I think the prohibiive costs of safety arrangements and high wages in comparison to elsewhere may be a factor.
Dean that was a very enigmatic reply and really helps to show your depth of feeling over this issue, Thank you.
To all in general I'd like to question the final point of Dean's post. If a mine was to be profitable it must have someone to sell the coal too right?
It's expensive to transport so surely the most profit is made by selling it to the closest buyer?
But if our own power stations are already contract bound it does make opening a mine a hell of a risky investment for all but the hardiest of entrepreneurs does it not?
The Govt is moving away from coal fired power stations, so that's one market closed to any potential investor of mines
Before the war my father was a shipbuilder employed in Barrow in Furness, Lancashire (later to become Cumbria).
When WWII ended he returned to the shipyards of Barrow to work, he was told that there was no work for shipbuilders only for those that dismantle them and there was a lot of work available for that, dismayed he went to leave the interview but was told that he could report for work the following Monday, "what work" he asked, "no there is no work" was the reply "but your a qualified shipbuilder and Union member so we HAVE to give you a job under Union rules, report and find something to do if you want or wait till your shift finishes in the works canteen that is up to you but you will be paid regardless of what you do providing you are here".
That was the kind of Union agreements that killed British Industry, Companies being forced to employ and pay wages when there was no work and no work became more and more the norm within British Industry as the competition from China, Korea and India took more hold in Britain.
We needed the Unions but they became too powerful and made ridiculous contract agreements which in the end killed off the very industries they were there to support, perhaps their demands on working hours, overtime, one man one job, working conditions etc were totally correct, but the truth is they were bringing in conditions which other Nations did not impose making them capable of offering the same or better quality products cheaper, cheap labour, cheap materials, cheaper working conditions and the end product could be half the price of that of the same product in the UK.
There are many things that in the "real world" we have to tolerate in order to survive and prosper, the unions ignored this on too many occasions.
We have the same problem today with many EU regulations telling us what how much we must pay a worker or who we can employ or what shape a banana has to be Or they tell us we what health and safety regulations we must introduce, that is all well and good but they have no control over non EU nations who can the undercut us on other products like ships and coal because they can pay their workers low wages and make them work in cheaper operating conditions.
I've got to admit that is one of the best posts I've ever read of yours Jed, and in my opinion it's spot on :thumbup:
I remember privatisation, the Tories Privatised and Labour said don't worry as soon as we get into power we will end privatisation and buy back every industry/business she sells, they got into power and as usual with ALL parties never bought a single one back, obviously they agreed with what the Tories did but it is very easy to knock an unpopular move when out of power, let the opposition take the flak and reap the benefits of what they did when you get in power.
Times have changed, from the first caveman trading a mammoth skin to the cheap labour of Korea, China and India, from the British industrial revolution (where we took most of our ideas from abroad and adopted them into our own manufacturing processes to the importing of cheaper products from abroad that are available here at higher prices. Our Nation of shopkeepers learnt how to make more profit in our shops from the immigrants from India just as we learnt how to rid ourselves of our Victorian drab fibre colours for clothes from other nations and how we learnt how to make fine porcelain from the Chinese. (personally I don't buy Chinese crockery because half an hour later I want more).
Politicians lie because they make the rules so they can. Not a lot we can fu*king do about it really until the eighty percent of people that are in this country damn well realise we are being royally shafted. That won't happen though until these masses start to get an ache in there belly and a chill in their bones through lack of food and heating. Oh and not being able to afford broadband and Sky.
Politicians lie because they make the rules so they can. Not a lot we can fu*king do about it really until the eighty percent of people that are in this country damn well realise we are being royally shafted. That won't happen though until these masses start to get an ache in there belly and a chill in their bones through lack of food and heating. Oh and not being able to afford broadband and Sky.
I must say that the standard of fact checking by some posters has declined considerably since I used to post here ... unions holding the country to ransom ! .. my arse , I think you mean protecting the interests of their members which at the time represented a large proportion of the population ,or do you mean stopping government destroying the working classes ?
Either way since the dismantling of the unions and a working class power base the country (for all but a lucky elite) has gone tits up
Vive la revolution ... the sooner the better .. I know where I'll be on the day
God forbid we ever get Nationalised industries again. Nationalised industries are rarely, if ever, profitable and the more cash the sitting government has or needs to allocate to the funding of infrastructure improvements to any one industry, the more the opposition will use it as a political tool. Our style of government is not suited to anything being Nationalised. Just look at how NHS, schools, defence and other funding budgets are argued over now... It would be so much worse with Nationalised industries as well. For those with short memories, just go back to the 1970's and read up about our successful Nationalised industries.... Not.
Nationalised industries that never turned a profit, what like British Airways, British Gas, British Telecom, the electricity companies, the water companies never did! Oop's my mistake, suddenly remembered they did, loads and loads of profit. As did the tote and Stenna Sealink and Gleneagles Hotel.
Why do nationalised industries have to be profitable?
Why just single out Nationalised Industries, been very few of those.
Granted lots of Nationalised 'companies' that have been very profitable, though depends on political interference.
Oh hang on some don't like things nationalised and think the free market should rule....... Lloyds Banking Group or RBS anyone ?
Going back Johnson Matthey, or Rolls Royce.
Was our water cheaper before the Water Boards were privatised ?
Would we still have the same worries about blackouts and power generation of the old central generating board was still about ?
Would they still be ripping us off if the old National Grid was still about rather than having been broken up and used as a private transfer charging cash generator by the privatised electricity companies ?
Nothing wrong with well run companies, just that political interfernce and jobs for boys was more obvious in the management of many of these companies , though Fred the shred or Bob Diamond anyone ?
As for health, the NHS has its faults though at least we had some control before privatisation via the back door.
Prisons and remand places anyone, can't see G4S and GEO making much better go of them than HMG Prison Service.
Education and the mix of public (sic) and state schools now with private / trust schools out their and their well publicised issues amongst the few of those.
Can't place all blame on one section in a company, nor one section of society
Arthur Scargill was not the first or the last Union Leader to milk the cow while his members suffered because of their call to strike.
Tony Woodley of the TGWU ......
a year, £44,000 Range Rover as part of his perks package, £350,000 home in Cheshire.
Cabin crew strike boss jets off on his luxury holiday (and you've guessed right - he's NOT flying BA)
The union chief behind the British Airways dispute flew out for a luxury sunshine holiday yesterday – as his cabin crew members began a fresh strike, ruining trips for thousands.
While 10,000 BA customers had their travel plans axed and hundreds of flights were cancelled, Tony Woodley and his wife Janet jetted to Cyprus for a week’s break at an exclusive air-conditioned villa with private swimming pool.
Mr Woodley, 62, did not fly with BA, ensuring that his trip was not affected by the industrial action. He also escaped the wrath of his members by avoiding BA aircraft manned by non-striking ‘scabs’.
It is common knowledge that the real benefactors of Union Membership are the leaders not the members just as it is better to be an MP than a voter, they are as corrupt and self centred as the MP's and Employers they claim to be fighting.
You will soon see a Privatised Fire & Rescue Service. Mark my words.
