Steve Shaw wrote: Thatcher hated the unions

A convenient rallying call but not a truth. The Minor's Union declared the intent of bringing down the Government. As a response to that the Government had a duty to it's electorate to defeat the Minor's Union. Any other response would have been a dereliction of duty. It's true that Thatcher had played the long game. She had seen the damage that the Unions had done to Ted Heath's government and postponed the conflict until she had stockpiled sufficient coal reserves. The minors could have stepped back from the brink but they did not. Had the Minors won the UK would have ceased to be a democracy. Would you prefer that?