So Clive are you saying there is a theory Maggie did not instigate the
miners strike to  crush the miners and the unions. I think you would be
wrong. I have a few theories about the subject. Maggie had a few
reasons to bring the unions under control and to start the ‘destruction’
of Britain's coal industry. One I feel has only come to light lately with
the Enron scandal. After the miners had be crushed and pits started to
close, Britain would never again have to rely on one fuel. Along comes
Enrol with a simple solution or maybe they even lobbied the
goverment before all this happened ?. We will build gas power
stations to supply the nation And then on a flurry of gas power stations
were being built all over the country. Do you honestly think that no
money changed hands here. We are talking about the tory government
and one of the worlds biggest bankruptcys itself mired in sleaze and
corruption. So I feel maggie managed to kill off any real power the
miners had for her own back pocket as much as anything else.

I have not made my mind up on Nationalisation whether it was good
or bad. If Blenkinsopp was under nationalised control now maybe it
would still be going. We might have got supports that could work a 4’
seam. Dickie Budge promised us some. It never came true. Although
he his not well liked in areas I kind of admire the man, he had a
chance to walk away from the coal industry when he was ousted from
his own company but he went ahead and brought another pit, Hatfield
(albeit with government money though). As for your view that the
owners had a vested interest in the local community I feel it would only
be because they had business interests, i.e. shops, pubs, etc. They
would be paying the wages in one hand and taking it back in the other.

One of the worst things I can think of with nationaliton is the sheer
waste that took place and the management's attitude. It was too top
heavy like most of industry in this country. Blenkinsopps manager (ex
British Coal) was so laid back it was unbelievable and the organising
was terrible. In fact I can safely say that it was the men that run the
place. His only good point was getting us the grant that kept us going.
If this how British Coal was run then it deserved to close.

I am not sure if you can have a non political debate, mining and
politics seem to go hand in hand. I cannot say anything the miners
were fighting for was ‘romantic’ Clive and the stories of the conditions
and the oppression they endured must have been terrible. No wonder
so many flirted with communism. Miners have been an oppressed
people since day one and oppression will always lead to uprising.
This is why I think most miners and communities are so militant they
do not want to go back to that and will fight for what they believe in just
like there fore fathers all them years back did. If capitalist ogre thought
he could make a profit out of butchering us Clive he probably would.