Friday, 15 August 2008
UK miners' strike (1984–1985)
The miners' strike of 1984 – 1985 was a major industrial action affecting the British coal industry. It was a defining moment in British industrial relations, and its defeat significantly weakened the British trades union movement.
Coal was a nationalised industry and, as in most of Europe, was heavily subsidised. A number of mines in the United Kingdom were profitable and remained open after the strike, including some operating as of 2007[1], but there were also a number of mines that were unprofitable and the government wanted to close. In addition, many mines required efficiency improvements in order to attain or increase their profitability, which was to be done by means of increased mechanisation. Many unions resisted this as it would necessarily result in job cuts.
The strike became a symbolic struggle, since the miners' union was one of the strongest in the country. The strike ended with the defeat of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) by the Conservative government, which then proceeded to consolidate its free market programme. The political power of the NUM was broken permanently, and some years later the Labour Party moved away from its traditional socialist agenda. The dispute exposed deep divisions in British society and caused considerable bitterness, especially in Northern England and in South Wales where several mining communities were destroyed. Ten deaths resulted from events around the strike, which is exceptional in the history of British industrial relations.
POLL TAX RIOTS
The Poll Tax Riots were mass disturbances, or riots, which occurred in Britain during protests against the Community Charge (commonly known as the poll tax), introduced by the Tory government led by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. By far the largest of these disturbances occurred in central London on Saturday March 31, 1990, shortly before the poll tax was due to come into force in England and Wales. Many believe that the London riot - the largest in the city in the 20th century - was the direct cause of Thatcher's downfall eight months later.
The disorder in central London arose from a demonstration which had begun around 11 a.m. The rioting and looting finally ended at around 3 a.m. the next morning. This riot is sometimes called the Battle of Trafalgar, particularly by opponents of the poll tax, because much of the rioting took place in Trafalgar Square.
Consequences
The fall of Prime Minister Thatcher
It is thought that the riot in central London, together with the countrywide opposition to the Community Charge (which was especially vehement in the North of England and Scotland) strongly contributed to the downfall of Margaret Thatcher, who resigned as Prime Minister in November of the same year, still adamantly defending the tax at a time when opinion polls were showing 2% support for it. The next Prime Minister, John Major, announced immediately that it would be abolished.
Abandonment of the Poll Tax
Once Thatcher had resigned, her successor John Major announced in his very first parliamentary speech as Prime Minister that the Community Charge was to be replaced. It was succeeded by the Council Tax, which, unlike the Poll Tax, took some account of ability to pay. While generally less harsh on lower-income earners than the Poll Tax, the new tax took no account of the income earned by the taxpayer, but did take into account the value of the property in connection with which the householder was being taxed.
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Newcastle upon Tyne


The city is the 20th most populous in England; the larger Tyneside conurbation, of which Newcastle forms part, is the sixth most populous conurbation in the United Kingdom.
People from Newcastle and surrounding areas are commonly called Geordies. The Latin term Novocastrian can equally be applied to residents of any place called Newcastle.
History of Newcastle upon Tyne
The history of Newcastle dates from about AD120, when the Romans built the first bridge to cross the River Tyne at that point. The bridge was called Pons Aelius or ‘Bridge of Aelius’, Aelius being the family name of Roman Emperor Hadrian, who was responsible for the Roman wall built across northern England along Tyne-Solway gap. Hadrian's Wall runs through present-day Newcastle with stretches of wall and turrets visible along the West Road, and at a temple in Benwell. Traces of a milecastle were found on Westgate Road, midway between Clayton Street and Grainger Street and it is likely that the course of the wall corresponded to present day Westgate Road. The course of the wall can be traced eastwards to the Segedunum Roman fort at Wallsend, with the fort Arbeia down river, on the south bank in what is now South Shields.
It should be noted that despite the presence of the bridge, the settlement of Pons Aelius was not particularly important among the northern Roman settlements. The most important stations were those on the highway of Dere Street running from Eboracum (York) through Corstopitum (Corbridge) and to the lands north of the Wall. Corstopitum, being a major arsenal and supply centre, was much larger and populous than Pons Aelius.
Anglo-Saxon development
Norman period
The Middle Ages
Throughout the Middle Ages, Newcastle was England's northern fortress, the centre for mustering armies. The Border war against Scotland lasted intermittently for several centuries - possibly the longest border war ever waged. During the civil war between Stephen and Matilda, David I of Scotland and his son were granted Cumbria and Northumberland respectively, so that for a period from 1139 to 1157, Newcastle was effectively in Scottish hands. It is believed that during this period, King David may have built the church of St Andrew and the Benedictine nunnery in Newcastle. However, King Stephen's successor, Henry II was strong enough to take back the Earldom of Northumbria from Malcolm IV.
Around 1200, stone-faced, clay-filled jetties were starting to project into the river, an indication that trade was increasing in Newcastle. As the Roman roads continued to deteriorate, sea travel was gaining in importance. By 1275 Newcastle was the sixth largest wool exporting port in England. The principal exports at this time were wool, timber, coal, millstones, dairy produce, fish, salt and hides. Much of the developing trade was with the Baltic countries and Germany. Most of the Newcastle merchants were situated near the river, below the Castle.
Religious houses
The first of these was the Benedictine nunnery of St Bartholomew founded in 1086 near the present Nun Street. Nothing of the nunnery remains now.
The friary of Blackfriars, Newcastle (Dominican) was established in 1239. These were also known as the Preaching Friars or Shod Friars, because they wore sandals, as opposed to other orders. The friary was situated in the present Friars Street, and much of the original buildings remain.
The friary of Whitefriars (Carmelite) was established in 1262. The order took over the buildings of another order, which went out of existence, the Friars of the Sac. The land, which had originally been given by Robert the Bruce, was situated in the present Hanover Square, behind the Central Station. Nothing of the friary remains now.
The friary of Austinfriars (Augustinian) was established in 1290. The friary was on the site where the Holy Jesus Hospital was built in 1682. The friary was traditionally the lodging place of English kings whenever they visited or passed through Newcastle.
The friary of Greyfriars (Franciscans) was established in 1274. The friary was in the present area between Pilgrim Street, Grey Street, Market Street and High Chare. It is claimed the Duns Scotus, the theologian received his early education there. Nothing of the original buildings remains.
The friary of the Order of the Holy Trinity, also known as the Trinitarians, was established in 1360. The order devoted a third of its income to buying back captives of the Saracens, during the Crusades. Their house was in Pandon, to the east of the city, but within the walls.
All of the above religious houses were closed when Henry VIII dissolved the monastries.
An important street running through Newcastle at the time was Pilgrim Street, running northwards inside the walls and leading to the Pilgrim Street Gate on the north wall. The street still exists today and there are different explanations for its name. One is that pilgrims passed through Newcastle on the way to visit St Mary's Chapel in Jesmond. The other is that the friary of Greyfriars, next to Pilgrim Street, had holy relics of St Francis, the founder of the order, and pilgrims passed up Pilgrim Street to visit them.
In 1400 Henry IV granted a new charter, which separated the town, but not the Castle, from the county of Northumberland and recognised it as a “county of itself” with a right to have a sheriff of its own. The burgesses were now allowed to choose six aldermen who, with the mayor would be justices of the peace. The mayor and sheriff were allowed to hold borough courts in the Guildhall.
The Scottish border wars continued for much of the sixteenth century, so that during that time, Newcastle was often threatened with invasion by the Scots, but also remained important as a border stronghold against the Scots.
During the Reformation begun by Henry VIII in 1536, the five Newcastle friaries and the single nunnery were dissolved and the land was sold to the Corporation and to rich merchants. At this time there were fewer than 60 inmates of the religious houses in Newcastle. The convent of Blackfriars was leased to nine craft guilds to be used as their headquarters. This probably explains why it is the only one of the religious houses whose building survives to the present day. The priories at Tynemouth and Durham were also dissolved, thus ending the long-running rivalry between Newcastle and the church for control of trade on the Tyne. A little later, the property of the nunnery of St Bartholomew and of Grey Friars were bought by Robert Anderson, who had the buildings demolished in order to build his grand Newe House (also known as Anderson Place).
With the gradual decline of the Scottish border wars the town walls were allowed to decline as well as the castle. By 1547, about 10,000 people were living in Newcastle. At the beginning of the sixteenth century exports of wool from Newcastle were more than twice the value of exports of coal, but during the century coal exports continued to increase.
Under Edward VI, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, sponsored an act allowing Newcastle to annex Gateshead as its suburb. The main reason for this was to allow the Newcastle Hostmen, who controlled the export of Tyne coal, to get their hands on the Gateshead coal mines, previously controlled by the Bishop of Durham. However, when Mary I came to power, Dudley met his downfall and the decision was reversed. The Reformation allowed private access to coal mines previously owned by Tynemouth and Durham priories and as a result coal exports increase dramatically, from 15,000 tons in 1500 to 35,000 tons in 1565, and to 400,000 tons in 1625.
The plague visited Newcastle four times during the sixteenth century, in 1579 when 200 people died, in 1589 when 1700 died, in 1595 and finally in 1597.
In 1600 Elizabeth I granted Newcastle a charter for an exclusive body of electors, the right to elect the mayor and burgesses. The charter also gave the Hostmen exclusive rights to load coal at any point on the Tyne. The Hostmen developed as an exclusive group within the Merchant Adventurers who had been incorporated by a charter in 1547.
In 1637 Charles I tried to raise money by doubling the ‘voluntary’ tax on coal in return for allowing the Newcastle Hostmen to regulate production and fix prices. This caused outrage amongst the London importers and the East Anglian shippers. Both groups decided to boycott Tyne coal and as a result forced Charles to reverse his decision in 1638.
In 1642 the English Civil War began. King Charles realised the value of the Tyne coal trade and therefore garrisoned Newcastle. A Royalist was appointed as governor. At that time Newcastle and Kings Lynn were the only important seaports to support the crown. In 1644 Parliament blockaded the Tyne to prevent the king from receiving revenue from the Tyne coal trade. Coal exports fell from 450,000 to 3,000 tons and London suffered a hard winter without fuel. Parliament encouraged the coal trade from the Wear to try and replace that lost from Newcastle but this was not enough to make up for the lost Tyneside tonnage.
In 1644 the Scots crossed the border. Newcastle strengthened its defences in preparation. The Scottish army, with 40,000 troops, besieged Newcastle for three months until the garrison of 1,500 surrendered. During the siege the Scots bombarded the walls with their artillery, situated in Gateshead and Castle Leazes. The Scottish commander threatened to destroy the steeple of St Nicholas church by gunfire if the mayor, Sir John Marley, did not surrender the town.
From 1655 to 1658, the Guild Hall and Exchange were built on the Sandhill next to the river. This replaced an earlier one damaged by fire in 1639. In 1681 the Hospital of the Holy Jesus was built partly on the site of the Austin Friars. The Guild Hall and Holy Jesus Hospital still exist.
Charles II tried to impose a charter on Newcastle in order to give the king the right to appoint the mayor, sheriff, recorder and town clerk. Charles died before the charter came into effect. In 1985 James II tried to replace Corporation members with named Catholics. However, James’ mandate was suspended in 1689 after the Glorious Revolution welcoming William of Orange. In 1689, after the fall of James II, the people of Newcastle tore down his bronze equestrian statue in Sandhill and tossed it into the Tyne. The bronze was later used to make bells for All Saints Church.
In 1689 the Lort Burn was covered over. At this time it was an open sewer. The channel followed by the Lort Burn became the present day Dean Street. At that time the centre of Newcastle was still the Sandhill area, with many merchants living along the Close or on the Side. The path of the main road through Newcastle ran from the single Tyne bridge, through Sandhill to the Side, a narrow street which climbed steeply on the north-east side of the castle hill until it reached the higher ground alongside St Nicholas’ Church. As Newcastle developed, the Side became lined with buildings with projecting upper stories, so that the main street through Newcastle was a narrow, congested, steep thoroughfare.[3]
In 1701 the Keelmen’s Hospital was built in the Sandgate area of the city, using funds provided by the keelmen. This building still stands today.
The Eighteenth Century
In 1715, during the Jacobite rising in favour of the Old Pretender, an army of Jacobite supporters marched on Newcastle. Many of the Northumbrian gentry joined the rebels. The citizens prepared for its arrival by arresting Jacobite supporters and accepting 700 extra recruits into the local militia. The gates of the city were closed against the rebels. This proved enough to delay an attack until reinforcements arrived forcing the rebel army to move across to the west coast. The rebels finally surrendered at Preston.
In 1745, during a second Jacobite rising in favour of the Young Pretender, a Scottish army crossed the border led by Bonnie Prince Charlie. Once again Newcastle prepared by arresting Jacobite supporters and inducting 800 volunteers into the local militia. The town walls were strengthened, most of the gates were blocked up and some 200 cannon were deployed. 20,000 regulars were billeted on the Town Moor. These preparations were enough to force the rebel army to travel south via the west coast. They were eventually defeated at Culloden in 1746.
Newcastle’s actions during the 1715 rising in resisting the rebels and declaring for George I, in contrast to the rest of the region, is the most likely source of the nickname ‘Geordie’, applied to people from Tyneside, or more accurately Newcastle. Another theory, however, is that the name 'Geordie' came from the inventor of the Geordie lamp, George Stephenson. It was a type of safety lamp used in mining, but was not invented until 1815. Apparently the term ‘German Geordie’ was in common use during the eighteenth century.
In 1771 a flood swept away much of the bridge at Newcastle. The bridge had been built in 1250 and repaired after a flood in1339. The bridge supported various houses and three towers and an old chapel. A blue stone was placed in the middle of the bridge to mark the boundary between Newcastle and the Palatinate of Durham. A temporary wooden bridge had to be built, and this remained in use until 1781, when a new stone bridge was completed. The new bridge consisted of nine arches. In 1801, because of the pressure of traffic, the bridge had to be widened.[1]
Victorian period
In 1849 a new bridge was built across the river at Newcastle. This was the High Level Bridge, designed by Robert Stephenson, and slightly up river from the existing bridge. The bridge was designed to carry road and rail traffic across the Tyne Gorge on two decks with rail traffic on the upper deck and road traffic on the lower. The new bridge meant that traffic could pass through Newcastle without having to negotiate the steep, narrow Side, as had been necessary for centuries. The bridge was opened by Queen Victoria, who one year later opened the new Central Station, designed by John Dobson. Trains were now able to cross the river, directly into the centre of Newcastle and carry on up to Scotland.
In 1854 a large fire started on the Gateshead quayside and an explosion caused it to spread across the river to the Newcastle quayside. A huge conflagration amongst the narrow alleys, or ‘chares’, destroyed the homes of 800 families as well as many business premises. The narrow alleys that had been destroyed were replaced by streets containing blocks of modern offices.
In 1876 the low level bridge was replaced by a new bridge known as the Swing Bridge, so called because the bridge was able to swing horizontally on a central axis and allow ships to pass on either side. This meant that for the first time sizeable ships could pass up-river beyond Newcastle.
Industrialisation
Stephenson's Rocket in the Science Museum, London
Newcastle's development as a major city owed most to its central role in the production and export of coal. The phrase "taking coals to Newcastle" was first recorded in 1538; it proverbially denotes bringing a particular commodity to a place that has more than enough of it already.
In the nineteenth century, shipbuilding and heavy engineering were central to the city's prosperity; and the city was a powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution.
Local innovation
Innovation in Newcstle and surrounding areas included the following:
George Stephenson developed a miner’s safety lamp at the same time that Humphry Davy developed a rival design. The lamp made possible the opening up of ever deeper mines to provide the coal that powered the industrial revolution.
George and Robert Stephenson were hugely influential figures in the development of the early railways. George developed Blücher, a locomotive working at Killingworth colliery in 1814, whilst Robert was instrumental in the design of Rocket, a revolutionary design that was the forerunner of modern locomotives. Both men were involved in planning and building railway lines, all over this country and abroad.
Joseph Swan's demonstrated a working electric light bulb about a year before Thomas Edison did the same in the U.S.A. This led to a dispute as to who had actually invented the light bulb. Eventually the two rivals agreed to form a mutual company between them.
Charles Algernon Parsons' invented the steam turbine, for marine use and for power generation. He used Turbinia, a small, turbine-powered ship, to demonstrate the speed that a steam turbine could generate. Turbinia literally ran rings around the British Fleet at a review at Spithead in 1897.
William Armstrong invented a hydraulic crane that was installed in dockyards up and down the country. He then began to design light, accurate field guns for the British army. These were a vast improvement on the existing guns that were then in use.
Mosley Street, in the centre of Newcastle, is claimed to be the first in the world to have electric street lighting, though this is contested.
The following major industries developed in Newcastle or its surrounding area:
Glassmaking
Armaments
Pottery
Twentieth Century
During the Second World War, Newcastle was largely spared the horrors inflicted upon Coventry, London and other British cities bombed by the Luftwaffe. Although the armaments factories and shipyards along the River Tyne were targeted by the German airforce, they largely escaped unscathed. Manors goods yard and railway terminal, to the east of the city centre, and the suburbs of Jesmond and Heaton suffered bombing during 1941. There were 141 deaths and 587 injuries, a relatively small figure compared to the casualties in other industrial centres of Britain.
In 1963 the city gained its own university, the University of Newcastle upon Tyne by act of parliament. A School of Medicine and Surgery had been established in Newcastle in 1834. This eventually developed into a college of medicine attached to Durham University. A college of physical science was also founded and became Armstrong College in 1904. In 1934 the two colleges merged to become King’s College, Durham. This remained as part of Durham University until the new university was created in 1963. In 1992 the city gained its second university when Newcastle Polytechnic was granted university status. It is now known as Northumbria University.
In 1978 a new rapid transport system, the Metro, was built, linking the Tyneside area. A new bridge was built to carry the Metro across the river between Gateshead and Newcastle. This was the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, commonly known as the Metro Bridge. Eventually the Metro system was extended to reach Newcastle Airport, and in 2002 the Metro system was extended to the nearby city of Sunderland.
As the twentieth century progressed, trade on the Newcastle and Gateshead quaysides gradually declined, until by the eighties both sides of the river were looking rather derelict. Shipping company offices had closed along with offices of firms related to shipping. There were also derelict warehouses lining the riverbank. A decision was taken by local government to re-develop the Newcastle quayside and this was begun in the 1990s following a master plan. New offices, restaurants, bars and residential accommodation were built and the area has changed in the space of a few years into a vibrant area. It is ironic that this development has partially returned the focus of Newcastle to the riverside, where it was in medieval times.
In 2001 the latest addition to the Tyne bridges was completed. This was the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, a foot and cycle bridge, 26 feet (7.9 m) wide and 413 feet (126 m) long. The road deck is in the form of a curve and is supported by a steel arch. To allow ships to pass, the whole structure, both arch and road-deck, rotate on huge bearings at either end so that the road deck is lifted. The bridge can be said to open and shut like a human eye. It is an important addition to the re-developed quayside area, providing a vital link between the Newcastle and Gateshead quaysides.
As heavy industries declined in the second half of the twentieth century, large sections of the city centre were demolished along with many areas of slum housing. The leading political figure in the city during the 1960s T. Dan Smith who oversaw a massive building programme of highrise housing estates and authorised the demolition of a quarter of the Georgian Grainger Town to make way for a shopping centre Eldon Square). Smith's control in Newcastle collapsed when it was exposed that he had used public contracts to advantage himself and his business associates and for a time Newcastle became a byword for civic corruption as depicted in the films Get Carter and Stormy Monday and in the television series Our Friends in the North. However, much of the historic Grainger Town area remains to this day and was, for the most part, fully restored in the late 1990s. Today the city is a vibrant centre for office and retail employment. Though conversely, just a short distance from the flourishing city centre, there are impoverished inner-city housing estates, in areas where the original raison d'être was to provide affordable housing for employees of the shipyards and other heavy industries that lined the River Tyne. The Newcastle City Council has recently begun implementing plans to regenerate these depressed areas, such as those along the Ouseburn Valley.