Devastation after pits closure
Arthur Scargill has been vilified in the media for decades. Can anybody doubt that he was right regarding the miners' dispute and the butchering of the coal industry?
Hundreds of thousands of people in the coal industry and service industries lost their jobs and communities.
Having recently made a documentary about the coal industry (Disappearing Britain), I was devastated to see the wastelands where viable pits had once worked within thriving communities.
Where are the new industries these people were promised?
It is no wonder that in some of these abandoned communities youngsters turn to drugs and alcohol for some sort of misguided recreation.
We were told the pits were no longer viable - not true - there is a thousand years of the best deep mined coal in the world buried under British soil.
Take the example of the south Wales miners who bought their pit, Tower Collier. They have been running the pit at a profit for 14 years, increased the labour force and make substantial yearly contributions to the local community. They have just bought another so-called "non viable" pit and they are expanding.
With regard to state involvement in the miners' dispute, I suggest Mr Trott reads "The Enemy Within" and if after this he still holds the same views about Arthur Scargill and the miners' dispute, God help us.
In the last few days there has been much talk in the media about the two enormous power stations that are about to be built.
What form of energy are they going to use to power it? Why, coal of course! I think the "powers that be" will be opening up pits they once closed as uneconomical.
Ricky Tomlinson, Liverpool
