I must confess, (though I think Cllr is acting as a flamer here) I thought Bill of Stavenger had hit the target well.

There were alternatives, they were called retraining and reinvestment.

There was an old toast in the South Wales Miners Federation (the Fed), part of the NUM, " To the day the last man left the last Pit on the last shift !" - Unfortunatley it came true (bar Tower).

The alternative was to provide jobs, and the education and retraining neccessary, to support these jobs. This was not done.

Personally I spent most of my time between 1990 and 1997 (after being made redundant for the first time) on temporary contracts, yes and ducking and weaving with "black income" - like sorting out VAT returns for cash or beer in hand, and signing on (Registering as unemployed for £40 odd pounds a week)

I can recall getting on a Computer training course - actually I knew Microsoft Office better than the instructor - but at least it gave me a bit of paper saying that I was trained in Microshite.

What anoys me is that the gift of the income from North Sea Gas and Oil was wasted, squandered, in providing Tax Cuts to those who did not need the money - when it should have been spent on industrial reinvestment and education.

Max Boyce summed it up :-

" I know a local magistrate
She's got a job for me,
Though it's only pressing buttons,
In a local factory
We get Coffee breaks and Coffee breaks,
And the coffee it is free,
And I know that bloody Anthracite
Has seen the last of me."

CHR

"Cos it's hard, Diew It's hard,
Harder than you will ever know,
And if ham was underground,
Would it be Ten bob a pound ?
And the Pit Head baths are a supermarket now !."

Sorry, it's late, and I've got to drive to Swansea ( Abertawe)for an 8 am start in the Morning - If ny Catter wants the full text of that song ask and I will post it as A seperate thread.

Gareth

( TRL: Diew = God, Anthracite a very hard and dusty furnace coal mined in the West of South Wales.