Villages in Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and the valleys of South Wales were built around the pits. That's all there was. That and the ancilliary services - cafes, mining boots, coal transportation services, etc.

[original PM]

Is mining all that they and their offspring were ever capable of doing?

Not they could have done much more - it was more what that society expected of them rather than what they wanted.

[vetran]

Not they could have done much more - it was more what that society expected of them rather than what they wanted.

the governments big failing was to not supply alternative employment at the time. Many may well have left or avoided the pits if there had been a choice.

All this romanticising mining is a little sad though it was dirty, dangerous & doomed.

[DodgyAgent]

Villages in Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and the valleys of South Wales were built around the pits. That's all there was. That and the ancilliary services - cafes, mining boots, coal transportation services, etc.

So does that mean we should have preserved the mining industry?
Another question . If you had been born into a mining community what would you have done?

[Paddy]

They were not as bad as each other. The miners were prepared to go to any lengths to protect their jobs despite the fact that they were being subsidised by the rest of the population. I am not quite sure how else the police were supposed to deal with these people.

Dennis Thatcher’s and his company Burmah Oil was being subsidised by the rest of the population more than what coal mining was. Burmah Oil should have gone bankrupt but Maggie made an exception.

The coal mines were closed down and subsidised coal was imported leaving no competition. Once competition was out the way, prices rocketed.

Meanwhile Dennis Thatcher’s life style was being subsided