25 years on

mark

mark

Well-known member
hard to believ but 25 years this week since the miners strike

I was at college in doncaster at the time, which is sat in a group of 4 buildings - NCB headquarters, South Yorks Police HQ, Magistrates court and the college

had to run the gauntlet many a day just to get to college, was regualrly gobbed on and had bricks hoyed at me on me motorbike. If it hadn't been for the hoards of coppers that were bussed up from london, looking for nothing other than giving someone a good kicking I might have got a bit upset by it. Solidarity!, I forgive you brothers!

highlight of the strike from me was the discovery that blokes toilets on the seventh floor of the college over looked Mr Plod's front line, and that anyone could wander into the college, go into the bogs, poo on a piece of paper and lob it out of the window. remember seeing a rain of turds on more than one occasion out of the window from one of the classrooms underneath

and the irony is.... we're still sat on anything between 200 and 400 years worth of the stuff depending on whose figures you believe, the pound is on its arse and there's starting to be talk of re-opening some of the pits that were 'uneconomical' cos it'll be cheaper than buying the stuff from china
 
mark said:
...and the irony is.... we're still sat on anything between 200 and 400 years worth of the stuff depending on whose figures you believe, the pound is on its arse and there's starting to be talk of re-opening some of the pits that were 'uneconomical' cos it'll be cheaper than buying the stuff from china
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the other irony is that they'll struggle to get approved because the local residents will be up in arms as it'll be "detrimental" to the value of their homes or other such bobbins - same type of people who object to wind farms
 
the other irony is that they'll struggle to get approved because the local residents will be up in arms as it'll be "detrimental" to the value of their homes or other such bobbins

Tony, if someone was trying to open a mine close to my house I would do anything that I could to stop them. I don't know what you mean by "detrimental" but how about never being able to let your children play outside because of the HGVs flying past your door. Never being able to open your windows during the summer no matter how hot it became. Never being able to sit in your garden whether it be front or back as the noise and filth would be absolutely terrible and make it impossible.

Are you saying that these are things you would find acceptable? If you had children you would be happy to let them out despite the increase in dangerous traffic? I would probably guess not mate.

Jim.
 
I'm being slightly one sided I suppose - I know for a fact I'd complain like buggery if it was on my doorstep....be that mines/geet big wind turbine

That said it's a double edged sword because on the other hand I'd like cheaper/cleaner energy and the only way to do that is to allow pits/opencast mining/wind farms to go ahead.

I guess I'm fairly safe living in my Wallsend idyll but these things have to be considered as well as (dare I say it) Nuclear fuels
 
My main reason for mentioning it is, I used to work for a large transport comany years ago. The drivers wouldn't get payed by the hour, more likely by the load. The more loads the more money they get. Some of the drivers were quite happy with their maybe six loads a day, the minority however were not and always managed at least one or two loads each, extra per shift. It doesn't take a genius to work out how they did that lol.

The filth that had to be cleaned from those vehicles was unbelievable and was usually done on a Saturday afternoon after the weeks work. When it was wet there would be a trail into the yard from where they started and it took ages to be cleaned up. As the week went on, if it was wet there would be great big clods of crap falling off all over. Every now and again one of them would be pulled over and warned and they would all work by the book for a couple of days and then back to normal, until the next warning.

I don't think there is any doubt that we all want cheaper and cleaner energy but I think it is always a case of "not on my doorstep". If you move house next to a power plant or mine it is your choice but I doubt anyone would fancy one being started after they moved in. Property is expensive and to have the price considerably slashed would be a nightmare for anyone, on top of all the horrors. It is a difficult decision to make on which is the best way forward as each time something like this is suggested it causes problems for someone somewhere.

Jim.
 
on blance, if its green energy you want, nuclear wins hands down

Fought and won a campaign to build europes biggest wind farm out here a few years back.

they ain't as green as they are cabbage looking (eh?)

life expectancy of 20-25 years. turbines are only about 25% efficient - ie they will only generate their capacity for a bout 25% of their lifetime

the embodied energy - the amount of energy required to build one is massive - mine the aluminum & steel, smelt it, fabricate it move it around, make lots of concrete, move it around etc etc

it takes a minimum of 15 years to reclaim the embodied energy before the things start putting anything back

but all that lot doesn't bother me. Private companies get subsidies of many 10's of millions of taxpayers money to build them, and a guarantee to buy their 'green' electricity off them for over the twice the price that every one else gets paid for their leccy. yet they won't shove just a few million into subsidising the mining industry which keeps people in work for years, not just the few months while the turbines are being built, and the govt turns a blind eye to the dodgy business practices that allow a few companies to get all the contracts.

end of the day, a few very rich companies get a lot richer on the 'green' bandwagon, everyone else gets to pay for it :mad:

sad fact is most of the former colliery sites have been built over so little chance of them re-opening, they'd have to start afresh elswhere
 
willywetegg said:
My main reason for mentioning it is, I used to work for a large transport comany years ago. The drivers wouldn't get payed by the hour, more likely by the load. The more loads the more money they get. Some of the drivers were quite happy with their maybe six loads a day, the minority however were not and always managed at least one or two loads each, extra per shift. It doesn't take a genius to work out how they did that lol.

The filth that had to be cleaned from those vehicles was unbelievable and was usually done on a Saturday afternoon after the weeks work. When it was wet there would be a trail into the yard from where they started and it took ages to be cleaned up. As the week went on, if it was wet there would be great big clods of crap falling off all over. Every now and again one of them would be pulled over and warned and they would all work by the book for a couple of days and then back to normal, until the next warning.

I don't think there is any doubt that we all want cheaper and cleaner energy but I think it is always a case of "not on my doorstep". If you move house next to a power plant or mine it is your choice but I doubt anyone would fancy one being started after they moved in. Property is expensive and to have the price considerably slashed would be a nightmare for anyone, on top of all the horrors. It is a difficult decision to make on which is the best way forward as each time something like this is suggested it causes problems for someone somewhere.

Jim.
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In the grand scheme of things it is not beyond human imagination or economic sense to relocate people to decent places to live if opening coalmines was a sensible solution to the short term energy problems. But hey not gonna happen. If the bosses agree to reopen pits it'll be done with a view to maximisiming profits for shareholders or going straight into the state's pocket where it will be spent on maximisiming profits for shareholders. On the cheap, people will be offered crap money for properties and crap alternatives to move to. Why should we moan, most of us vote and stick up for this system in the first place. Most of us stood by and watched working people kicked all over during the miner's strike, most of us demonised Scargill and believed every word that came out of our free and unbiased media (read "Bad News" by the Glasgow Media Group) Most of us rubbed our hands in glee as the lazy jobsworth nationalised industries were sold of on the cheap to benevolent capitalists which are serving our communities so well now. I am not a happy little angler on this important anniversary.
 
Just in case you were too young or relied only on what the tabloids said - the miners went on strike as a result of proposed pit closures and massive job losses, not over pay.

This threat to society - "The enemy within" were subjected to a viscious attack by The State, physically and financially. A law was passed to allow the governement to sequester union funds - i.e take there money off them. Let's see the same thing happen to these parasitic free marketeers, let's see them chased through Kensington by police horses and smashed senseless, let's see the arrests (8000) and imprisonments top 200, let's see rampaging mobs of paramilitaries in boiler suits with ID removed storm through their houses scaring the bairns and braining their fathers. Let's see them blacklisted and refused work. Ooooooooooooooo Ya *******s
 
Charlie_Thompson said:
Just in case you were too young or relied only on what the tabloids said - the miners went on strike as a result of proposed pit closures and massive job losses, not over pay.

This threat to society - "The enemy within" were subjected to a viscious attack by The State, physically and financially. A law was passed to allow the governement to sequester union funds - i.e take there money off them. Let's see the same thing happen to these parasitic free marketeers, let's see them chased through Kensington by police horses and smashed senseless, let's see the arrests (8000) and imprisonments top 200, let's see rampaging mobs of paramilitaries in boiler suits with ID removed storm through their houses scaring the bairns and braining their fathers. Let's see them blacklisted and refused work. Ooooooooooooooo Ya *******s
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Bloody good post
 
"Summer of Major Whining" is the best we'll get, maybe a bit of coordinated breast beating. If we dare to protest in a similar way to some of the big industrial disputes and civil protests again they'll start shooting us dead no doubt at all. If they can't kill us there and then the CCTV will allow them to slowly and quietly pick off anyone who dares to SERIOUSLY gatecrash the little party the've got gannin on.

As for Blake - On the Buses will never be the sham without the lad ;)
 
Charlie_Thompson said:
As for Blake - On the Buses will never be the sham without the lad ;)
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blakie.jpg


lest yee forget :red::red::red:
 
Its known in medical circles as the rattray head effect, caused by a day getting bounced around in F8-F9 winds, 30' swells in a boat with no steering and and its own ever deepening indoor swimming pool

happy days!
 
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