Tube strike, London

oh I see, so my dad going thro the miners strike was doing it all wrong, if only he sat down with that sensible Mrs Thatcher and chatted about it over a cup of tea then he wouldn't have had to put up with those nasty police charges

To be fair, if all he had done was sat down with a nice cup of tea and had a chat, he almost certainly wouldn't have had to put up with those nasty police charges.