EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND ¨C Bob Young¡¯s strongest memory of Margaret Thatcher¡¯s time in power is the brown envelope he received in March 1985 two days before he was due back at work after the yearlong miners¡¯ strike.
The letter, handed to the Scot¡¯s then-12-year-old daughter, contained his P45, the form a worker gets in Britain when leaving a job or being fired. Young had been chairman of the National Union of Mineworkers at the Comrie colliery in Fife, eastern Scotland, and helped organize the walkout.
¡°I despised her during the strike and I¡¯ll never forgive her for what she¡¯s done,¡± said Young, 69, now a local councilor for the Labour Party, the main opposition force in the U.K. Parliament. ¡°I¡¯m not glad someone has died, but she was on one side of the fence and I was on the other.¡±
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