Excuse me, can I buy your vote?

[Suff]

Staines-Upon-Thames is doing very nicely, thank you!

So is Lincoln. Which received funds in the Thatcher years to transition from an old agri industrial base to a modern technology based economy. Once the polytech became a Uni Lincoln, rapidly on the way to recovery, never looked back.

On the other hand the towns and cities which were slaves to the mining business were victims of the Unions attempts to destroy Thatcher policies and regain control of the country through strikes and power outages. Those towns and cities have never really recovered, although they are starting to get more midlands investment now.

There are always two sides to a story. White always looks black from the other side.

[Workingman]

On the other hand the towns and cities which were slaves to the mining business were victims of the Unions....

Slaves! Talk about patronising.

Those towns and cities were built on naturally occurring coal seams and grew during the time of the Industrial Revolution powering the manufacturing economy of the country for two centuries. The efforts of those 'slaves' helped to create wealth up and down the land. They powered the cotton, woollen and steel mills, allowed us to build planes, cars, trains, make clothing and keep the lights on. Were the 'slaves' a little peeved that their livelihoods were to be destroyed in such a short space of time with no alternatives in place - you bet they were. Just as bankers, insurance, stock markets and finance workers would be peeved if all their offices upped sticks and move from London.

The area from Salisbury to Canterbury through the South Downs and High Weald would look a lot different had the coal seams been below their feet. Would they have been slaves? Would they have been dyed-in-the-wool Labour areas instead of Tory shires? Would Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire have become the playgrounds of millionaires, financiers and luvvies? Go figure!

Two sides to a story - you bet!

[Kaz]

Very patronising indeed! Our lords and masters should get their heads out of their backsides and spend some time in cities like Gloucester to see the complete failure of the so-called "trickle down" of wealth! Bollox! The well off are getting more well off, and the poor, poorer.

I say this as someone in a comfortable enough position, who happens to live very near a rather deprived city, so have no personal axe to grind, but I abhor unfairness - and there is FAR too much of that in how this country is funded.

[Kaz]

My great grandfather, and his ancestors, who were miners going all the way back to the early 19th century when they left Derry, was no slave! He was a hard man with a soft heart, who spent many years down the pits from a very young age.

You go too far sometimes!

[Suff]

I, on the other hand, am nobody who knows nothing.

I'm leaving this conversation. The mood is set, the decision is made and any words I choose are an insult.

I leave you with this. My grandparents were out being shot at whilst miners in the UK were on strike for pay and conditions.

[Workingman]

Sorry Suff. You no doubt did not meant it that way, but what you wrote did come across as patronising and a little insulting.

People did not choose to be born in coalfield areas where mine work was the only or major employment. They would have much preferred open countryside with meadows, copses and fields of wheat and barley, or born into families with 'connections', but that was not the hand they were dealt. They tried to make the most of what they had and for the majority there was no easy escape route.

I was in the mob during 'the troubles' and never got sent to NI, but I knew some who were. However, I did man a Green Goddess during the 1977 Firefighter's strike, sat on a roundabout on the Weston Road, Stafford, because we were not to be let in to the local fire station. We were 'picketed' in a friendly way by the fire crews, but we were also spat at and had veg thrown at us by the public, like we had an option! I don't see what either the fire or miner's strikes, or any other strikes, had to do with being shot at in NI or, possibly, the Falklands.

[miasmum]

I am sure there are affluent parts of Gloucester though Kaz, the same as in any city? My friend lives in London, Plumstead to be precise, its run down, dirty, over crowded, she lives in a one bedroom flat and pays an extortionate amount of rent. Is definitely not Plumstead on Thames or Plum (Ham) Stead come to that

[Kaz]

Yes there are Shell, but in general the SE is far more affluent!

Plenty of military in my family too, including some who gave their lives, but that has nothing to do with this subject Suff.