bridge too far

Most University lecturers earn somewhere between £36K and £45K according to the jobs advertised in the TES. A good coin, I grant you, but unless they have management responsibilities they don't earn the amount you've stated. The recent NUT strikes are because Michael Gove refuses to meet with teacher union leaders to talk about pensions. The NUT has said many times that it would call off strikes if gove had the courtesy to talk to them. Generally, Secretaries of State negotiate with Trade Union leaders. But, of course, this is Gove we're talking about. University Principals have recently been awarded an 8% increase and I imagine a lot of those at the coal face (see what I did there?) are upset about that because they have only been awarded 1% tops.

ESB has asked me to post this link - an interesting read http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-forgotten-mineworkers-of-the-garden-of-england-9037875.html

Nope - 30 years and some discussion about reducing it to 20 years In the United Kingdom, the Public Records Act 1958 states that "Public records ....other than those to which members of the public have had access before their transfer ..., shall not be available for public inspection until they have been in existence for fifty years or such other period... as the Lord Chancellor may, ... for the time being prescribe as respects any particular class of public records":[1] the closure period was reduced from fifty to thirty years by an amending act of 1967, passed during Harold Wilson's government. Among those who had repeatedly urged the scrapping of the fifty-year rule was the historian A.J.P. Taylor. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_year_rule

That's not the salient point of this thread though, is it. The discussion centres around the fact that, at the time, Scargill was accused of scaremongering when he patently wasn't.

Yesterday, I watched an interview with the then Chairman of the Coal Board, Ian MacGregor. He was adamant, in that interview, that there would be no large scale closures. The number, 75, was put to him and he denied it. To me, that is not 'holding back information'; that is lying.

Phil Everly http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-25601185

http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?46732-The-Secret-Footballer#.UscvjbS8wl0

Would be good if that development went ahead. The museum is good but how much better it could be! And it would also be good to re-open the station as it's quite a hike to the ground from the nearest operational underground station IIRC

This link within a link in the original link gives a Google map of where the abandoned stations are / were (hope this link works OK) http://randomlylondon.com/ghost-station-map/

That's really odd - ESB has FB me saying the same yet it works fine for me from the link I've just posted! Yep, just tried it again and it's fine!

For some reason this stuff really appeals to me! http://www.co.uk/news/magazine-25576814 I'm sure SNSUN can add some interesting trivia too

That reminded me of this article I saw recently http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-25491389

Why is the stadium a slightly lighter shade of purple I wonder?

Only this morning I heard on Radio 4 that Greenland is desperate for mine workers - there aren't enough suitably able people in the indigenous population.

Ariel Sharon

Not sure I want to clear possibly asbestos and other contamination though!

*Chortle*

If they've got any sense, they'll hop over us to move to a country desperate for more workers http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/10537270/Canada-plans-to-lure-more-expats-in-2014.html

Brilliant!

I would imagine the remediation costs involved for the Ford site would be quite substantial

Watching Les Mis for the umpteenth time Preparing to sob uncontrollably when Eddie Redmayne sings 'Empty Chairs and Empty Tables'

Hard to judge for me - good bit was us moving back to be close to my daughters so that I could help them out with school runs and baby care when they went back to work not so good bit was me buggering my knee so that I couldn't help out with the school runs and baby care Actually, on balance, yes it's been a good year especially I've ended it by driving for the first time in nearly 3 months so I'm a liberated woman again! Good wishes to you all for 2014 xx Oops forgot to give a score - 8 I reckon

How can I have stats or evidence if the situation I've talked about hasn't yet happened? However, logic is a useful tool. I have read, though, that Spain is demanding some sort of payment for medical treatment delivered to Brits (and other non Spanish nationals, no doubt) but I also think a lot depends on their residency status and that's quite complicated.

Well John Fortune's started the ball rolling, even though it's not yet 2014 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-25559826

And, Lord D, if the terms of freedom of movement were to change (unlikely, I know) then thousands of British people would not be able to work freely and live in any other member states. And many of the elderly ex-pats, some of whom put quite a strain on the health services of their adopted countries, would have to return to the UK. And, without tax paying foreign workers, who is going to pay for this extra pressure on the NHS and Social Services?