Miners finishing their shift at Wistow Colliery on Tuesday July 16, 2002, following the announcement that coal production was to be phased out (Image: PA/ John Giles)
The media have been full of stories about the 40th anniversary of the coal miner’s strike, which ran from March 6 1984 to May 3, 1985.
Following an announcement that mining capacity was to be cut by 4 million tonnes, with the closure of 20 pits and the loss of 20,000 jobs, the strike, led by Arthur Scargill, pitted the miners against the government led by Margaret Thatcher.
But with hindsight, and given the ongoing problems regarding global warming, time has proven that unfortunately the coal industry had to close.
Was Thatcherism the great evil it is often portrayed as, or an event that was simply before its time and inevitable?
DM Deamer, Monkgate, York
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