Just one small observation from a miner at the time who worked at a Yorkshire area put situated in Nottinghamshire...

Manton voted not to strike. I was at the ballot and voted not to strike and so did the huge majority of those there, despite the threats being handed out by men who did not work at our pit who had been "invited" and stalked around the room..

Our delegate informed the regional delegates conference that afternoon that Manton had voted to strike. (This eventually led to The NUM having its funds sequestrated, and rightly so.)

Once Manton Pit was declared safe for return, the apprentices were recalled. As I was studying for my AMEME (hons) my apprenticeship has been extended so I was recalled. My indenture did not allow me to strike, so the few thousand apprentices were effectively locked out. If I did not go back, I would have been sacked, and judging by what happened to two mates, they were and the union didn't lift a hypocritical finger. My wife received a note dropped through the letterbox, which I still have since the police returned it at the end of their enquiries, saying the writer knew what time she took our baby around to her mothers in a morning and they wouldn't want an accident to occur.

Scargill can rot in hell. All those romantic armchair socialists who think he is a working class hero (from his penthouse suite he fought to keep, using miners' funds) can rot alongside him. Because you know what? Idealists have a knack of backing the wrong horse, blinded by their own sanctimony.