To think that holding an inquiry into the "battle" of Orgreave is a grotesque squandering of public money?

[OurStepsWillAlwaysRhyme]

It was 40 years ago, nobody died - don't we have more urgent problems and better things to do with our tax money? This just seems self-indulgent.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/inquiry-to-uncover-truth-of-orgreave

Police corruption, Government interference in the justice system, reputations ruined.... media lying on instruction from Govt or not?

Why exactly shouldn't we know the truth?

Have you spent time reading about what happened? I am glad an enquiry is being undertaken and hope it brings both peace and justice. At least this is a first step towards that.

I never care about public enquiries, theyre always too late and there as a distraction of the current nefarious acts of the government

This. Apart from the Covid one which was rushed through too soon when no one had actually had enough time and distance to process it and the same government seemed able to "manage" it to make themselves look less awful than they should have done. Scuppering hopes of a real independent inquiry into the whole thing or any accountability from the government for their behaviour.

If Orgreave had been properly investigated, the cover up around the Hillsborough disaster wouldn't have happened & the grooming gang scandal in Rotherham would have been properly investigated. South Yorkshire Police thought they were untouchable, they had a Tory MP & Margaret Thatcher in their pocket which made it even worse, it's scandalous that nothing was brought up when she was in power, both SYP chiefs, Irvine Patnick MP & Margaret Thatcher should have been dragged through the courts & brought to justice for what they did. It is a constant blot on the copy book & source of shame for many residents of South Yorkshire.

What is grotesque is the waste of people’s time ie years and years of trying to overturn unsound convictions. As one man said recently he wants his kids and grandkids to trust the police - this hopefully will put some of the record straight ( much evidence is destroyed)

If you were there you would know there was no good side in this. It will reopen old wounds.

I think it's long overdue. May the miners and their families receive truth and justice because the whole thing stinks of SYP's incompetence and willingness to cosy up to Thatcher.

I agree OP. It’s just a left-wing totem cause loved by silly old anorak-wearing trots. It’s got no relevance to anything today. Just a distraction technique by Starmer’s useless government that plays to the Labour left.

A major investigation into 1970s and ‘80s trade union political gangsterism and corruption, now that would tell us something we could use today and tomorrow.

You could say that about any inquiry, i think where state corruption is concerned or alleged, we should know the truth, its long over due.

Agree, it’s for historians now

It's a ridiculous waste of money. Life has moved on. Everyone has changed. This will just open up old wounds. Current police are not responsible for the actions of pensioners. It's also unfair to use evidence taken 40 years after an event when everyone's memory will have hardened into a set narrative.

Agree, no good will come out of it, a complete waste of time and money and will just reopen old wounds and embed divisions. It’s completely different where people have died and there’s a chance to stop the same thing happening again (hillsborough, grenfell, Covid ect).

It was a terrible time - Thatcher engineered division between communities and succeeded in her quest to destroy the NUM.

Police were bussed-in from around the country. In the late 80s two of my nursing colleagues were married to Thames Valley police officers who had bought their houses mainly on the proceeds of overtime paid policing the strikes.

You're right OP, it should have been done a long time ago. Better late then never though.

I was inclined to agree but @Nat6999makes a very good point.

I genuinely can’t see any good point being made in favour of this inquiry.

Waste of time and our money, so long after the event. There are many current money wasting projects that would be better investigated.

The time that’s passed is certainly a factor. But more than that, there’s nothing to investigate.

The only reason for this inquiry is that Scargill and the NUM lost the struggle to control the country, which humiliated the union and has been an embarrassment for the far-left ever since.