Arthur Scargill speaking at The Battle of Saltley Gate 40th Anniversary Commemoration

[@numberstation]

Having spent my entire working life in industry and most of it as a member of a union,I can't disagree more with you.Union relations within BL were bad,and union behaviour was sometimes shortsighted,but management at BL and later Rover were appalling.When the Rover group collapsed,it wasn't due to the Unions,it was due clowns running the operation.Unions are needed now MORE THAN EVER to protect working people (and the unemployed). Undemocratic tools bullying business? Dream on.

[@nikennis2423]

Throughout the miners strike the Russians stood behind the miners.The great cafe in Russia in honor of mr Scargill called Barnsley....

[@ReelNews]

and your point is, Nik?

[@ralphsimpson5230]

I enjoyed the way Maggie gave Scargill a damn good Shafting.

[@spencercooper2693]

Tories are a disgrace. All they have done for people is increase use of food banks

[@TheAyeAye1]

This parasite was the most directly responsible for a needless disaster. You drove the Union over a cliff.

[@JAMAICADOCK]

The young get under £200 a week for an 8 hour, five day a week at minimum wage. At the Adult Rate before tax at minimum wage, you're lucky to drag £240. So in other words wages have stagnated for the low paid. The low paid were dragging similar wages 20 years ago when the cost of living was cheaper. 240 after gas, electric, water, poll tax, rent doesn't leave much to spare.

[@paulrothery5792]

the victors write history...

[@AG-fg3gr]

This is the man who bought a brand new Jaguar after the miners went back to work after a year with no money, nothing wrong with unions just the people who run them.

[@JAMAICADOCK]

You might argue if our BOP will lead to a weaker pound what's the fuss about? Exports will pick up. But sudden corrections in the money supply like the credit crunch only make things worse, as confidence dies in the economy. A managed devaluation over time is preferable. And as it stands this country is now in danger of hyper inflation. And no wonder with so much sterling on the markets - leaving us vulnerable to speculation e.g. Black Wednesday. The sharks smell blood and are circling again.

[@oysterstew8216]

"City of London will eventually be replaced by Frankfurt has Europe's financial centre" and it wont as a part of a politically united Europe? I can teach you a lesson here. Where is the richest and most influential part of any country? THE CAPITAL. It all gravitates there. If we join a united Europe ALL power will gravitate to brussels and THEY will decide where the financial centre will be. The biggest threat to the city is regulation.

[@73orchar]

This guy lives in another world....he talks about 40 years or 30 years ago like it was heaven..he was slagging the country off 30 and 40 years ago...by the way, he is a very wealthy man...Mr Miner, are you??

[@JAMAICADOCK]

Socialism doesn't insist everybody be on the same level. In Cuba, Castro insists on doctors getting the same wages as road sweepers, but within the Soviet Union - doctors, politicians, union leaders, scientists, composers etc got special privileges for their contribution to the state. I think people should be rewarded for tireless contributions. Whereas capitalism sees the likes of Major Thatcher and Blair becoming multi millionaires for impoverishing working people both at home and abroad.

[@thezak1104]

A lot of our communities are still bitterly divided because of him

[@JAMAICADOCK]

My dad was on a fiver a week in 1970 working a seam under the sea in Durham. Miners in the early 70s were some of the worst paid workers in the country. My mother was a bus conductress and earned twice what mi dad earned. I mean are you arguing miners were well paid in 1972? And this was a period when workers were looking at profits and wanting a bigger share of the cake. Strikes rightly happened when workers could see profits rising and wages stagnating.

[@JAMAICADOCK]

Well Scargill earned his - he worked tirelessly after the strike for canteen ladies redundancy, pit dust, white finger. That's why the miners kept voting for him cos he got results - unlike like other Union company men. Scargill was like Bob Crow, he played hardball. He deserved far more than just a flat and a petrol allowance. And in all honesty if the pits at to go down to the level of China in order to be viable - then they are better off closed. Scargill got the miners a golden parachute

[@JAMAICADOCK]

Yeah well Scargill was elected NUM leader. And strikes without national ballots were only made compulsory by Tebbit two years earlier. And national ballots were ignored by Nottingham back in the 70s. Why can't each region come out as they see fit? Yorkshire, Scotland, Wales, Lancashire, Durham, Kent were already out. Only Nottingham cared about the ballot - even though they ignored ballots for strike action in the 70s. They would have broke away anyway. They'd done it before.

[@JAMAICADOCK]

Once again I agree- Labour did nothing for manufacturing or to address the trade deficit. In fact they made it worse - cancelling contracts with British textile firms to make NHS and police uniforms. And the Textile industry only had one strike in 100 years. Both parties only cared about getting access to Chinese markets for Barclays and Tescos. Great for shareholders of Tescos and Barclays but no good for our BOP. The credit crunch was inevitable. QE was going to have to happen sooner or later.

[@oysterstew8216]

what labour should have done IMHO is instead of creating jobs in the public sector was to make big cuts in business taxation, tax breaks for business investment and some penalty for companies who re locate british companies abroad. I know it goes against your politics but whats good for business is usually good for the country.

[@JAMAICADOCK]

Well my dad was earning 220 quid back in 84. - and that's still around the average wage in what's left of the pits. In fact, wages are now dropping under £200 as inflation goes up. Which means the poor are locked on benefits - as work simply doesn't pay. Benefits kept up with inflation - whereas wages haven't. The basic wage should now be over £300 quid.

[@JAMAICADOCK]

Look back at what I wrote - if Scargill hadn't been as militant, the pits would still be closed. The Shipbuilding Industry, the steel industry, the textile industry were not nearly as militant and still went the way of the miners. Privatization - which anybody with half a brain knew Thatcher was hellbent on implementing - would mean the end of the coal industry. As privatized Electricity Corporations would buy the cheapest fuel available on the open market. Namely gas and Chinese coal.

[@oysterstew8216]

High wages increases production costs. To pay for higher wages you have to 1) Increase productivity 2) Improve efficiency 3) Put prices up. If its the latter then it adds to inflation

[@oysterstew8216]

No problem.

[@JAMAICADOCK]

Not really Europe would just initiate capital controls. They're already pressuring Tax havens like Switzerland and Monaco. And tax havens can't be as large as the UK - with military budgets and 60 million people. The tax take can't sink too low without seriously affecting infrastructure. Anyway I think the UK splits up if we're out of the Euro. Wales and Scotland are like Ireland, in that they feel European rather than British. Then once the UK breaks up - England is bound to follow.

[@JAMAICADOCK]

As I say, Britain outside the EU will probably break up - so its England outside Europe not Britain. As usual the English arrogantly take the Celtic fringe for granted. But the City and the financial Times want in - so eventually they will win out. And nobody outside of the loony right wants to leave the EU completely. Old Labour went down because of their anti-European stance, (the split with SDP was over EU membership) - and the grey suits got rid of Thatcher. Its a done deal.

[@MarkHarrison733]

Scargill destroyed the NUM by starting a fight he could not win.

[@ReelNews]

No mate. The tories started the fight; in fact spent ages stockpiling coal in readiness for a big battle, announcing closures at the worst possible time, and had already spent three years picking fights with, and beating, unions one by one, leading up to the most powerful - the NUM (Ridley's famous "salami tactic"). It was a deliberate strategy to try and smash the organised working class in readiness to introduce the neoliberal form of capitalism that we're suffering from globally right now (Reagan did the same thing in the USA, with the key dispute there being the air traffic controllers strike, when all the workers were sacked and taken away in handcuffs).The miners at the first pit under threat were the ones who started the resistance, closely followed by virtually the entire membership of the NUM walking out - that was the point that Scargill became involved. This is how proper rank and file trade union action works, and it's important to be accurate about what happened historically - otherwise we can't learn the lessons from it, or understand why and how it happened.

[@MarkHarrison733]

@@ReelNews Coal mining should have been phased out during the 1960s, but sadly the trades unions resisted the inevitable. Twice as many coal mines closed under the Soviet agent Wilson than under Thatcher. See why Kinnock condemned Scargill for destroying the NUM by starting a fight he could not win.

[@ReelNews]

@@MarkHarrison733 you've just started a separate point - and then repeated the same point as before, without addressing my response. And Kinnock was a clueless idiot as we all know.

[@JamesRichards-mj9kw]

@@ReelNews Coal mining would have ended anyway due to the Climate Change Act.

[@ReelNews]

@@JamesRichards-mj9kw it didn't end - the government just imported it instead so they didn't have to deal with a strongly unionised workforce. Then left all those workers, and the communities they lived in, on the scrapheap. Those communities have never recovered. Of course we need to phase out coal, and all fossil fuels, but we need a plan whereby workers keep their jobs (and in fact we would need 3-4 million extra jobs in a proper just transition away from fossil fuels), and communities aren't devastated.

[@JAMAICADOCK]

We trade more with Ireland than China. Plus if we don't join the Euro, the City of London will eventually be replaced by Frankfurt has Europe's financial centre. And the City is one of the few comparative advantages we have thanks to the liberal policies of the last several decades. And I see the UK breaking up like Yugoslavia if it remains out of Europe. Scotland, Wales will want to stay in for generous European development grants. I also think N Ireland will destabilize if we stay out.

[@eastmidlandscabrides]

why is he always right ?

[@frankmulti5966]

Who is the USW chap?

[@JAMAICADOCK]

The deficit can get munched up quicker. That's what QE is all about - printing money to buy back bonds issued after the bail out of toxic assets. Our credit rating is downgraded - cos QE makes our bonds worthless over time - bordering on junk status. The government issues a bond with a yield £15 in ten years - but of course QE wipes out most of the value as the bond matures. A weak currency isn't the problem - an unstable currency is what the markets hate.

[@yadeyaran]

Long live Scargil!

[@oysterstew8216]

Low taxation is the key really. It attracts business. Like I said there should be penalties to companies that take a British company and re locate abroad. As for forign companies taking over British companies there are example of very good companies from abroad in this country a good example is Ford. They have been providing jobs for 100yrs. For me the big issue is for us to create conditions to attract business THEN keep it attractive not to then TAX the fuck out of it.

[@oysterstew8216]

Yeah well I know my limits and thats a bit too clever. I will say though if the value of the pound drops what happens to the deficit?

[@JAMAICADOCK]

Scotland joins the EU its really all over - England will have to join the EU

[@JAMAICADOCK]

Yep - the diary farmers were going to block motorways in a protest over supermarkets dropping the price they pay for milk by 2p. Hauliers were threatening to join the dispute in protest over fuel taxes. Middleclass wildcat action fine/ working class wild cat action bad.

[@oysterstew8216]

Another thing -= I only live down the road from Liverpool

[@paulrothery5792]

He has even took the NUM to court as they tried to reel in his massive free benefits he has had for years including when the miners were on strike !

[@JAMAICADOCK]

con't) other examples are the Tories allowing contracts to go to a German firm to make trains - German firms owned by the German government. And EU law permit countries to tender to their own firms in economically depraved areas - like Derbyshire. Same with Branson losing out over SE Rail. Kraft buying out Cadbury's. Both parties are seemingly hell-bent on killing off what's left of British industry - probably for ideological reasons and to win access to foreign markets for services.

[@oysterstew8216]

No but what we can be is a low tax economy. "The tax take can't sink too low without seriously affecting infrastructure." Thats relative to how economically successful the country is. Hong Kong for instance has a very low tax rate and they have a higher standard of living than us and more modern infrastructure. You might say Hong Kong is only small but big or small the fundamentals apply just the same. The trick is to keep government SMALL as thats were the drain is

[@oysterstew8216]

You know what ..... he's pissed.

[@JAMAICADOCK]

Hong Kong is part of China say can not be judged independently anymore. Its the economic hub of a superpower. Even so its well behind Britain and Europe in terms of poverty and quality of life. Workers in China toil horribly long hours and are squashed into tiny one room apartments in gigantic tower-blocks. I think you are confusing economic growth with standard of living.

[@JAMAICADOCK]

Inflation would make our exports cheaper - like Sweden with 6 Krona to the dollar. British get obsessed with inflation, I think we have the strongest currency in the world don't we? But a far greater threat to the pound is our trade deficit. Billions worth of sterling leaving the country to buy Chinese coal - still 36% of the electricity market. Then there's the French company EDF - who are going to get a huge swathe of our energy market in exchange for building new Nuclear Power stations

[@JAMAICADOCK]

Inflation is too much money chasing too few goods. A weaker currency is fine as long as production keeps up. I mean Sweden, Norway all have weak currencies but enjoy perfectly good living standards. The pound has been too strong for decades. I mean its stronger than the dollar and the Euro.

[@JAMAICADOCK]

Young people don't get minimum wage. But after tax that's what people are bringing home. Just check out the average wage for factory work - you'll be lucky to see people drag more than 220 a week. Just take a look at the real world instead of bullshit you read in the Daily Mail. And there was no minimum wage in 1984.

[@jcbairmaster73]

Other countries exist very well indeed outside the corrupt EU,Britain could be one of them!

[@JAMAICADOCK]

Lol - outside the South East things have been shit. There was no boom in South Yorkshire, South Wales, Liverpool, Newcastle, Glasgow. Things have been bust in council estate Britain since thatcher - and New Labour did fuck all to rectify it. New Labour basically threw lottery money at the Millenium Dome, Tate Modern, the Olympics and other such vanity projects. None of which did fuck all for their core supporters. So don't lecture me on New Labour - didn't vote for 'em if the SLP were running

[@oysterstew8216]

THEY DID ROLL OVER.

[@oysterstew8216]

Privileges yeah, if you are not a member of the party the only privilige you get i a few years in Siberia. Privileges thats a really good word that as it suggests a PRIVILEGED class existed in Soviet Russia funny that for a Socialist country. Another thing about PRIVILEGES they are BESTOWED and not always earned.

[@oysterstew8216]

""We trade more with Ireland than China." With that you are making the fundamental mistake all socialists make of seeing what we ARE and not what we CAN be. Thats what Thatcher did, we have been encourage to trade only with europe for 20yrs abd we are paying for that mistake. Encouragement to trade with the world would be a game changer. "will want 2 stay in for generous European development grants." Oh aye ... Where does the money come from 4 those generous grants? Somebody has to pay for it.

[@oysterstew8216]

and our imports dearer upping the trade deficit which mean chinese coal would cost even more. The problem is that u are playing the "game" What you say sounds fine but u miss out the important bit and that is ANY type of recovery is dependent on exports from manufacturing and the fact is Labour DID NOTHING for manufacturing with all the trillions they borrowed. The greatest danger to this country aside from the immediate debt and weak manufacturing is without doubt international interest rates

[@numberstation]

They are democratically elected and represent their member's (ordinary people's) interests. What better system is there to protect the rights of working people? Or do you think working people should have no voice in the workplace? You say Trade Unionists should be shipped off to North Korea. I'd say maybe you'd be happier in Pinochet's Chile. As for the recession, I think you'll find that trade union members are affected just the same as everyone else.

[@numberstation]

The U.S. has been trying to strangle Cuba for over fifty years. A successful Cuba terrifies the U.S. Hence the globally condemned Helms Burton act. How on Earth does Labour protect trade unionists from recession to the exclusion of others? It'd be a lot more popular with the the unions if it was that clever. You still haven't answered my point about a better method of protecting workers rights, or if you believe workers should even have a voice at all.

[@JAMAICADOCK]

Yeah so what happened to the scabbing Nottingham Miners - did everything Thatcher wanted, Still got their mines closed.

[@oysterstew8216]

narr, The Uk will become nothing less than a county within the country of europe and as such will have lost all control to the centre. Outside we are masters of our own destiny Thatcher taught that. " Hong Kong of Europe" Well you tripped up there because Hong Kong is tiny and did not have to be part of a massive China to become what it is. In fact Hong Kong feels that China is a threat to it long term

[@oysterstew8216]

"That's how much the government feared Scargill and the NUM." If that WAS true do you not understand the implications of that statement?

[@JAMAICADOCK]

I'm talking about the people who matter. 25% of the British public want to bring back hanging and make abortion illegal. And when does this country ever take notice of public opinion - if that was the case the railways and electricity grid would have been re-nationalized years ago.

[@andrewbates2816]

Bet he wasn't on £15 a week .

[@oysterstew8216]

Young people never have had a FULL WAGE. At best they were apprentices until they were 21. £220 a week? I can live on that pretty well

[@clarkclifford2927]

England won't be in the EU.

[@oysterstew8216]

Bullshit 15yrs ago - The UK's first ever national minimum wage (NMW) came into effect on 1 April 1999, with an adult hourly rate of GBP 3.60 and a rate for those aged 18-21 of GBP 3.00. £240? Nobody is saying its a great wage but its a liveable 1. Its the basic wage are are u suggesting the basic wage should be say £500 pw? because if you are your talking shite again. Everybody cant be well off, everybody cant have 2 holidays a year, everybody cant have a car unless the economy can sustain it

[@oysterstew8216]

voted for and not politically motivated

[@richardmiddleton3654]

I love this man

[@oysterstew8216]

"Scargill didn't have a ballot probably because he wasn't guaranteed of winning it." Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Yeah your dead right! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

[@JAMAICADOCK]

But communism didn't fail - it lost a war, as Cuba and N Korea are losing wars today. The US won't tolerate any resistance to capitalism's global domination Reagan very nearly caused WW3 through his sabre rattling. The Soviets were convinced he was going to launch a surprise attack. But It worked - what can I say, Reagan the gun running, war mongering, drug smuggler won the Cold War. The Soviets blinked first. Good job they did - or we wouldn't be having this conversation.

[@benstevinson764]

We Owe the NHS 🌈 to Socialist Labour!🌹👏

[@JamesRichards-mj9kw]

Marshall Aid created the NHS.

[@JAMAICADOCK]

Often political capitals are not financial capitals. Washington/New York - Hong Kong/ Beijing. If London wants to be the New York or Hong Kong of Europe - it eventually will have to join the Euro. Why would the EU have its financial capital outside its own borders with a different currency? I think if London opts for the Euro - it will naturally supplant Frankfurt. Frankfurt will become like the Shanghai Stock Exchange. London has all the advantages - if it stays inside.

[@clarkclifford2927]

England wants rid of Scotland.

[@spencercooper2693]

Tories helped to deindustrialised uk

[@oysterstew8216]

Wont make any difference

[@oysterstew8216]

if wages keep pace with inflation it will accelerate inflation.

[@oysterstew8216]

Drivel - EVERYBODY is better off than 25yrs ago - that said standards of living are now going into reverse because the the catastrophe of the Labour government bankrupting the country

[@benstevinson764]

NHS 🌈👏🇬🇧

[@oakashthorn5714]

You silly arse

[@oysterstew8216]

actually crime is falling. Thing could go in reverse though but again thats down to the catastrophe of the labour government

[@oysterstew8216]

As for the young they a shouldn't expect ADULT rates. I used to be an apprentice and was paid peanuts for doing an 8hr 5 day a week until I was 21 and it was expected.

[@davidhunt6441]

A champagne socialist - hypocrite!

[@oysterstew8216]

You see Tax cuts ARE investment, some might take personal advantage but thats just a downside as with everything, the advantage being the market decides how to use that investment and not some clueless politician using it to just grab votes.

[@oysterstew8216]

Drivel - without taking every case I will just use Liverpool as an example. M ichael Heseltine was given the freedom of the city for the way he revitalised it. Do you live on a council estate? I have done and theres nothing broken about them

[@JAMAICADOCK]

You are obsessed with party politics which is a little pathetic - already told you I didn't vote for New Labour. But c'mon if crime has gone down, the Tories can't grab the glory - they've only been in 3 years - and it took them 18 months to set out their stall. And blaming the Labour Party for a global recession is a little lame. But you contradict yourself in that the differences between Blair and Hesseltine are superfluous

[@JAMAICADOCK]

Sorry - when was the lost time you was in Liverpool? Capitalism as always, builds nice glitzy cities - but just behind the glittering facade is a bunch of crime, social decay and alienation. Another case are the railways - brilliant concourses but the trains are cramped and late, fares are extortionate. All fur coat and no knickers.