Doctor Drivel wrote:

"ARWadsworth" wrote in message
...
Doctor Drivel wrote:

And it left the miners able to hold the country to ransom. They
brought down the previous Conservative government,

They never. Heath couldn't handle industry properly. Lack of
investment, poor management, etc, etc. Miners were poorly paid
working in appalling conditions.

Again..
"It was NOT subsidised. Coal created economic growth. Coal provided
the energy to create electricity. The economic growth was cycled
back to get the energy. Understand that."

Coal mining in the UK was not profitable.

Idiot, again...
"It was NOT subsidised. Coal created economic growth. Coal provided the
energy to create electricity. The economic growth was cycled back to
get the energy. Understand that."

It cost more to dig the coal out than it could be sold for. The
government decided that it was worthwhile to pay the difference. This is
called a subsidy.

If the mining industry had not been subsidised in the 1970s (And
earlier), the pits would have been closed before they were. If the
unions and the government of the 1980s had been willing to compromise,
we would still be digging loats of coal out of the ground in the United
Kingdom. There are two centuries' worth of coal under the Potteries that
can no longer be mined because it was too expensive to mine ans sell in
a free market, and when the mines were closed, they were closed the
cheap way, making the coal inaccessible for the foreseeable future.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.