This is a song but I thought some of you may like it as it's a bit of a tribute to the Miners 30 years on. I'm no expert, I wasn't there, I was just 18 but the scenes I saw on the news affected me and remind me that letting your guard down and believing the news and politicians tell the truth can be a mistake.

 (If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention).

 In 1983 Britain had 174 working mines, by 2009, this number had decreased to six. Poverty increased in former coal mining areas, and an EU study on deprivation in 1994 found that Grimethorpe in South Yorkshire was the poorest settlement in the country. In 2013, the UK consumed 60 million tons of coal, of which 50 million tons were imported

 

 Miners united

 Said they’d never be defeated,

But they just hadn’t reckoned

 What Thatcher had in store.

After 60 months of planning

Then shipping every man in,

She had mustered up the troops

 Enough troops to start a fucking war.

 

Thatcher was walkin’

In the Yorkshire hills one day,

Losing sleep over the unions,

 ‘How to make them go away’?

She had always had in mind

What the strikes had done to Heath,

The country it had halted

And the folk took to the streets.

 

If she couldn’t quell the workers

 Then the battle would be lost

So she set to smash the unions,

 It would be at any cost.

So she got a bloke called Ridley

 To draw up a master plan,

Five years before the strike,

This is when it all began.

 

Miners united

 Said they’d never be defeated,

But they just hadn’t reckoned

 What Thatcher had in store.

After 60 months of planning

Then shipping every man in,

She had mustered up the troops

 Enough troops to start a fucking war.

 

So the coke stocks they were backed up

 And the riot cops got trained,

And the coking plant at Orgreave

 Was the place that Thatcher named.

So, let the pickets gather

 Was the next stage of the plan,

Then the riot cops were shipped in,

 They would match them man for man.

 

The scene it soon got ugly

 As the cops entered the field,

They were told to hold the bridge

With their sticks and riot shields.

They were bolstered by the army

 Just to add that extra clout

And armed with sticks the snatch squads

 Singled miners out.

 

They were beaten from that field

Like a scene from Peterloo,

Down a bank onto the train line,

 There was nothing they could do

The police they cleared the field

 And gave chase into the town

Rage and blood had taken over

 As they beat each miner down.

 

The BBC reversed the footage

 On the early evening news,

Showing pickets throwing rocks

 The coppers then pursued,

But after further looking

 The reports pointed out

 That the cops had made the first moves

Just to flush those pickets out.

 

 

 

Miners united

 Said they’d never be defeated,

But they just hadn’t reckoned

 What Thatcher had in store.

After 60 months of planning

Then shipping every man in,

She had mustered up the troops

 Enough troops to start a fucking war.

 

Over 90 were arrested

 Under ancient riot laws

That had never been in use

 For 60 years upon these shores,

And the coppers they colluded

 From the Yorkshire to the met,

This was 1984

But I'm too young to forget 

That they tried each one for riot

 But the judge he didn’t buy it,

The cops had changed their statements

 And then later would deny it.

Each picket was acquitted

 With their comrades all in tears

But you'll never hear the truth

 Even after 30 years.

 

Miners united

 Said they’d never be defeated,

But they just hadn’t reckoned

 What Thatcher had in store.

After 60 months of planning

Then shipping every man in,

She had mustered up the troops

 Enough troops to start a fucking war.

 

Now pitheads across Britain

Are deserted and decayed,

Communities are broken

As the workers were betrayed,

But that bitch was always troubled

 'cause that bitch she knew damn well

That devil painted welcome

On his residence in hell.

 

Miners united

 Said they’d never be defeated,

But they just hadn’t reckoned

 What Thatcher had in store.

After 60 months of planning

Then shipping every man in,

She had mustered up the troops

 Enough troops to start a fucking war.