missile

Dave beat you too the draw .... http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/ec...-money-burnley

Dick Dasterdly

70 k per annum back then 30 yrs ago would have been quite a lot of bread,plus perks of course, all for travelling around the country living in luxury in order to stir up whatever aggro he could.

He had a nicely feathered nest when he retired, but even that wasn't enough, as in more recent times he battled against the very union he had represented to screw every last penny out of them he could.

Surely the 20th centuries no 1 Hypocrite, though I dare say fatty two jags would run him close.

missile

I am no fan of Scargill, but IMHO there are far worse hypocrites and crooks in Banking / Politics.

rugbymatt

Shit a brick! Don't get me started on Scargill! The man is, was, a nut job. He has publicly come out against the Solidarity movement that saw Poland throw off the Communist Yoke of Russia and that Stalin was a great man..... Stalin!!! The man that systematically tore his country apart out of revenge, killed more Jews than Hitler and either butchered or starved a huge section of his population and formed a political elite far worse than anything that went before!


The bottom line regarding the mines is this, we were buying coal from our own mines at nearly twice as much in some cases than we could import it for. The mines were not closed for good, nearly all were simply capped, those that were closed were done so because they were no longer producing a viable yield. The miners sealed their own fate when they shut the country down in the 70's. No country, regardless of political sway or persuasion, can be held to ransom like they did, they and their Union friends crippled this country. Can you believe that? They actually preferred to see the country on its knees just to get what THEY want. Thats the mentality of real socialism, better the good of the individual than they good of the masses.

HBG

I got to know socialism when I started work and joined a union. There was no choice in those days, you had to join and pay your subscriptions, not that I even thought about it, it was just another form of NI contributions and paying tax.

Years later, I was employing people, and remember having to sack a lady I caught stealing from me. I was kind enough not to involve the police, but suddenly received a letter from her union official, threatening me with unlawful dismissal.

I was still a member of the same union at the time. We had a short exchange of letters and I stopped being a socialist and voted for Margaret Thatcher, only once.

Then I turned Liberal and started reading the Guardian. I still do.

Dick Dasterdly

So,a Nick Clegg fan eh, ....bet he'll be over the moon to know he still has one left.

HBG

Clegg's not a Liberal, and Cameron's not a Tory - they're hybrids.

jackytoo

How off topic is this Violence in Spain, half of málaga on demos yesterday and we are talking about Scargill, Thatcher and uncle Tom Cobbley. I someone googles for info' on Spain and gets this up they'll be disappointed

rugbymatt

If someone Googles anything on Spain they will get Anonimouse and his/her rantings.... think about that for a second eh?

steviedeluxe

We won't see the scale of violence that (for example) there's been in Greece, or even in the London riots of last year (people having to jump for their lives from burning apartments).
But I have to admit that Rajoy's govt have completely screwed up over the latest tax increases. No good saying "the big boys from the EU did it and ran away" - they should have been prepared to say, right we're heading back to an independent currency.
There have been a lot of threads on these boards on the high autonomo fees paid by self-employed and freelancers. To some extent this was alleviated by the 16% tax that they paid, so someone earning 1500 or 2000 a month really wasn't hit hard. But now that 16% has gone up to 21% you can see quite a few freelancers (where their work allows it) relocating to low tax countries like Ireland, or even the UK. Those that remain will have to charge more to earn a living (or do work on the black).

steviedeluxe

I've already spoken this morning with one entrepreneur who's considering moving part of his operations out of Spain....

It could all be a masterplan to depopulate Spain (send workers to Germany, freelancers to London) and provide a playground for the elites!

jackytoo

Spanish police control the crowds with rubber bullets and batons. Did you not see videos of all the burning cars and the miners firing rockets in the North

steviedeluxe

There have been demos that have ended up in violence, of course. I suspect it may even get worse as this government turns the screws even more. But let's hope it doesn't get as bad as London last year, hey? (in fact I'm praying London never gets that bad again)

bobd22

And Blair wasn't a socialist there lies the problem no body has a clue what they are voting for. So stupidly they go on personality hence why with his surge in popularity for a moment it looked like Clegg was going to be a winner. God forbid.

jackytoo

Oh well! back to the UK again...I give up. See Brown has got a new job. Home grown tomatoes are out. What about the Olympics...oh I see we have a couple of threads on that...la la la