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I love downloading and watching documentaries produced in the UK.
On a couple of these they paint a picture of England during this time period, where it must have really seemed that the very fabric of society was being torn apart and civilization was coming to an end. Just total anarchy. It seems that it must have been much more wrenching than what the US went through in the late 60's/early 70's.
I'm just throwing these around from what I have heard about:
You have the coal miners/nurses/garbage men/everyone going on strike, Thatcher firing everyone, trash piled high in London, the punk scene with the scariest looking youths ever, increased violence, the loss of the empire and prestige, the decline of manufacturing and British industry, unemployment, probably inflation and arab oil shocks, football hooliganism, racism, skinheads/Nazi-wannabees, and the troubles in Northern Ireland with domestic Terrorism.
Again, I'm not sure about all of these, but if anti-depressants had been invented, the entire country would have been on them.
Here are some questions I have:
1. Is there a name for this particular era?
2. What is the time frame for this particular era?
3. Did the Falklands war pull the country out of this slump? What else helped pull the UK back on its feet?
4. Is there a documentary or something I could read [preferably short] about this era?
5. Did this affect Scotland and Wales as well or just England?
I love downloading and watching documentaries produced in the UK.
On a couple of these they paint a picture of England during this time period, where it must have really seemed that the very fabric of society was being torn apart and civilization was coming to an end. Just total anarchy. It seems that it must have been much more wrenching than what the US went through in the late 60's/early 70's.
I'm just throwing these around from what I have heard about:
You have the coal miners/nurses/garbage men/everyone going on strike, Thatcher firing everyone, trash piled high in London, the punk scene with the scariest looking youths ever, increased violence, the loss of the empire and prestige, the decline of manufacturing and British industry, unemployment, probably inflation and arab oil shocks, football hooliganism, racism, skinheads/Nazi-wannabees, and the troubles in Northern Ireland with domestic Terrorism.
Again, I'm not sure about all of these, but if anti-depressants had been invented, the entire country would have been on them.
Here are some questions I have:
1. Is there a name for this particular era?
2. What is the time frame for this particular era?
3. Did the Falklands war pull the country out of this slump? What else helped pull the UK back on its feet?
4. Is there a documentary or something I could read [preferably short] about this era?
I find that era interesting as well, being just a little bit too far back for me to remember first-hand. Makes me laugh when people talk about the good old days, as I certainly don't believe life in this country is worse now than then. There's no name for that era that I've ever heard other than "Thatcher's Britain", and it ended at different times in different parts of the country - the north (or the post-industrial areas in general) took much longer to recover than the southeast. Some of the old mining villages/mill towns (near where I'm from) never really did. I don't reckon the Falklands war made that much difference to be honest, the miners' strike was two years later, there was still football hooliganism widespread a few years after 1982, and the crime rates didn't peak until the early 1990s. I think unemployment stayed high until about that time, too, which was about the same time as the post-industrial northern cities (Manchester/Liverpool/Newcastle etc) got regenerated. One very pessimistic book I know from that era is "Kingdom by the Sea" by Paul Theroux (an American travel writer), and I recently watched this documentary about unemployment in Liverpool (one of the worst affected areas) in 1984:
You have the coal miners/nurses/garbage men/everyone going on strike,
And others too... Like gravediggers, there was a factory rented in Liverpool to store the bodies and there were discussions about burial at sea...
Quote:
Originally Posted by jtltke137
Thatcher firing everyone, trash piled high in London,
See striking bin men above, Thatcher actually wasn't firing people at this time, she was the opposition leader. She fired people later... Well sort of.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jtltke137
the punk scene with the scariest looking youths ever,
Nope that was over by 1978, it was all Boney M, the Bee Gees, Abba, and Kate Bush wailing about Heathcliffe and Rod Stewart asking if we found him sexually attractive, and ELO being harmonic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jtltke137
increased violence,
Dissatisfied people do tend to be more violent.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jtltke137
the loss of the empire and prestige
That was much earlier just after the second world war
Quote:
Originally Posted by jtltke137
the decline of manufacturing and British industry, unemployment, probably inflation and arab oil shocks
International economics played a bigger part in this, than the internal workings of the UK, inflation was a problem and was running at about 26% for a while.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jtltke137
football hooliganism, racism, skinheads/Nazi-wannabees
that's kind of still around, certainly the football violence problem.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jtltke137
and the troubles in Northern Ireland with domestic Terrorism.
Largely financed by wealthy Americans of Irish descent... and supplied by Libya.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jtltke137
Again, I'm not sure about all of these, but if anti-depressants had been invented, the entire country would have been on them.
they were, not SRI's SSRI's but many others.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jtltke137
Here are some questions I have:
1. Is there a name for this particular era?
2. What is the time frame for this particular era?
3. Did the Falklands war pull the country out of this slump? What else helped pull the UK back on its feet?
4. Is there a documentary or something I could read [preferably short] about this era?
5. Did this affect Scotland and Wales as well or just England?
Well I did grow up at this time. in Answer to your questions...
1) the nearest thing I can think of was the "Winter of Discontent" which was the winter of 1978-79, it led to the Conservative dynasty of the 80's and early 90's. I remember it quite well because the schools were shut down for quite a while, and we had to do everything at home, while the teachers (who were not on strike) were teaching from Church halls and other municipal buildings.
2) In general 78-79, but there were also the Riots of 1981 that happened in Brixton, Toxteth, Hadsworth and Chapeltown.
3) I think it returned a degree of Nationalist pride, certainly those who were WW2 survivors displayed the whole Blitz spirit. The thing that pulled the UK to its feet was a transition from primarily manufacturing industries to primarily service and financial industries.
4) Dunno, although back editions of World in Action and Panorama might be available
5) the Winter of Discontent was general, the riots were isolated.
Overall though this "period" wasn't really a period, it was a series of events. I certainly don't think of it like an era, just there was the winter of discontent, then the Thatcher Government, the Falklands then the riots. It wasn't like it was a continuing event at all.
And others too... Like gravediggers, there was a factory rented in Liverpool to store the bodies and there were discussions about burial at sea...
See striking bin men above, Thatcher actually wasn't firing people at this time, she was the opposition leader. She fired people later... Well sort of.
Nope that was over by 1978, it was all Boney M, the Bee Gees, Abba, and Kate Bush wailing about Heathcliffe and Rod Stewart asking if we found him sexually attractive, and ELO being harmonic.
Dissatisfied people do tend to be more violent.
That was much earlier just after the second world war
International economics played a bigger part in this, than the internal workings of the UK, inflation was a problem and was running at about 26% for a while.
that's kind of still around, certainly the football violence problem.
Largely financed by wealthy Americans of Irish descent... and supplied by Libya.
they were, not SRI's SSRI's but many others.
Well I did grow up at this time. in Answer to your questions...
1) the nearest thing I can think of was the "Winter of Discontent" which was the winter of 1978-79, it led to the Conservative dynasty of the 80's and early 90's. I remember it quite well because the schools were shut down for quite a while, and we had to do everything at home, while the teachers (who were not on strike) were teaching from Church halls and other municipal buildings.
2) In general 78-79, but there were also the Riots of 1981 that happened in Brixton, Toxteth, Hadsworth and Chapeltown.
3) I think it returned a degree of Nationalist pride, certainly those who were WW2 survivors displayed the whole Blitz spirit. The thing that pulled the UK to its feet was a transition from primarily manufacturing industries to primarily service and financial industries.
4) Dunno, although back editions of World in Action and Panorama might be available
5) the Winter of Discontent was general, the riots were isolated.
Overall though this "period" wasn't really a period, it was a series of events. I certainly don't think of it like an era, just there was the winter of discontent, then the Thatcher Government, the Falklands then the riots. It wasn't like it was a continuing event at all.
Memories...........(Cats came out then too...)
To the OP:
I grew up in Scotland. We were very badly hit during the Thatcher years and the decline of heavy manufacturing (steel mills, iron works, tool makers) and coal mining -a town near us had 50% unemployment. It never recovered. Unemployment in general was much higher than the south of England and the feeling was that we were dominated by the English.
Glasgow/Rangers, yup we had plenty of football hooliganism.
Skinheads and punks were mostly for show, SKA was coming in, I remember lots of kids dressed in suits.
Don't remember the teachers being on strike, but Scotland schools are a bit different anyway.
I agree, Brits tend more towards stoicism than Americans but there was plenty of misery. Change is hard, not supporting your family is hard.
First things first. Thatcher belongs to the 1980s and not the 1970s. Although she became Prime Minister in 1979 the only thing she did of note in the 1970s was 1) end free milk for school kids (Heath government) and 2) raise interest rates (1979).
When you think of the 1970s, for me there are two distinct periods, the Heath government and the Wilson/Callaghan government.
The Heath government was notable for the miners strike which led to power shortages and the three day week. Following on from that, Heath tried to control the unions and he ended up jailing some dockers leaders which almost led to a General Strike. He was forced to free them (remember the official solicitor?) and, in 1974, called an election on the theme of who runs the country and ended up losing. The other notable feature of the 1974 election was the re-emergence of the Liberal Party under Jeremy Thorpe as an electoral force. Indeed, Heath tried to form a coalition with Thorpe in 1974. Thorpe, wilier than Clegg today, would not play ball so Harold Wilson got to form the government.
I was 19 in 1974 and remember both elections that year quite well. For the average person, the abiding memory of the Wilson and Callaghan governments, despite the "winter of discontent" was not labour unrest. For me, it was double digit inflation, over 20% at one point. It was increasing unemployment and a stagnant economy and, for those of us lucky enough to have jobs, it was compulsory wage restraint. In other words, it was illegal to give pay raises. The other thing I remember was IRA terror attacks and especially the Birmingham pub bomb. Of course, the IRA was partly funded from the USA but lets not talk about that.
There is much hatred of Thatcher but it is worth mentioning that, by 1979, we were pretty much fed up with a Labour government that had failed to deliver economic success, had failed to deal with the IRA, had failed to deal with Labour unrest and which was, by 1979, a politically weak minority government.
There is a reason that Thatcher achieved majorities in three successive elections and much of it is to do with the failure of the Labour Party in the 1970s and their failure, in the 1980s, to realise that the world had changed.
Others had mentioned football hooliganism. I grew up in Glasgow and lived there, in Manchester, in Croydon and in the Coventry area in the 1970s. As a regular football goer ... I support Rangers but would go to watch Manchester City and Coventry when I lived in those areas, I never witnessed any serious violence.
I think social upheaval belongs to the 1980s. In the 1970s, we were just focused on getting by. Yes, there was Labour unrest during the period but I do not think it counts as social upheaval.
Others had mentioned football hooliganism. I grew up in Glasgow and lived there, in Manchester, in Croydon and in the Coventry area in the 1970s. As a regular football goer ... I support Rangers but would go to watch Manchester City and Coventry when I lived in those areas, I never witnessed any serious violence.
So you lived in Croydon and never went to the Palace - pah
The Heath government was notable for the miners strike which led to power shortages and the three day week.
I remember that, we'd just had our first color TV installed (remember those days), and then the power went out before we could see more than a couple of minutes of "The Tomorrow People". B.....ds!!!! Scarred me for life!
Yeah thinking about it, the whole of the seventies was a decade of various political unrest. Once the Tories regained power it went much quieter.
I remember that, we'd just had our first color TV installed (remember those days), and then the power went out before we could see more than a couple of minutes of "The Tomorrow People". B.....ds!!!! Scarred me for life!
Yeah thinking about it, the whole of the seventies was a decade of various political unrest. Once the Tories regained power it went much quieter.
My mother was very friendly with the manager of the local Woolworth - where I also worked Saturdays - so we were always well supplied with candles
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