20 years ago today .........
 

The Tories brought a once proud industry to its knees, the miners strike ended this day, 20 years ago.

Some of you won't remember it, but it wiped out whole towns - split families and a whole proud workforce were humiliated.

Maggies finest hour - the Tories at their best! :rolleyes:

NEVER let those dark days return to this nation!

Pete

you are doing a fair bit of reminiscing today Pete. Do you feel you are coming to the end of your time ?

You wish! ;)

Pete

Can we please keep SN free from politics. Go back to the football game Peter.

We have one and only one thing in common. The cars.

Nah, I like the politics bit in NSR. We got the other forums for the cars and bikes.
In truth that's what's sooo good about SN, the mix.
Imho, of course and who cares about that anyway.

just like what nl is doing to our fishing fleets hey:)

The mining industry killed itself off just like the british motor industry. Why should the rest of the country pay tax to subsidise a non-profitable industry.

Where are the towns it wiped out.. name one and I'll think you'll find it's thriving with coffee shops, call centres, retail parks, entertainment complexes.

Shall I start on the environmental damage done by coal?

What about the health problems? My Grandad was a miner and died of silicosis before I was born.

Maggie did the country a favour.

Several of my relatives worked for the police in Liverpool and were bussed in to help out.
You would not believe the overtime they got over the period of the strike.
it certainly was a strange time.
However, and it may just be Tory brain washing, I still can’t see the sense of keeping mines open when there’s very little coal left at the bottom of the hole?
That would be like continuing to build cars when no one wants to buy them.
(and we can all see where Rover is going with that one!)

Nothing to do with the fact we didn't need coal anymore then? ;)

What are you on about

DARK DAYS = TODAY = NEW LABOUR = OLD TORIES

If I had a picture of Tony Blair with his shrek like smile i'd have attached it here...:)

Honestly some of you haven't got a clue where your electricity comes from.

Usually around a third of your electricty is generated by coal burn and this can increase to 46% at peak times.

The UK only has the capacity to produce about a third of the UK's coal requirement. Two thirds is imported which can be upto 80million tons.

Imported coal is 60% more expensive than UK produced coal. This puts £60 a year on the average households Electricity bill.

Imported coal price is set to soar as China has revealed that it will burn 1.2 Billion tonnes this year and has a 120million tonne shortfall. It will need to buy 120million tonnes on the world market.

Maggie killed the pits by rigging the UK generation market to make gas generation cheaper. This worked and our coal industry virtually died off.
For us this has meant our Natural Gas reserves has been wiped out 20 years early and we are starting to rely on Eastern European imports for our Gas supplies. This has massively bumped up your gas bill.

So next time you pay your Gas and Electricity bill remember that the reason they are so high is the UK is now reliant on imported coal and gas.
Thank you Maggie :rolleyes:

Cheers
Lee

Here's the URL so everyone can read these and save Lewis from posting anymore crap.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/

"Imported coal is 60% more expensive than UK produced coal. This puts £60 a year on the average households Electricity bill."

BULL****. Imported coal is much cheaper, largely driven by much lower overseas labour costs (hence Chinese coal will become increasingly attractive). The reason the pits were closed was because of the legacy of socialist subsidies which Maggie was right to try to eradicate. Without this support, the pits were not economically viable, hence they had to close.

Pete - Can you give us a rundown of what was happening on this day in 1979?

Or even this month in 1979? Oh yeah - the country was falling to bits. Must have been Maggies fault as well - you tell me - I was only 7 :D

He is like a cracked gramophone record, same old moaning minnie!

Les

Nothing like a bit of impartiality is there Pete;) I notice you neglected to point out that she couldn't have done it without the full co-operation of Arthur Scargill & his rabid stalinist followers:(

The price of UK coal is around £1.21 a Gigajoule, the current world coal price is aound £1.84 but is expected to rise above £2 this year.
UK pits produce the cheapest deep mined coal in the EU, unfortunatly even at full poduction whats left of the UK's mining industry can only supply a third of the UK's coal burn.
The other two thirds are imported at a greater cost.

Drax power station in Yorkshire have recently announced they will have to buy more imported coal this year than expected at an extra cost of £15 million.

China will not be exporting coal they are importing it. This year they will burn 120million tons more than they mine.

Many mines before the 1984 strike were uneconomical and needed to be closed but the majority that were closed after the strike were made to be uneconomical because the Tory government twisted the generation market in favor of gas generation.

This has left the UK without it's own energy reserves and is why our energy cost are spiraling upwards.

Cheers
Lee

10 Years Ago Today ......
 

A bill which would ban hunting with hounds in England and Wales has become the first such proposal to get a second reading in parliament.

The private member's bill, introduced by Labour MP John McFall, would outlaw fox and stag-hunting and hare-coursing.

There was cheering in the House of Commons chamber and the public gallery as it was passed by 253 votes to nil after its first reading.

253 to NIL!!! :eek:

And STILL the Hooray Henrys compalin!! Arrest them ALL and give them to Big Billy in the Prison showers :D mind you, if they are Tories they might just enjoy that tooooo much!! :D ;)

So, under a TORY Government a Labour MP FORCED a vote on the banning of the torture of wild animals ............................... must have made them cringe! :D

Pete

OOOOPs that was supposed to be a NEW thread!! :rolleyes:

"The price of UK coal is around £1.21 a Gigajoule, the current world coal price is aound £1.84 but is expected to rise above £2 this year.
UK pits produce the cheapest deep mined coal in the EU, unfortunatly even at full poduction whats left of the UK's mining industry can only supply a third of the UK's coal burn."

This is not relevant - quoting today's prices (including prices from UK Coal - see below) have nothing to do with the economic picture for coal 20 years ago.

The pits still open in this country are largely owned by UK Coal. UK Coal lost £83m (!) in 2003, and lost £1m last year. It's losses over the last 5 years exceed £200m cumulatively. Nice. They made money through the mid-90s due to strong oil prices and their hope is that current high oil prices will skew demand toward their products. The problem is that they're highly dependent upon UK power stations - they're relatively cheap because they've had to undercut the market to stay in business - this is not economically viable in the long term.

Funny how neither UK Coal nor anyone else wanted to buy any other pits which (you imply) would be fantastically competitive and profitable. The Tories rightly removed the huge public liability (and pollution) from the country - to continue subsidising this industry to compete with cheaper overseas coal would be madness.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3534519.stm

Gordo

Youve obviously chosen to forget the 'Winter of Discontent' then Pete..... Same Labour party, different name. Different policies too; in order to remain electable they have to maintain a 'no increase in income tax' policy so theyre busy taxing everything else thay can possibly find whilst we arent looking... Whats your pension worth Pete? Probably f*ck-all like everyone elses is now.

My pension is VERY healthy thanks :D

I shall retire on 1/2 pay, with double my annual pension as a Lump Sum ..... so, that will mean me struggling on about £42k with a £84k Lump Sum :D

Hmmmmmm, yes, indeed - terrible!

I worked for that, not sitting on a BBS compalining about it!! :rolleyes:

Pete

Too bad you are already too old to enjoy it! ;)

With an 'Im alright' attitude like that Pete; you should vote Conservative.

Like I said .............. I've earned it!!

Unlike you kiddies who think the world owes you a living!! :eek:

If I was a Tory I would have inherited it! I didn't - every penny has been grafted for, keeping you lot safe in your beds!

Pete

When *are* you retiring lewis? 80? 90?

Well I'm so gald you wont be around too much longer to enjoy your great pension, lol.... :D

http://robinsimages.homestead.com/files/lewis.jpg

bog off....


UB;)

Ok so I should probably know what with you being an acknowledged SN celebrity but what have you been doing all these years that has been instrumental in keeping me safe?

You confuse me, Pete. Tories earn their money beacuse they drive capitalist/ free market principles.

Socialists eschew capitalism, expecting everything to be shared out (surprised you're paid so little, by the way)

I have helped make the very thought of any country attacking the UK a VERY BAD idea - so, no-one has attacked!

Hence you can sleep safe in your bed!

Pete