Heck, there's no black and white in this. Thugs and yobs will join any side just to practice a bit of thuggery or yobbery. To me the whole point was Maggie trying to break the mineworker's union and the miners, who were not only powerful but working class heroes who always attracted public sympathy. Arthur Scargill - no matter what you thing of him - was proved to be right. To me the worst scenes (hence the thread title) were seeing the police (whatever happened to the British Bobby*) armed and horsed like a medieval knights fighting the miners. Did children really play "police and striking miners" in the play ground. *Fact:- During the last year one person per fortnight has been killed by a speeding police car and one person a week dies in police custody; perhaps they only arrest the terminally ill! Figures on BBC Radio 4.