Simon Heffer

The coal mining conundrum: why did the NUM fight so hard for its members’ right to suffer underground?

Jeremy Paxman emphasises the terrible ordeals suffered by miners, but fails to address the key paradox in the recent history of the industry

Arthur Scargill, leader of the NUM. [Alamy]
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  • Black Gold: The History of HowCoal Made Britain

    Jeremy Paxman

    William Collins, pp. 320, £25

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Ross Clark

The truth about ‘workshy’ Britain

Is ‘workshy Britain’ a mirage caused by dodgy statistics? That is what the left-leaning think tank the Resolution Foundation is claiming in a report published this morning. The Office for National Statistics (ONS), it says, has missed 930,000 people who are actually in work. The missing numbers, it asserts, are enough to raise Britain’s employment

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