A 30-minute news feature, hosted by Richard Whiteley and Geoff Druett. This episode is separated into three main news segments. The first segment, titled ‘Miners – what next?’ discusses the development of the Miners Strikes of 1984, after results of a weekend ballot reveal that many pits have voted not to strike. John Watson MP and Bill O’Brien MP feature as guest talkers in this segment to discuss this further. The second segment, ‘EEC on the brink’, discusses the two-day EEC summit in...

A 30-minute news feature, hosted by Richard Whiteley and Geoff Druett. This episode is separated into three main news segments. The first segment, titled ‘Miners – what next?’ discusses the development of the Miners Strikes of 1984, after results of a weekend ballot reveal that many pits have voted not to strike. John Watson MP and Bill O’Brien MP feature as guest talkers in this segment to discuss this further. The second segment, ‘EEC on the brink’, discusses the two-day EEC summit in Brussels. Thatcher is concerned that the EEC owe Britain almost £450 million. Barry Seal MP and Bill Newton Dunn MP feature in this segment as guest talkers, to discuss Thatcher’s potential strategies of negotiation, and the potential outcomes of the EEC. Richard Whiteley and James Naughtie discuss Nigel Lawson’s new parliamentary policies and Labour opposition, and Labour Party demands for a fuller statement from Mark Thatcher regarding bank accounts. Finally, a short segment titled ‘Steel in the Middle’, Geoff Druett talks on how a picture of Liberal leader David Steel was mistakenly published and found within the pages of an English Penthouse magazine. Miners – What Next? There is division between pit workers as the results of a weekend ballot has shown that majority of areas have voted not to strike. The dispute began originally when the Coal Board announced that 20,000 jobs could be at risk within the year. Area executives in Scotland and Yorkshire voted to strike, and ‘flying pickets’ crossing over from Yorkshire villages into other areas has become an increasing problem for police to handle, with the most intense picketing being seen in Ollerton, Nottinghamshire. MP’s John Watson and Bill O’Brien discuss the development of the strikes with Whiteley in the studio. O’Brien worries that the true reasoning behind the strikes will be lost due to the violence and conflicts, and does not disagree with picketing generally, but urges for negotiations. Watson argues that violence and picketing often go hand-in-hand with one another, and believes in the intentions of the Home Secretary that the issue will soon be resolved. There are debates around how economic the coal industry is; O’Brien argues that it is the lack of capital investment from Coal Boards and the Government that make a pit uneconomic. He argues that without investment, targets will not be met and produce will decrease; that this is an unfair run-down of the industry. Watson disagrees, stating that the ‘Plan for Coal’ document called for capital investment in the coal industry by the end of 1984, and that this target has already been achieved by the end of the year. He also argues that productivity goals agreed by the NUM have not been fulfilled. O’Brien suggest negotiations that are not currently being taken place, whereas Watson believes that this spirit of compromise has resulted in the board giving all that they been demanded for minimal productivity output in return, and that this can now only be solved by the defeat of Scargill. EEC on the brink: In Brussels, the 10 common market leaders, including Thatcher, are halfway through their 2-day EEC summit. They are trying to solve the issues that brought the EEC to the brink of bankruptcy, what some have called a ‘total collapse’. The Community is £12 million overspent on the Common Market Agricultural Policy alone. Farm ministers did agree a package last to cut back milk production and reduce the surplus of dairy products, but even with these new proposals, farm spending will still not be contained in the budget allocated to it. Britain’s Government have estimated that the EEC owes Britain almost £450 million. Barry Seal, MP for Yorkshire West, and Bill Newton Dunn, MP for Lincolnshire, discuss this in the studio with Geoff Druett. Seal believes that the Common Market was set up to benefit Germany (protecting food) and France (protecting agriculture); Britain has lost out on both these areas and needs a different organization altogether. Dunn argues that other countries of the EEC are suffering a recession that make them reluctant to pay. He believes that Britain are justified in wanting repayment, but that other governments are under the economic pressure to try to find ways around not paying. Dunn does not believe they will achieve a brand-new system in the next few days, as this is too complex to work out between world leaders at this point, but rather that Thatcher is trying to achieve a formula where poorer countries of the EEC do not pay ‘the lions share’. Seal, however, thinks that that this would be a brand-new system, if achieved, and that Thatcher has to be insistent on fundamental changes to how Britain contributes to the EEC. He suggests a system where Britain pay in proportion to the gross domestic product. The two debate about Thatcher’s possible negotiation methods. Nigel Lawson, Thatcher Accounts, and ‘Steel in the Middle’: Richard Whiteley talks to James Naughtie about the first new budget proposed by Nigel Lawson in Parliament the previous week; repercussions are still being felt, whether these are good or bad. Naughtie acknowledges Lawson’s popularity at the current moment, but does not anticipate great leadership prospects for Lawson despite this. Neil Kinnock’s reply to Lawson’s policy is argued as a difficult to make by Naughtie, but still slightly disappointing nonetheless for those on Kinnock’s own political side. There is also brief discussion around Mark Thatcher, and demands from Labour MP’s for a ‘fuller’ statement, that Naughtie is unsure of what the outcome will be. In the final main segment, ‘Steel in the Middle’, Geoff Druett reveals how pictures of Liberal Leader David Steel have been found to be printed amidst the pages of a catalogue in The English Penthouse: The International Magazine for Men. Presented by RICHARD WHITELEY and GEOFF DRUETT With BILL O’BRIEN MP, BILL NEWTON DUNN MEP, BARRY SEAL MEP, JOHN WATSON MP, JIM NAUGHTIE Editorial Assistant ALI RASHID Director BRYAN SHINER Executive Producer GRAHAM IRONSIDE YTV Limited 1984 YORKSHIRE TELEVISION Production