Institute of Fiscal Studies' figures show that those living in poverty under Thatcher rose from 13% to 22%. The gini coefficient (which assess inequality with 1 being a complete unequal society) shows a rise from 0.253 to 0.339 by the time Thatcher resigned. The majority of growth under Thatcher was short term yet irreversible. There is of course the selling off of state industry and public services, but more importantly growth was driven by state aided home ownership bubbles. Even by the end of her reign this had come unstuck with record levels of repossessions. We have 70% home ownership now compared to Germany's 45%. They meanwhile manufacture their way through recessions whilst we wait for the next big property boom. Or should I say bubble.
It is well documented 'the enemy within ' is what she (it) called the miners So many on here are wrong about scargill he did not have a vote on any policy within the num Not sure why 200000 being on strike to defend jobs n communities is considered a bad thing anyway ?
That's a valid point clearly the mines had to close. But did it need to be done In such a vindictive and vicious maner
the pit closures during the 60's were a different kettle of fish,loss making near exhaustion pits..those pits i'm on about were profitable money earners that were some of the most advanced in the world,benefitting from a decade of investment. and I am sure.100% I was involved in it.
the majority that slate scargill never worked at a pit and have never been involved,they've based their ideas on what was written in the press,the majority of it up the tories backsides.
I don't think I'll go any further. It's great people actually take an interest in domestic affairs, though. I appreciate it's a sensitive subject and I also appreciate that many of you will have been effected by it much more than myself. As I say, I don't consider myself inclined neither right nor left, and I can be guilty of looking at things purely from an economic perspective. It's an emotional day for many I'm sure.
the miners strike affected a few in my family yes, it also caused one of my best friends family to have to leave the area because his dad was a policeman, do you think that was right. im very sympathetic to the miners but not to there leader at the time, who was as bad as the government. The last labour government shagged up the construction industry in which i worked. forced me to lose my job and house.And thousands of others too.
i agree pinball lets live and let live oh and get behind the super reds tommorow thats more important COYR
I think we can all understand why pits that were making huge losses were closed. But the Tories shut down profitable pits. Pits that were actually earning the government money, that were providing employment, not just for miners, but for all the associated industries, and they provided the country with a valuable energy source. Coal may be frowned upon now, but with new technologies the environmental impact of burning it can be quite low, particularly compared with what it used to be like. We now import millions of tonnes of the stuff, while under our very soil we have enough to last us decades if not hundreds of years. We're facing a huge energy shortage problem over the next couple of decades, yet we're sat on billions of tonnes of coal. The coal industry needed restructuring, streamlining and modernising, but it didn't need decimating. The whole country should be up in arms about what happened to the industry. People were taken out of employment and on to benefit putting a huge burden on tax payers, while a valuable resource that we could easily produce ourselves at a profit is now being bought it an enormous expense. And all the while we're heading for an energy shortage that in a few years really could mean we won't have enough power. It's scandalous what happened.
there wasn't the huge stockpiles of coal that we were lead to believe,and they were running low by august of the strike,thats when there was a huge effort by the tories to get the scabs into work.Had notts not worked and produced coal the strike would have been won and our industry saved,the notts scabs are the main reason we lost the strike.However this lot did take part in the strikes of 72 and 74 and that's why Maggie shut the notts pits just the same as she did ours.
He was a ******** too, when he passes ill do a little dance too. Yet he didn't actually have the power to direct government policy, as hard as he tried, unlike Thatcher who decimated parts of the north of England and didn't give a ****. In fact he actually did more harm than good to the legitimate fight of people trying to protect their jobs.