unclebuck

If you lived though it you will remember the Miners' strike. The clash of ideals and personalities that divided the country, communities and even families. When it was cool to hate Thatcher and people really did try to bring down the government. They didn't succeed of course, but they gave everything in their attempt.

We could do with a bit of that revolutionary spirit against the current government IMO. I wonder what the catalyst could be? Council Tax?

UB

unclebuck

Amazing days. Rough working class miner types, Oxford and Cambridge undergraduates, Indians and other minorities, Gays and Lesbians, all united by the same thing - their hatred for Margret Thatcher. It makes you think.

UB

a2jcy

And its time SHE WAS BACK sort out some of the crap running the country now !

unclebuck

There is no way you can compare today and then. It was a totally different political landscape.

hedgehog

The thing that always sticks in my mind was that Thatcher gave the police a pay rise and then sent them out to give the miners a kicking.

While the whole political landscape has changed, as someone pointed out, I beileve that was one of the moves that indicated to all that the police were no longer the nice bobby on the beat.

Before the "thought police" on here get on my case I'm not saying that the police changed or became bad people, they did their jobs and no one refuses a pay rise, but that the public view of them did and the government moved them from policing by consent to policing by bribery. We went from asking a policeman the time to avoiding the police because they gave us a kicking when we were fighting for the right to make a living.

I'm not for one minute saying that Thatcher's behaviour was the only thing that undermined confidence in the police, currently speed cameras are another good example, but for me it feels like a defining moment in the history of this country.

unclebuck

Of course, it all went a bit Pete Tong in the end. Horribly, in fact.

Maybe it's a lesson from history that resistance against the state is pointless. Depressing...

UB

Pistol_Pete

"Amazing days. Rough working class miner types, Oxford and Cambridge undergraduates, Indians and other minorities, Gays and Lesbians, all united by the same thing - their hatred for Margret Thatcher."

But she did beat them all.

This is going from memory but it was very clever how she worked it. She backed down to the miners a couple of times, while stockpiling coal reserves so that she was able to face them down at a time of her choosing with a very large ace up her sleave.

I think the police did very well in a no win situation. It was a very bitter time. Its probably better that these days are well behind us now.