It has been now 25 years since the miners went on strike, when the most evil of all prime minsters to rule the UK was in power. She was Thatcher, and she took on Scargill resulting in the nation losing badly. Neither personality could contemplate a compromise, neither were prepared to talk. For Scargill it was a matter of keeping every mine open and every miner in a job as this was something which had carried on for eons. Mad Thatcher who had a blue streak the size of a six lane motorway down her spine was motivated by one intention. To break the unions, and in so doing symbolically break her political opponents beyond anything a politician could expect. She was not going to compromise, she was The Woman, doing a job no other woman had done before. Her gender was irrespective, as indeed was her motivation. It was common knowledge no member of her cabinet was able to deter her mind, in her usual style she would bully anyone who stood in her way.
This episode was a demonstration of bloody mindedness and power. It cost the nation sorely. It didn't actually help either Thatcher or Scargill. True politics would of been coming to a compromise, true politics would of meant meeting and talking. Eventually Thatcher's very obdurate attitude to leadership became her downfall. Since her comeuppance the Blue party have never been the same, and as though some divine intervention has now taken place as the Labour party have been ruling longer than any Tory ever has.
The lesson is, listening and compromise are things politicians should take notice of rather than their own personal agenda.
