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I would like to thank Kate and Janet of the Women Against Pit Closures and Colin Hampton of the Derbyshire Unemployed Workers Centre for the excellent display exhibited at the Market Hall in Chesterfield.

I would also wish to thank Colin for organising the superb concert held on March 7.I am the son of a miner who gave 36 years of his life on the coalface. Fortunately, he retired before the 84-85 strike took place.Of course the attacks on trade unionism didn’t start with Thatcher. This began with Prime Minister Jim Callaghan who introduced anti-union laws, leading to the election of Thatcher.I know Sir Ian McGregor was brought in to ‘sort out’ firstly the steel industry and then the miners. The steel industry is now virtually non-existent and there is not one single deep shaft mine left. Didn’t he do well?

I raised these points with an academic who stated that this was not what created Thatcherism but Neo Liberalism.I wonder how many normal people on the streets understand what Neo Liberalism is?We are now facing the prospect of the possible election won by a party whose leader Sir Keir Starmer has professed his admiration for Thatcher.Likewise he has refused to scrap anti-union laws and commitment to green policies.The future doesn’t look bright for those wanting social change does it?

David Fox