But surely she closed the biggest loss making pits down ,just as Wilson did, they were being subsidised to the tune of hundreds of millions over the year's ,it couldn't carry on just like the north east ship yards hamstrung by unions

Well obviously

here's another fact for you, if you close 10 that leaves 90 still open that's 90 percent so what's your point? I worked down Parkhill Colliery you know the one situated less than a mile from your house, It got shut down because it was losing too much money, so I would imagine Wilson shut the pits because they were also losing too much money, but just for the sake of it explain to me why Wilson shut the mines down for what ever reason and Thatcher shut them down because it was her campaign, your so unbelievably full of kryptonite.

The impact under Wilson was less because many found alternative work at the other pits. This was not a luxury available once Thatcher started her closures. That is the difference and why it affected so many communities.

Maybe that lead to other pits being even less profitable?

Don't try to confuse him more than he is already

In other words it's OK if Labour do it

Let us be clear the house I own was not bought by me from the council and I have personally never been involved in a purchase of a council house and no I loathed thatcher and all her policies. She was trying to gerrymander the future elections by trying to turn everybody into home owners at the expense of the council house stock because the funds went to central government and to sell off all the utilities believing that the individual investors would not sell them off to bigger organisations. I presume you thought she was a Demi god enabling you to ferry around the great and good of Barnsley fc or was it a case of you did not vote so you can comment on everything.
If you know me that well you would know that my opinion of thatcher has never changed, her philosophy was greed is good and trickle down economics unfortunately that did not cascade too far.

First of all I don't believe you, secondly as a card carrying labour supporter I wouldn't expect anything else from your gob, as for ferrying around the great and good of Barnsley FC not sure where they come into it, as for not voting it's like not reading newspapers it's a personal choice, unlike your good self I have a life.
As for knowing you that well Jesus how vain are you? I don't know you at all I just know a few things about you but apparently not according to you, I have a friend who I sometimes stood with at Bellevue prior to lockdown, he is a green keeper at "your golf club" and not your biggest fan might I add, Your initials are that of a brand of whiskey with the same initials, you live on B***** Rd on a council estate in Wakey, your bro. has/used to have a pub on Stanley Rd and your into insurance, oh and your such a boring, miserable old get and that's far more than I want to know about you, thank you, as for your political rhetoric please don't contuse me with somebody that gives a toss, incidentally I noticed you preferred to stay at home yesterday and watch the Cas match on television instead of venturing down to Bellevue but still found time to make plenty of comments on the game, typical really

This is the last time I am going to correct your inaccuracies which I presume are your assumptions. I am not a member of the Labour Party however their views better reflect the person I am and the society I would like to live in. Yes I live on a former council estate because let’s face it there are not many council houses left. The lie is that I bought the house from the council I did not and neither did those who sold it to me. The second lie yes there was a Wakefield supporting green keeper but that was at a club I left over 10 years ago there are none at my present club.
I do not go to games this year for reasons I am not going to explain to you because it is none of your business. I think looking at the current attendances I am not alone in avoiding crowds at this time.
This will be the last time I respond to any of your posts because quite frankly they are pointless much like you old boy and the next time you see the green keeper make sure he is not getting me mixed up with someone else or maybe I may do so because I remember who he was. He may be able to fill me in on who you are and I will be able to point out the inaccuracies in his statements about me or ask him what he is referring to.
Please don’t bother replying save your time because I have added you as the only member of my ignore club.

So, in conclusion, now that the Tory lovers on here have decided that it was in fact Wilson who began the closure of the pits, we should at least proclaim him "The Godfather of Green Policies" and clear Maggie of all of her (non existent) Green credentials

.

It's been an interesting watch how all the flies gathered around the corpse though.

Atlee closed a fair few way before Wilson

I think that you will find that most of the early closures under Atlee Wilson and Heath were due to the fact that the pits were no longer capable of producing coal or were not safe. Everyone accepts that coal,seams get mined out and are effectively EMPTY of coal. What you will also find is that when those pits closed miners tended to move to other areas . So you had lots of Durham miners go to Northumberland or down to Notts.

The. Closures under Thatcher in the main were of pits That still had Coal . Often it was coal that could still be mined but not at a price that was as cheap as polish coal or even Australian So they were deemed uneconomic. I am still waiting for wotsupcas to provide evidence that it cosy £400 to produce £1 of coal as that is. It something I ever heard during the strike. Many economic arguements were put forward which clearly said that the making of miners be unemployed far outweighed the losses on any coal mined. It was a pure free market economic arguement to close them down allied to the attempts to destroy the Trade Unions and allow for a much more free market approach to running the economy.

Indeed.
Thatcher's beef was more political than just economics and the fall out wasn't just the miners.
It's ironic that government is applauded for securing the Toyota plant staying in the UK, with grants and other sweeteners, sighting the supply chain and local economy etc but, this, if it was even considered in the late 70's / 80's, didn't seem to matter when the pits closed.

Well Chissitt someone up there does not like you because after taking a wrong turn who should I see but your mate from Waterton. He is a mechanic by the way but does know you, how’s Wath by the way a bit of a change from where you started like me.
I ask him why he felt so negative about me after all I barely know him or him me which he agreed. He apparently has not seen you down at the club for quite sometime and actually never saw me in the stands, he also doesn’t know where you got the idea that he did. I believe you use to walk to the ground together until you reached a fish shop where you parted way. He was quite adamant that he had not spoken about me to anyone so I suggested the next time he sees you to correct your errors, he did at least remember your name. I would also state that actually I left Waterton long before Carter and Chester started to play there.
I am going to leave it at that and don’t try to comeback with one of your other incarnations.

I suppose I should be grateful that you for giving me the chance to put you right again, the only Waterton I know is Waterton Rd in Lupset or if it's a golf course then I've never heard of it never mind know where it is, the chap I know is definitely a green keeper at some golf course although It would be a guess as to which one, If you mean Wath on Dearne by Wath then I have to disappoint you as I don't live there and would seriously have to get the sat nav out to get there, So just to sum things up I live in Barnsley yet I walk to the ground with this chap you conveniently dropped on after taking a wrong turn, was that on Eastmoor by the way? he apparently hasn't seen me down at the club for quite sometime and we used to walk to the fish shop together where we then parted was that before we ate fish & chips or after, in a nutshell either it's a complete fabrication on your part or you seriously need to curtail your alcohol intake, maybe keep out of the Butchers Arms, and one last thing it's not surprising he hasn't said anything to you if in fact he's real as clearly it's the wrong chap.
Btw just to be clear, I park my car in the cemetery on Sugar Lane at the side of that stone building and I don't use the Con club as I am a tee total and have been for quite a number of years. HTH

Ok Scarlett and Chissit.
Stick to the topic. Anymore I now your gardener golf club or gym owner in WF 10 or WF12 is as far as I am concerned at best a wind up and it worst intimidatory cut it out or it will be holiday time for you .

Even today from the sky she creates division and hatred!! At least she has a legacy unlike some PM's we've had in recent times.

I'm not sure that the legacy she left was such a good one.
Individual greed and feck the working classes. Mmm................

Mind you, ultimately, it was the mess that she left that helped get Labour back in.

Using Bojo's logic, she's probably the godmother of socialism

It was hardly Thatchers mess as she left office in 1990. Majors mess maybe but tbf the economy was in pretty good shape in 1997 when the electorate were taken in by snake oil salesman Blair

The difference is that the need for coal was declining dramatically with coal exports down to next to nothing ,so why subsidise a dying industry ,the market for Toyota cars and Van's is increasing big time

It didn't matter that the pits had coal they were economically unviable to mine in part because of the unions ,under wilson and Heath the pits that closed downs work force could not be made redundant and so got moved to other pits which in turn made them unviable ,so a combination of weak government and bolshoi unions helped to accelerate the demise of the coal industry in this country

Tbf, the Leaders that followed Thatcher into office were always going to come up short and the Tory lead just narrowed and narrowed with each new leader, until, finally, something had to break.
Blair made some huge mistakes as PM, notably the PFI on Schools and hospitals (although they were, at the time seen as quick fixes) and of course, the illegal war in the Middle East, although, this was heavily supported by the Tories and there is little doubt that, it would have still happened whoever was in power. However, when you compare the politics of Thatcher and Blair
there was certainly a different "tone" to their style.
Thatcher was very much "look after no 1 and sod the rest", whereas Blair seemed rather more inclusive.

It's probably already been covered but I put more of the blame on Scargill than I do on Thatcher.
Whether she was what you wanted or not, she was elected and was defending her policies.
Scargill was not elected by the country and even went against those that did vote for him.
His strategy was flawed from the beginning and just handed the win to Thatcher because of his personal ego in many cases.
The miners that suffered, suffered badly and much of it could have been avoided. (I realise that's easy to say with hindsight)

Thank you for your potted history of the dispute, where did you get the information from, Thatcher's autobiography?

I could dissect this post & give an alternative version, but what would be the point, you're too intransigent & I'm too tired to care.

Id be happy to discuss.
Don't get my wrong, I'm not suggesting Thatcher did good things, but Scargill's role has been very well documented. It wasn't just a war of good versus evil as some would have it. It was two divisive leaders getting their agenda through at the expense of the guy on the coal face.

The miners were stuffed just as much by the unions as the government.
Its a matter of law now that solicitors and union leaders have been taken to court and in prison for mistreating union members over VBF claims fraud.
Not everyone came out of the miners strike poor..... And that is travesty here. IMHO.

I'm not in the mining industry but I lived through the miners strike in a mining area and my family has generations of miners before me. So I have no love for the destruction of the industry, but I am also open enough to see all sides of the argument.