Talk:Winter of Discontent/Archive 1

An appeal for photographs
I was six years old during the Winter of Discontent and not therefore taking it all in. In the hope that someone reading this was a) an adult at the time, b) owned a camera, and c) took a photograph or two of the disruption caused, could I appeal for them to upload a GFDL or Public Domain image to go with this article? It has lots of images but they are mostly 'fair use' and it would be nice to have an image we are explicitly allowed to use. David | Talk 21:48, 16 July 2005 (UTC)

Gravediggers' strike
This was distorted by the media at the time and served effectively as propoganda for the Conservatives in the 1979 election. I feel it is given a little too much prominence here and that some of the 'facts' repeated about it are questionable, a case of the winners rewriting history perhaps. --Sachabrunel 17:23, 18 December 2005 (UTC)


 * I don't believe it's fair to say the article gives it excessive prominence - it's got one short sub-section. The facts reported here are accurate; it's often implied that the gravediggers strike was nationwide, whereas actually it was confined to Liverpool and Tameside and was over quite quickly. However it's important to include it because it is one of the most frequently mentioned aspect of the Winter of Discontent. And as I wrote the article I would like to object to the suggestion that it's history being rewritten by the 'winners'. See my biography for why. David | Talk 18:15, 18 December 2005 (UTC)


 * Ok, sorry, I see what you mean. Maybe this should be mentioned in the article too, though? (BTW I take an interest as my family are from Speke) --Sachabrunel 16:59, 31 December 2005 (UTC)


 * I've added a little note to explain that the strike was over very quickly. Due to WP:NPOV it's difficult to directly say "the popular impression is wrong" although it's often possible to quietly correct a mistaken impression by giving the truth. David | Talk 17:30, 31 December 2005 (UTC)

How long did the gravediggers' strike go on?
The intro para says 'several weeks'; the dedicated para says 'a fortnight'. Which is the case? Dogville 16:46, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

The Coal?
Michael Rennie remembers a lack of coal due to coal miners coming out on strike. This had an effect on industry, electricity production and home heating. The article doesn't mention this?

Brown-outs
Related to the point above, there were many brown-outs during this period. These were spates of lessened mains electricity (or downright outages) that affected people directly in their homes. The article appears not to mention this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.151.232.92 (talk) 10:44, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

SORRY you are confusing the Heath government's problems with power cuts and brown outs as part of the Miners Strike of that period, there was no dispute with the Miners under Calllaghan the strikes were with local authority workers. 79.72.67.209 (talk) 04:23, 28 March 2009 (UTC) Tony S

Evening Standard and rats
The reason why it's important to mention the Evening Standard's determination to get a picture of rats in the accumulated rubbish is that the paper sent a photographer specifically to get such a picture, and when they did get it (a very moody picture from down an alley by Haymarket and Coventry Street) it took the whole of the front page and I think the picture won an award. Probably they could have found a picture of rats in the West End even when the binmen weren't on strike, but this time they went all out for the shock impact.

Do it to Julia, not me! Fys. &#147;Ta fys aym&#148;. 15:26, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Power cuts
There's nothing in here about the lengthy power cuts and brown outs (as an IP mentions above - anyone have any sources? Neıl ☎  16:14, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
 * I've managed to find one reference, and added something at least. But the power cuts were a big part of the period, and probably led to more bad feeling towards the Labour government of the time than anything else.  I'll add a section if anyone can point me in the right direction of citeable references. Neıl  ☎  16:20, 17 December 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Crisiswhatcrisis.jpg
Image:Crisiswhatcrisis.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 21:17, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with Image:Callaghancrisisiv.jpg
The image Image:Callaghancrisisiv.jpg is used in this article under a claim of fair use, but it does not have an adequate explanation for why it meets the requirements for such images when used here. In particular, for each page the image is used on, it must have an explanation linking to that page which explains why it needs to be used on that page. Please check


 * That there is a non-free use rationale on the image's description page for the use in this article.
 * That this article is linked to from the image description page.

The following images also have this problem:


 * Image:Callaghanwaitingatchurch.jpg

This is an automated notice by FairuseBot. For assistance on the image use policy, see Media copyright questions. --04:04, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

Weather
I'm mildly surprised to see no mention of the weather in this article. The 1978-79 winter was notably cold, and so disruption to fuel and electricity supplies will have bitten harder than in a milder winter. January 1979 had a Central England Temperature of -0.4°C; only one month since then (February 1986) has been colder, and there were only seven months with a sub-zero CET in the entire 20th century. Loganberry (Talk) 00:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

Parliamentary representation
Er no, the Labour party and government did not represent the unions in parliament, it represented the electorate. I have rewritten the openning para. 79.72.67.209 (talk) 04:23, 28 March 2009 (UTC) Tony S