P172 BEEBFAX 122 Thu 31 Dec --:--/--                                       NUM to interfere with the market,  risking public inflation.    Two million manufacturing jobs were  lost between 1979 and 1981,  which some ascribe to Thatcherian  policies,  and others see as the inevitable  result of decades of nationalization  of unproductive industries in the face  of rising competition  from lower cost producers.    Following a narrowly averted strike in  1981, the government announced on 6  March 1984 their intention to close 20  coal mines, revealing as well the plan  in the long-term to close over 70  pits.   Next       Prev       Home        End