When my Dad was over at Christmas he told me that in the town he grew up in, to this day, which pub you go to drink in is still defined by which side of the Miners Strike you were on in 84/85. Just a quick reminder that you don't have to forgive or forget, the people who betray you and your class. - ThreadSky

oldmatecans.lol • 96 days ago

When my Dad was over at Christmas he told me that in the town he grew up in, to this day, which pub you go to drink in is still defined by which side of the Miners Strike you were on in 84/85. Just a quick reminder that you don't have to forgive or forget, the people who betray you and your class.

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bluwhalien.bsky.social•96 days ago

Have cousins in the Nottingham area and this is what it’s like there too. Their grandma still doesn’t speak to some people who crossed the picket line in 84/5!

suzypugs.bsky.social•96 days ago

This sounds like Sherwood, but I expect it’s not an uncommon situation when real harm is done by betrayal.

oldmatecans.lol•96 days ago

It is not Sherwood, but yeah it's always interesting when London media do a poverty safari North they always interview people who confirm anti-migrant stuff but never crack the deeper cultural trauma.

annieanomaly.bsky.social•96 days ago

Now I'm curious about which town this is, and how this might affect or be noticeable to tourists visiting

polyquats.bsky.social•96 days ago

I suspect there’s more than one

oldmatecans.lol•96 days ago

Not exactly a tourist destination, I'd say.

riverboatcapt.bsky.social•96 days ago

As I get older, I find it almost impossible to see "both sides of the argument."

oldmatecans.lol•96 days ago

I don't think it's ever been properly accounted for in exactly how messed up Britain is now. Forty years and almost every combination of govt has had a crack at power, none of them fixed the rot. Why not choose the new far right guys eh?

riverboatcapt.bsky.social•96 days ago

Cosplay Labour won't fix it. Ghouls like Streeting scare the crap out of me.

oldmatecans.lol•96 days ago

I remember him as the NUS President who sold out students on tuition fees. Always refer to him as the late, great Dawn Foster did.

riverboatcapt.bsky.social•96 days ago

Sounds about right. My folks were weavers, miners, stonemasons and butchers. My voting intentions are probably clear. Who to vote for, not so much.

barak-har-elkin.bsky.social•95 days ago

Now I'm afraid I'll visit Britain & without knowing end up in the wrong kind of pub. Funny though, my late friend John McCann always said you could tell which kind of Irishman you could trust by whether they ordered Jameson's or Bushmill's.

oldmatecans.lol•95 days ago

You probably wouldn't even notice, to be honest with you, and it's not universal. The places it happens, it happens and the locals know.

oldmatecans.lol•96 days ago

This isn't just the old men, this is their kids, and their kids, and their kids now. Generationally if you stayed out, you drink here. If you didn't, if you scabbed or broke the strike - you drink there.

oldmatecans.lol•96 days ago

What I'm saying here is that positivity, solidarity, mutual support and love are all necessary in this fight, but also it's absolutely fine to channel your rage and anger into cursing their living days, cheering their deaths and forgetting them forever.

oldmatecans.lol•96 days ago

If your reason to live is to see their demise and live at least a day longer than them, that's a good enough reason to keep on going. There are others, that are more positive, but it's good enough.

oldmatecans.lol•96 days ago

These posts brought to you by a bottle I hope to open within a decade.

splumpi.bsky.social•96 days ago

That's fucking cool as hell

suezana.bsky.social•96 days ago

Similar thing in a small community I lived in for a while. On issues that cause division they split based on which dairy factory your great granddad sent his milk to. They have never forgiven the farmers who stopped sending it to the local factory which caused it

fullerick.bsky.social•96 days ago

“The law on the side of freedom is of great advantage only when there is power to make that law respected.”

Frederick Douglass
US Marshal

pinksalad.bsky.social•95 days ago

I may never talk to my magat-ridden relatives again. Fewer funerals to travel for! 👍

danpoxton.bsky.social•95 days ago

I grew up in a mining village, all my family, including my dad, were miners, and I was 10 years old during the strike and remember it well.

My experience is that while things were quite polarised during the strike, the village didn't remain like that.

Also...

danpoxton.bsky.social•95 days ago

... the story is a lot more nuanced than "NUM men vs scabs".

There were men who stayed on strike as long as they could until their family was destitute who eventually made the difficult decision to go back to work.

There were also (notorious in our village) corrupt union men in charge of...

danpoxton.bsky.social•95 days ago

... dispersing"picket wages", who used their positions to enrich themselves and deny others to slight them. Some of those men found life difficult after the strike.

So, I don't deny that some grudges about behaviour during the strike continue but...

danpoxton.bsky.social•95 days ago

my experience is that black and white "sides" that continue decades later doesn't ring true (in my village at least)

More like: miners tended to judge each other on how they behaved during the strike, and whether their actions were justified, and you got pariah figures on both sides.

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