Scargill thought that Union power would win the day. He was wrong.

Scargill was right, he just went about it the wrong way.

Scargill thought the whole union movement would support the miners and cause a general strike - he was wrong and the writing was on the wall when Callaghan lost the election a big part of which was a desire of the general public to stop all the needless striking. Scargill lived in his own little commie bubble - sadly for all the members.

Unfortunately union members are just expendable collateral in the political struggle.

Interesting fact I would appreciate a source for that as never heard that before ?

Rubbish at that sort of stuff. Found an article about macregor in the guardian but it's scant on details. I'll keep trying but I saw it on a TV documentary and I'll try to find it.

And the country is a better place with weaker unions.

I took time out to attend Maggies Funeral. A great leader for the country at home and on the world stage.

Well at least Mark Thatcher, her despicable offspring , made billions out of her eco ness lol.

Closesest she got to eco is now, fertilising nettles , all she’s fit for

It's funny because I've seen no end of right wing muppets moaning about poor wages and working conditions during the current staffing crisis. The morons have got what they deserve. Crap jobs with crap conditions paying crap money, and in competition with immigrants who are happy to do the job for even less. "Suck it up", as they say.

"Great Leader" Mmmmm, well, the casualties from her determination to smash the NUM (and Unions in general) left a hell of a lot of people "Up North" out of work with many places taking the next 30+ years to recover.

The only reason I can think of for attending her funeral would be to make sure she was in the box

Would that be her determination to smash the Num and the Steel industry and the rest of the state controlled industries that threatened to bring down the government of the day with they're outlandish demands and they're determination to hold the country to ransom, that is indeed very poor fare from her, what's the saying, do unto them before they do it to you, and lets not forget the rest of the working class what would have had to pay for all that because they weren't fortunate enough to have the same membership as all the bully boys, or indeed no union at all, job's for the boys but at what and whose expense

The issue with Thatcher and her fight with the Unions was that it didn't affect her voting public and the vast majority of the fall out was felt by the Labour voters "up north".
I actually agree that some of the power of the Unions needed tempering and despite my years, I was too young to really be affected by the 3 day week of the 70's etc and maybe had I really experienced it, rather than a kid having to light candles, I may have felt differently.
However, my memory of the late 70's and early 80's was of some hardship and immense difficulty in finding work, although I eventually did and fortunately have never been out of work since but, rioting on the streets, high unemployment etc were the order of the day and while most of the South were unaffected, "we" got a damn good "kicking" from the Tory establishment and that is the reason that I would never vote for them.

Only a despicable, obnoxious, twisted guttersnipe like thatcher would weaponise Miners wives and kids

Interesting that the Tory supporters on here really struggle to understand what Thatcherism was about.

1983 keep the pits open and subsidise them a little to keep the industry going.
“No the market determines everything let the industry die”


2021. We need the car plant at Nissan to be subsidised so it does not close .
“ Oh ok here is 50 million please don’t close as it will make Brexit and us look stupid. “

That same pattern will be repeated ad nauseous in the next few years.

Which one is right state intervention to save Nissan workers or no state intervention and sod the miners

Right so all the people of the North who voted labour were the only people who felt the fall out from the fight between the government and the unions, people such as myself and my workmates who weren't in a union who didn't have a union to fall back on because back in the day unions were frowned upon in private enterprise to a large extent and we were shopping at different shops, what you are saying also is that we were exempt from relative hardship due in the main to the weaker labour governments getting into bed with the powerful union leaders and pleasing them at all costs to the tune of jobs for the boys at whatever price to stay in government, which inevitably led to the confrontations with Thatcher and bully boy Scargill and his cronies who thought that they should run the country and decide there would be no redundancies whatever the cost to the general public wherever they chose to live

It's good you agree that the unions needed tempering because it was not funny having no lighting and heating due to power cuts brought on by power crazed union leaders fuelled by greed, and one last thing, I do hope the we got a damn good kicking from the Tory establishment isn't just reserved for you because a lot of innocent people felt the hardship due in the main to Scargill.