"but coal was finished as a power source"

I don't think that's even remotely true. Maybe it was viewed that way in the eighties with an accountant's eye but I don't think it's finished by a long way - it's too useful a fuel to ignore. As oil and gas become increasingly expensive mines will be re-opened. I can see it happening in my lifetime. It would of course have been easier to have kept an eye on the long term and left the mines open in the first place....

Back on topic, I thought the Ballad of the Miners Strike was excellent and I hope there are more modern radio ballads on the way.

Pete.