From Manitas at home - we've had:

"Perhaps next to Cromwell who was pretty much hated as well.

BTW, isn't it ironic that his statue is there as an upholder of parliamentary rights when he did more to destroy parliament than Charles ever did."

Facts anyone? 1. The period of Cromwell, or the Commonwealth lasted from around 1639 to 1660, when the Stuarts were restored.

2. After the Restoration the Stuarts lasted until about 1703, when they were replaced by the House of Hanover.

Question: Who was it that brought about the replacement - Parliament - Therefore was Parliament made stronger during the Commonwealth period at the expense of the power of the monarchy, or was it weakened as Manitas at home suggests.

Personal opinion: As Royal households go, the Stuarts, collectively, were the biggest shower of tossers ever put on the planet.

Red Eye, in one of his posts above said: "Those pits needed shutting because of the financial losses being incurred."

This elicited the response from GUEST Phil:

"Yes they closed the mines down because they couldn't make a 'profit'. But what is a profit? Now we import coal from god knows where, we have no strategic resource to fall back on if things in the wider world go wrong, and we have to pay ex miners welfare etc."

Red Eye was perfectly correct. GUEST Phil, you are a salesman dream - someone who is prepared to pay £75 for what you can get for £8.

Some questions for you GUEST Phil 1. Just prior to the Miners Strike what was the average cost of a ton of British coal? Compare that to the cost of a ton of coal imported from Poland and from Australia. I think you would be surprised.

2. Today, what would we be using all this coal for had the mines remained open? Power? Heating? Sorry Phil, even before the strike Natural Gas had taken those markets away.

3. The UK has one of the lowest levels of unemployment in Europe - Are you telling us that all those miners and workers employed in industries associated with what was the mining industry are still unemployed and have been sitting round on their backsides for 17 years! Don't think so, they're better men than that and always have been.

Maggies statue? She certainly deserves one, longest serving British Prime Minister in the 20th century, she achieved a great deal in terms of domestic, economic and international terms - no she didn't get it all right, but there again can anybody tell me anybody that has?

And before I get flamed for the above I would ask all of the lady's detractors to tell us about how marvellous Britain was prior to 1979. There is another thread running at the moment "Why is the UK such a mess". One point of discussion is the NHS. In the same Red Eye posted quoted above he made a comment that at the time of the miners strike, "Mr £450,000 house Scargill was a bully who thought he and his cohorts were above the law." It wasn't just Scargill and the miners - I can remember another union that represented hospital porters, they went on strike. Their picket line decided on whether or not you were sick enough to be admitted to hospital. Garbage piled high in the streets (Dustmans Strike); the three day week; Rail and Postal stikes at the drop of a hat; inflation through the roof; unemployment rising; IMF loans - Oh yes Britain was such a wonderful place before Maggie arrived on the scene.