Originally Posted by accyman (Post 1052513)

most of thatchers attitude towards mining was sheer spite and a personal battle that she wanted to win at any cost

Originally Posted by Eric (Post 1052512)

As pits (that's "pits" as in coal mines, not "pits" as in Thatcherism was the pits;)) and coal mining seem to be cropping up a lot in this thread, I don't think it's too much of a wander to question why Britain now imports coal:confused: Can some informed right-wing economist explain this? "Carrying coals to Newcastle" comes to mind.:rolleyes: Seems like 40% of Uk's energy came from coal last winter. (I could post a link; but if anyone is interested, there's an article in the "Guardian"; I'm sure you are all capable of finding it.) Now, let me think about this:confused: I don't read of Saudi Arabia importing oil ... or Saskatchewan, wheat ... or Canada, uranium. So, why are you guys importing coal? Did you run out or something? Don't you have the expertise to mine the stuff? Is there nobody over there who wants to work in the mines?

Originally Posted by accyman (Post 1052513)

it wasnt that long ago that government was looking into reopening coal mines although from what i remember thatcher did a bloody good job on caving them in

most of thatchers attitude towards mining was sheer spite and a personal battle that she wanted to win at any cost

Originally Posted by Gordon Booth (Post 1052520)

About 40% of our coal is UK mined. Coal from abroad( mainly Russia) is cheaper. Many of our mines(MOG can probably say more) were 'deep mines' which produced high quality but expensive coal. Power stations didn't need the high quality anyway.
We have 300 years of reserves, based on the high usage of the 70's and 80's so heaven knows how long it would last at present rates of usage.
Why spend a fortune re-opening or starting new mines- the EU won't let us burn coal. Two coal fired power stations closed a couple of weeks ago, they'll all be gone soon. We have no means to replace their output so we could be facing power shortages in the next few years.
What a wicked waste.

Is it sensible?
No, it's politics.

Originally Posted by accyman (Post 1052513)

it wasnt that long ago that government was looking into reopening coal mines although from what i remember thatcher did a bloody good job on caving them in

Originally Posted by yerself (Post 1052465)

No. 1 on jaysay's ipod:D:D

not sensibles, I'm in Love With Margaret Thatcher - YouTube

Originally Posted by accyman (Post 1052499)

glenda jackson MP spoke in the house of commons and gave a brutal but honest speech about thatcher and thatcherism

Labours leader however has saluted her showing that he has less balls than glenda jackson

ps:

she cant be with elvis because shes dead and elvis is a taxi driver in las vegas

nah only kidding he died taking a poop

Originally Posted by Eric (Post 1052522)

If you think about it, importing stuff that you have in abundance is never "cheaper" ...

Originally Posted by jaysay (Post 1052528)

I don't know so much and American yellow cab was seen trolling for fares round about the time her death was announced, Elvis songs could be heard on the stereo system:rolleyes:

Originally Posted by DtheP47 (Post 1052518)

The demise of the pits rolled over from the Grunwick dispute of 1976 -78, yes violence and wrongdoing on both sides but the inescapable truth was the coal industry was terminal. The Tories learned from the lessons of Grunwick, Scargill never did.
Labour’s James Callaghan was so concerned that Scargill would try to escalate the dispute using thousands of flying pickets that he even asked the cabinet secretary to draw up a note reminding him of the lessons of the so-called battle of Saltley Gates in Birmingham, when flying mass pickets won a decisive victory during the 1972 miners' strike and helped to bring down Edward Heath's Conservative government.
The Tories learned from the lessons of Grunwick, Scargill never did.
Q: Where do you think the coal industry would be today without the intervention of the Thatcher years?

Originally Posted by DtheP47 (Post 1052529)

We are not talking about turnips here Eric, we are talking about a fossil fuel that presents many technological challenges in bringing it to the surface.

Originally Posted by Gordon Booth (Post 1052523)

Your memory is faulty.