The 20th anniversary of the miners' strike of 1984-5 has inevitably triggered off memories, along with reflections as to its longer-term economic and sociological significance. The memories can be bitter or bittersweet: striking Nottingham miner Keith Frogson was murdered in July 2004, allegedly after a row about the strike with his neighbour Robert Boyer; while members of the "Women Against Pit Closures group, reunited at an Anniversary Conference at Northumbria University also in July 2004, sang strikers' songs (Here we go, here we go, we're the Women of the Working Class!) and reminisced with pride and humour about the part they had played. Meanwhile, the Turner prize in 2004 went to Jeremy Deller whose best-known work is a recreation of 'The Battle of Orgreave'. The passion evinced in these incidents show how deeply individuals' lives were marked by the strike. It seems timely to consider how deep the impact was on the broader social structures of British society.
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