STRIKING TIMES (MINER, 49ER)

It was quite interesting to watch a recent programme about the 1970s and to be re-exposed to the strange world of the miner’s strike of 1972 and the fact that, because of the power that the miner’s held over the, er, power of the nation, that the government totally folded under the pressure and gave in, giving the strikers everything they wanted and more. That this victory was able to address the grinding poverty of the mining areas (for a time at least) was, after all, no bad thing, but you can tell that it felt a bitter thought or two in the subconscious of the nation for many years afterwards, not least because of the threat of further strikes and other industrial action basically humiliated and destroyed the Heath government two years later.

Strange too to see all those long flowing locks and moustaches on display from amongst the rank and file of the young miners back in that post-1960s era, when the expertise in male grooming wasn’t quite what it became. I well remember an episode of “Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads” from about that era when “modern-man” Bob went to his hairdressing salon, much to the distain of his crew-cutted friend, Terry. However, long hair was the fashion then, even though a lot of working young men didn’t really know what to do with it once they’d grown it and so ended up with it looking rather lank and greasy and, to our modern eyes looking back, rather ridiculous, especially amongst the men working in what was considered to be a very masculine profession, although I did not really need to find out from that documentary that they often worked naked whilst deep underground because of the unbearable heat.

They rarely showed that sort of thing in the “How and Why Wonder Books” I can assure you.

The programme also showed how they were being persuaded to wear hairnets in what might very well have been the very first wave of what the Daily Fail would now probably call “Health-and-safety-gone-mad!!!”

I’m very sure that, if what that documentary was saying was true, those little nets might have been swiftly transferred to holding in place other, more intimate, areas once the  “Health and Safety Police” had returned to the sanctity and safety of their clean, whitewashed office block.

Fascinating also to see a young Arthur Scargill in his pre-combover days, speaking very eloquently about his members wanting to join in with the aspirational society at a time when everyone on TV seemed to sound what can only be described as a bit “posh” to our ears nowadays. They showed an old “Top Gear” clip on a new “Top Gear” recently and the familiar bombastic voice of Jeremy Clarkson was pitched both infinitely higher and infinitely “posher” than it is these days, and it seemed most odd.

I wonder when that changed…? I suppose that it was a gradual progression, but the sudden juxtaposition of those two distinct points in his broadcasting career seemed very jarring even though, in reality, it probably all happened rather gradually. Like when they show those “compare and contrast” clip montages of Margaret Thatcher in the 1970s, it’s the differences that you notice most. (Mind you, just hearing her voice, even now, still sends a tingle of terror up and down where my spine would be if I had one…).

I suppose it’s a bit like when someone you know gets a very dramatic haircut. Immediately they look very different, and then you get used to it and, after a short while, it seems perfectly normal. Then you see photographs taken of them with the old hairstyle, perhaps maybe taken only a few days earlier, and that look seems strange to you.

Mention of Margaret Thatcher of course brings us to the tricky matter of the long-delayed sequel to the miner’s strike “Miner’s Strike 2: Unforgiven” that caused so much angst in the 1980s.

You can tell that the humiliation of that previous Conservative administration still burned deep in the heart of darkness of their memories, and probably explains a lot about what happened during that second, longer and far more bitter period of industrial strife and unrest. This time, from day one you knew they were not going allow themselves to be humiliated again and the battle lines were drawn and, well, we all know what happened.

I spent a lot of my time during those angry couple of years studying in South Wales, which was, back then, one of the heartlands of that oh-so-brutal mining industry, so it was very difficult not to get drawn into the argument and the bitter struggle, even if it was only by contributing to the buckets that were regularly placed under your nose in the pubs and the canteens, requesting you to help with the strike fund, and joining in on the odd march, as the S.U. was prone to do.

This, of course, all comes flooding back to me when there’s all this talk of the tanker and other lorry drivers being able to bring the country to a halt, which of course, in terms of the fuel supply, they essentially are. Nowadays, in the ever-continuing power struggle between the interests of business and the interests of their employees, it’s very difficult to see where the real power lies, but, if you have control over something that is a vital resource, they you are definitely holding a very strong hand indeed.

“Bitter politics there, yes indeedy!”