The post you are reporting:
I agree with you both, I think this forum is a great platform that I have learnt much from. Most are great posters, some are not. That's life. I lean more towards my family and friends more than I do to politics but I am a labour supporter and at this moment would not vote any other way.
I have probably learnt more from the few on here but I think they are lacking in vision not to listen to others.
In my Mining Heritage Talks that we do around schools and halls, the one question is always asked, what was it like to grow up in a miner's family, what was community spirit amongst the miner's like? It's a very hard question to answer, feeling safe and being happy, having so many friends and family to grow up with, is enough for the kids but for adults I recall the feelings by telling them how I could play in my street with about a dozen kids who's mums and dads were all my uncles and aunties. We played in the streets we played in their house's and we went on trips together, we was and still are one big happy family. In my teens I began to realise that not many of them was actually blood relatives, they were my dad's work mates but that made no difference. I can remember writing my guest list for my second marriage, 3 of my uncles were my wife's uncles, It did make us delve a little bit, just in case.
The point I want to make and one that I use to emphasise what our community spirit was like and still is like, is this. Every one of those families are still, my families, we love them the same and we mourn them the same, there is a bond that cannot be broken. Paul Watkins could not be further, politically away from me but that does not stop us from still having that bond, his father, my uncle Alex, was my dad's best mate and my dad was Godfather to Paul. We don't mix much or meet up much but Paul is still part of my family and I respect him very much.
He will not be moved in his beliefs, rightly so for him but he does listen to others. That's what puts him apart from a few others on this forum. We will never learn if we do not listen.