Durham Miners’ Association chair STEPHEN GUY speaks to Ben Chacko about the Reform threat, what’s needed from Labour and why the Big Meeting will never lose its politics
TRIBUTES have been paid to Henry Richardson, general secretary of the Nottinghamshire area of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) during the strike against pit closures of 1984-5.
Richardson was a tower of strength for the minority of Nottinghamshire miners who were loyal to their union during the strike.
Most of the Nottinghamshire coalfield — the second largest coalfield in Britain after Yorkshire — scabbed, betraying their fellow mineworkers whose jobs were under threat from pit closures.
The public inquiry is the result of more than a decade of determined campaigning. Now, those who fought for justice want the full story of government involvement and police conduct to be told, says KATE FLANNERY
A past confrontation permanently shaped the methods the state will use to protect employers against any claims by their employees, writes MATT WRACK, but unions are readying to face the challenge


