Once upon a time, a long time ago, America and Britain's leaders (a demented old has-been film star and a demented old bat with a chip on her shoulder) sat down one day to decide what they could do about Russia, because they didn't want the then-communist state to get one over on them. They decided on a star wars programme, flew expensive satellites around the earth and had a big race to see who could point the biggest gun at the other.. That cost a lot of money
One thing Britain did to save money to pay for all this was to cut jobs in one of the biggest industries, outsourcing coal production to import cheaper coal from abroad, putting thousands of Britlish people out of work and ruining whole areas where coal mining was the only big industry and employer. Devastating some local areas and local economies , bringing mass unemployment, the social problems caused by unemployment and low-income to entire areas.
The "cold war" ended years ago, but Britain still needed to buy coal.
Russia now provides 51% of Britain's coal, making a tidy profit into the deal.
That sure showed them Russkies, huh?
Not a joke, but I find that ironically funny as fluck.