REMEMBER WHEN?... PARDON?

Watching the various news channels on Wednesday it occurred to me that the beer bellied, blacked up men shown swaggering down the street in Goldthorpe had probably never seen a mine. True, it only closed eighteen years ago so perhaps I could be doing said sad drunks a disservice. 

When all else fails, people and businesses look to the authorities for support. The 1984 miners strike was no different. We live now, as we did then, in a Democracy so, should any part of the UK workforce vote to withdraw their labour through strike action then, that is their prerogative. It is not however, their prerogative to prevent the mines working in their absence. The owners have every right to find alternative labour until the dispute is resolved. In 1984 the miners not only went out on strike but tried to prevent those not on strike and those miners who were shipped in by the Coal Board to fill their places, from working. A sort of one-sided Democracy.

For years the British Government had given in to the demands of the miners even though the collieries in which they worked were unprofitable. Mrs Thatcher said enough was enough. She and her Government had pumped £millions into the coal industry but it was a leaky vessel and like all such vessels they can only be baled out for so long before they sink.

Unlike her male counterparts and male predecessors, Mrs Thatcher had the foresight to see the futility of endless bale-outs and the nerve to force through the measures necessary to try to make the coal industry profitable. She knew that it would make her unpopular and also that whatever measures she and her Government took it would only prolong the inevitable.

I and many other bloggers have waxed lyrical about the Lefts propensity for collective amnesia and this malaise was evident in abundance on Wednesday. No more so than in the South Yorkshire town of Goldthorpe. 

Mrs Thatcher didn’t start the programme of colliery closures, that was up and running soon after the Second World War. What she did do however, was not to shirk from the responsibility of fiscal prudence when it came to financing the behemoth that was the National Coal Board. Her government offered to pour in £millions of taxpayers money on the understanding that coal mines with a record of unprofitability would be earmarked for closure. Scargill turned the proposal down flat, the South Yorkshire miners came out on unofficial strike thus giving Scargill the excuse he needed to call for an all out strike of miners. 

He didn’t ask for a ballot when making this decision he reasoned that his predecessor, Joe Gormley, had set a precedent during his tenure as President of the NUM over wage reforms and took it upon himself to call the miners out. Not all of the miners agreed with this and it set miner against miner.

Most notably when Scargill organised bus loads of flying pickets from Yorkshire to go to the Nottingham coalfields in order to intimidate and stop the miners there from working.

Forgotten that, Goldthorpe?

Mrs Thatcher didn’t close Goldthorpe.

Forgotten that, Goldthorpe?

Sadly, it is not just the ex miners of Goldthorpe who are suffering chronic memory loss. Liverpool is another classic example of mass amnesia. Mrs Thatcher is blamed for the loss of shipbuilding, commerce from the sea, manufacturing, you name it and the ever downtrodden scousers will blame Mrs Thatcher.

Liverpudlians would go on strike at the drop of a hat. Tea break not long enough, infrequent fag breaks, rain too wet, you name it they would find a reason to call a strike. Then they wonder why no one wants to trade with any business in Liverpool. Don’t dare blame the scousers though as its always someone else's fault. Obviously its the Tories who are to blame and, especially, that woman Thatcher. She dared to tell us to find jobs and go to work.

No, Liverpool, its your own fault. 

Birmingham and Coventry are another example of barmy Socialists getting it spectacularly wrong and then blaming anyone but themselves for the problem. The car industry was a Nationalised disaster waiting to happen. Knowing that Japan, Germany, France, could produce a car, not only quicker but at a fraction of the cost than the equivalent British manufacturer, what do the looney Unions do? You’ve got it, go out on strike until they get more money for doing less and therefore, producing fewer cars.

The Unions were crippling the country, Mrs Thatcher knew it, her Ministers knew it but, only she had the nerve to do anything about it.

So Birmingham and Coventry, who killed your industry, Mrs Thatcher or the Unions? I know your answer so let us just say; another case of mass amnesia.

I could go on but as we in UKIP know through our dealings with the loopy Left, amnesia strikes in many ways!