Lecture Six

–The Second half of the 20th Century and the beginning of the 21st Century
The 1970s
- While the 1960s were a time of social liberation and cultural freedom, a reaction to the grey, monotone, conformist
1950s, the 1970s were a much bleaker time, politically, for Britain. However, the seeds of modern Britain can be seen
in this decade.
- The 1970s were a time of strikes, power cuts, and rapid inflation but also a cultural widening of people’s horizons.
- In 1973, Britain joined the EEC (the prototype EU), taken in by Prime Minister Edward Heath.

There are a number of striking similarities between Edward Heath and Theresa May during their terms as Prime
Minister;

- Both were uncomfortable on the campaign trail, finding it hard to connect with voters. Both talked of
relaunching their party’s political philosophies but struggled to turn their principles into practical policy. Both
called early elections and suffered disappointing results.
- Heath called a poll on the slogan “Who Governs Britain?” in February 1974; the result was a hung
Parliament. And both were overwhelmed by turbulent times. Heath had to deal with a powerful miners’
union, the break-up of the Bretton Woods exchange-rate system, the economic impact of the Arab oil embargo
of 1973 (causing the ‘three-day’ week) and IRA terrorism;
- Mrs May was stuck with negotiating Brexit (she backed Remain), a newly assertive Russia, a volatile
American president in Donald Trump and Islamic terrorism.
Heath presided over a collapsing stock-market and soaring bond yields; Mrs May saw a slump in the pound but the
FTSE 100 hit record highs.
- While Heath had to deal with an energy crisis, a financial crash and a second miners' strike in two years, His position
as PM was not made any easier by the preceding Labour Government of Harold Wilson (Inflation was at 30%, and the
UK economy had received a bailout from the IMF). In between the Conservative governments of Heath and Margaret
Thatcher, Labour’s Jim Callaghan had to endure intense pressure from Trade Unions during the ‘Winter of
Discontent’ of 1978-1979 (the coldest winter in 16 years coincided with mass strikes in the public sector)
- While it is easy to dismiss the 1970s as the black and white hangover after the technicolour 1960s, it is an important
stepping-stone decade in the making of modern Britain. While political leaders had to negotiate a series of political
and economic crises, the ‘man on the street’ was beginning to enjoy a much higher standard of living. The boom in
‘package holidays’ began in 1971.
In 1971, British tourists took some four million holidays abroad - which then seemed an awful lot. But by 1973 that
figure had jumped to nine million and by 1981 it was more than 13 million. This was part of a general
‘broadening of the horizons’ which took part in the 1970s.
While areas of popular culture were still prone to casual sexism and racism (many 1970s celebrities have been
historically accused of sexual abuse in the last few years, most famously, posthumously, the DJ and broadcaster Sir
Jimmy Saville, the investigation into whom spawned the Metropolitan Police’s ‘Operation Yewtree’), the 1970s was a
time of androgyny, too. The ‘glam rock’ movement (popularized by David Bowie and TRex) made it OK for boys to
wear make-up and dress more provocatively, a trend copied by footballers, actors, and other celebrities.
As late as 1971, women were banned from going alone into a popular chain of fast-food restaurant after midnight, by
1979, the UK had their first female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, who went on to shape the 1980s
Sport:
- While terraces were dominated by the growing problem of football hooliganism, British teams were becoming the
dominant force in European competition (between 1977 and 1982, English teams won 6 European Cups in a row
and English clubs won a further 3 UEFA cups [European Football’s ‘second’ cup competition, now known as the
Europa League] in the 1970s). Paradoxically, after winning the World Cup in 1966, after the 1970 finals in Mexico,
England failed to qualify for another World Cup finals until 1982.
Music:
- Following on from the ‘Glam rockers’, the most noticeable original youth cult of the 1970s was Punk. Punk was
born out of frustration with progressive rock music – a popular slogan of punk was ‘no Beatles, no Elvis, no [Rolling]
Stones’ - and a feeling of anger at the establishment and a desire not to conform. Punk had a ‘DIY’ spirit and was as
inclusive as much as it was exclusive (anyone could be a punk but if you weren’t a punk, you weren’t invited to the
party).
- The Punk movement was ‘born’ at a clothes shop in London owned by the designer Vivienne Westwood and
the businessman, Malcolm McLaren, called Sex. McLaren wanted a band to promote Westwood’s clothes, so he
assembled the Sex Pistols. Musically, Punk owed much to the US garage bands of the late 1960 (The Stooges,
MC5…) as well as art rock bands like the Velvet Underground but was limited by the (lack of) ability of many bands
and a distrust of ‘proper musicians’ (the Sex Pistols original bass player and songwriter, Glen Matlock, was famously
mocked, and later sacked, for liking the Beatles). The best punk bands quickly moved away from the early punk sound
and explored other areas, others disappeared after just one or two records. The Sex Pistols, themselves, only released
one full length album and split in 1978. At their final gig, singer Johnny Rotten signed off by asking the audience
‘ever had the feeling you’ve been cheated?’ Rotten (real name John Lydon) seemed to enjoy his reputation as ‘public
enemy number one’ and the Pistols are just as well remembered for an incident on Sunday afternoon TV, when the
presenter, Bill Grundy, provoked the band into swearing on live television.

The 1980s
- The 1980s were dominated by one woman: Margaret Thatcher. Thatcher became Prime Minister (the first woman
to hold the office in the UK) in 1979 and held the role until 1990 when she was forced to resign by her own party.
- Thatcher was known by many nicknames including TINA (There Is No Alternative) and The Iron Lady and the
UK during her time as Prime Minister became known as ‘Thatcher’s Britain’ and her policies had a profound effect
on life in the UK during the 1980s.
- Firstly, let us examine her ‘special relationship’ with US President Ronald Reagan. Like Thatcher, the USA in the
1980s was dominated by Reagan – he was a two-term president(1980-1988) and was succeeded, like Thatcher, by
‘one of his own’ (Reagan by George Bush, Sr., and Thatcher by John Major) and Reagan’s economic policy of
aggressive capitalism known as ‘Reaganomics’ shaped Margaret Thatcher’s economic strategy during this decade.
Thatcher pursued a program of privatization (the selling of nationalized industries to private enterprises in the belief
that businesses run for profit were more efficient and, freed of the burden of running big businesses, the government
could, itself, work more efficiently) coupled with massive deregulation and tax breaks for big business.
- In the 1980s, British Steel, British Gas, British Telecom as well as the prison service, air- and seaports and the
National Coal Board, large chunks of the automobile industry and the national electric board were sold off to private
businessmen and companies. The accompanying deregulation led to spikes in the prices paid for services that used to
be provided by the government as well as widespread lay-offs and redundancies as the newly private businesses
‘streamlined’. Other parts of industries including schools, the Post Office and certain hospital services like laundry
and catering were offered for sale as Private Finance Initiatives (PFI), which means that while a sector or an industry
wasn’t sold off wholesale, those bits that could be were offered for tender to the highest bidder. To better illustrate, the
NHS remained (and still remains for now) nationalized but sections of the NHS like hospital food services were turned
over to PFI and tenders were bid over, the highest bidder winning.
- Another example of the special UK-US relationship was Thatcher’s decision to allow the American military to keep
nuclear missiles at the RAF base at Greenham Common near London. The protests began as marches in 1981 but from
1982-2000, a camp containing mostly women was erected in protest (even though the last missiles were removed in
1991.) At the peak of the protests, up to 70,000 women took part.
Thatcher’s 11-year term as British Prime Minister is best remembered for four major events:
- the Falklands War with Argentina in 1982,

- the Miners’ Strike of 1984-85,

- the Black Monday stock market crash of 1987 (In 1987, the economic boom brought on by a strong pound and
privatization, ended when global stock markets crashed on 19th October 1987. One sub-group who came into being at
this time of financial boom were the Yuppies (Young Urban Professionals) who symbolized the get rich quick
‘loadsamoney’ mid-80s.)
- the 1990 Poll Tax riots which ultimately led to her resignation. (In 1990, Thatcher’s government wanted to replace
the system of community payments (for collecting trash, etc.) with a unified payment – the Community Charge or
Poll Tax. This caused a great deal of anger among the least well-off members of society leading to slogans such as
‘can’t pay, won’t pay’ and the 3D movement (Don’t Register, Don’t Pay, Don’t Collect) and culminating in the
March 1990 riots against the payments)

By 1982, Thatcher’s popularity was very low as was that of the Argentine dictator General Leopoldo Galtieri and
Argentina took the step of invading the tiny British territory of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. The
Argentinians believed they had sovereignty over the islands (they are known as Las Malvinas in Spanish) but the
British took this as a declaration of war and began a military campaign against Argentina which lasted from April
1982-June 1982.

- Following the Argentine surrender, Thatcher’s popularity rose, and she won a second term in office the following
year.

- In January 1984, miners were warned by the National Union of Miners (NUM) and the National Coal Board (NCB)
that, in an effort to force privatization of the coal industry, pit closures were imminent. In order to prevent closures,
miners, led by their union leader, Arthur Scargill, began strike action in March 1984. Thatcher called the strikers
‘the enemy within’ and authorized the police to use extreme force in dealing with the strikers. At its peak, some
142,000 miners were on strike and the combined loss of manpower days was 26,000,000 making it the UK’s biggest
ever act of industrial action. What the miners didn’t realize was that Thatcher had stockpiled coal reserves in the lead
up to the strike so was able to deal with the strikers from a position of strength. Despite heightened tensions and
scenes of violence, the government held their nerve, and the strike broke in March 1985.

- The end of the strike started a period of pit closures and the death of the UK coal industry; from 183 coal mines
in 1983, the number fell to just 6 in 2009, the last one closing for good in 2015.
- The miners’ strike had a divisive effect on families and communities with people caught on all sides of the strike
(striking miners, working miners and police officers were often all in the same family) and, even today, former pit
towns are still among the most economically deprived areas in Britain.

Sport:
- In 1985, 18 days apart, 94 football fans died at two disasters. Firstly, 56 fans died due to a fire at Bradford City’s
ground and on 29th May, 39, mostly Italian, fans died at the Heysel stadium in Brussels before the Liverpool-
Juventus European Cup Final. British clubs were banned for five years from European competitions, Liverpool for
six. Four years later, on April 15th, 1989, 95 [now 97, following the deaths of Tony Bland in 1993 and Andrew
Devine in 2021] Liverpool fans were crushed to death at the Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield before the F.A.
Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. For years, families campaigned for justice for the 96 dead
and finally in 2017, the South Yorkshire Police Force admitted blame in causing the disaster by opening the wrong
gate.
- Thatcher also caused outrage by using the Royal ‘we’ when she became a grandmother (‘We are a grandmother’)
and was regularly satirized on the TV show, Spitting Image. Following increasing pressure, she resigned in 1990.

- The 1980s also saw two of Queen Elizabeth II’s sons get married - Charles in 1981 to Lady Diana Spencer and
Andrew in 1986 to Sarah Ferguson. Both would be divorced by the early 1990s.
In the 1980s, the BSE epidemic began in Britain – in 1986, BSE was recognized, slaughter of cows began in 1988
and a European ban on suspect British beef took effect. In an effort to calm fears, the agriculture minister, John
Gummer, appeared on TV feeding his daughter a beef burger while saying British beef is ‘completely safe’.
- Racial tension and inner-city deprivation were also prevalent in the early 1980s, riots dominated the major British
cities in 1981 with clashes in Brixton (London), Toxteth (Liverpool), Hamsworth (Birmingham) and Chapletown
(Leeds).
- Aside from BSE, the biggest public health concern was the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

The 1990s
One can find many parallels between the 1990s and the 1960s, 1970s and the current decade - Both the 1960s and
1990s began with long standing Conservative governments (the government of Harold MacMillan in the 1960s and
the government of John Major in the 1990s)

The middle of both decades brought political change as Labour governments came to power;
- in 1964, Harold Wilson became the first Labour Prime Minister in 13 years
- in 1997 Tony Blair , was the first Labour PM in 18 years

Both Conservative governments in the 1960s and 1990s were undone by scandal and ‘sleaze’ (the Profumo affair
caused the resignation of MacMillan in the 1960s and numerous sex scandals contributed to the end of John Major’s
time as PM despite the Conservatives attempting to get Britain ‘back to basics’ – family first politics - at the time)

Relationships with Europe caused problems in Britain in the 1970s and the 1990s as John Major’s government
fought hard to get the 1992 Maastricht Treaty ratified in Parliament. Certain clauses in the Treaty (in particular, the
EC-wide adoption of the new single European currency – The Euro – Britain refused to enter the ‘Eurozone’)
almost led to a no confidence vote for John Major. Theresa May also faced similar problems in getting her Brexit deal
approved by Parliament and many Conservatives pushed for a no confidence vote, too. On a more positive note; the
Channel Tunnel opened for business in 1994 offering high speed travel from London Waterloo to Paris Gare du Nord
or Brussels via Dartford and Calais/Lille

- Tony Blair came to power in 1997 as the leader of the ‘New’ Labour Party. Labour rebranded itself in the
1990s to become more cosmetically pleasing to a nation who had seen the Labour Party as toxic during the
1980s.
Labour leaders during Margaret Thatcher’s terms of office were viewed by many Brits as quasi-Communists who
were powerless to stop widespread strikes in the nationalized industries. Thatcher’s long reign as PM wasn’t so much
due to her popularity per se but rather the UN-popularity of the Labour Party. Blair appeared as a young, dynamic
man; a working-class boy made good (he was born in, and represented as MP, a mining district in North-East
England), his wife, Cherie Booth, was a successful lawyer whose father was a well-known actor and long-time Labour
supporter (which helped give Blair kudos among the hardcore Labour supporters). Blair also worked hard to make
himself and his party not just attractive to traditional Labour supporters (teachers, students, workers, nurses, doctors)
but also to business types; a traditional Socialist who was sympathetic to the needs of business and the private sector,
a leader who would put Britain first while being pro-Europe. However, Blair’s government made themselves
increasingly unpopular; they abolished financial grants for all university students, effectively making higher
education a privilege rather than a right and involved Britain the US-led ‘War on Terror’ against Al-Qaeda.
Blair resigned from office in 2007 to be replaced by his Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown.

- The first popular culture movements in the 1990s were ‘Baggy’ (a mix of dance music and rock music
combined with a love of extremely loose-fitting clothing ‘born’ in Manchester) and rave culture (also centred
in Manchester – the Hacienda club in particular – and the new euphoric drug – MDMA, Ecstasy or ‘E’). For a
time, Manchester was so culturally vibrant it was named ‘Madchester’ in the press. Both movements were
short lived due in part to new police powers of crowd dispersal (The Criminal Justice Act) and the take-over,
by gangs, of the ecstasy trade which turned the rave scene into a dangerous, violent, place.

- The 1990s can be seen as a time of cultural shifts, moving away from old fashioned ideas towards a new, more
modern Britain; a more egalitarian, class-less society. The early 90s was full of the same faces and names in popular
culture that had been around since the 1970s and 1980s. Gradually, new talent emerged in the fields of literature
(Martin Amis, Irvine Welsh), cinema (Danny Boyle – the director of Trainspotting and Shallow Grave, actors like
Jude Law, Ewan MacGregor, Minnie Driver), fashion (Stella McCartney, Alexander MacQueen, Patrick Cox), art
(Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst), sport (England successfully and peacefully hosted the 1996 UEFA European football
championships; an event which helped rehabilitate English football in the eyes of the rest of the world), TV and radio
(young, new presenters replaced the old, established names) and music (Baggy, rave culture, Britpop, Trip-hop,
Jungle. Trip-hop and Jungle can rightly be called the first black music genres to originate in the UK; Trip-hop from
Bristol and Jungle from London). This new talent helped push British popular culture forwards while at the same time
recognizing the past; scene-makers and iconic brands from the past, rather than being ignored or criticized like during
Punk, were celebrated and praised. Brands like Mini Cooper, Fred Perry, Dr Martens, Ben Sherman all enjoyed a
renaissance in the 1990s and people like Michael Caine, the Beatles, the Kinks, the Clash, and the Sex Pistols were
given hero status in a new Britain which celebrated Britishness – Cool Britannia. Here, too, we can see parallels with
the 1960s; in particular, the establishment challenging attitudes, fashion, and music of the ‘swinging 60s’.

Part of Cool Britannia was the music movement ‘Britpop’. Britpop was a celebration, musically, of the mundane
details of British life and was inspired by one book – London Fields by Martin Amis – and two albums – Modern Life
is Rubbish by Blur and Suede by Suede. Britpop was a reaction to the American ‘grunge’ movement, which was at the
height of its popularity in the early 1990s. Britpop bands wanted British bands to look British, sing about Britain in
British accents rather than being American clones.

- In wider social terms, the 1990s was a time of changing attitudes to masculinity and feminism. The 1990s
was the decade of the ‘lad’; young men who were unashamed of appreciating cars, beer, football, and women
on the one hand but also wanting to look good (following fashion, taking pride and care in their appearance)
and being able to appreciate ‘higher’ cultural forms (literature, classic cinema, exhibiting good music taste) on
the other. Lad culture was based around two new magazines for men – Loaded and FHM (For Him Magazine)
– which were set up as male equivalents of female titles like Cosmopolitan and Elle. Also, part of this new
trend in masculinity was the modernization of James Bond who, first as Pierce Brosnan and later as Daniel
Craig, not only became less ‘English’ (Brosnan was Irish and Craig was the first working class, regional
Bond. Sean Connery, Timothy Dalton and George Lazenby may have been Scottish and Welsh respectively
but were very ‘English’ Bonds) but also less violent and less of a womanizer. The best way to summarise this
changing cultural shift in masculinity in the 1990s is by using this quote about the decade;
- [the 1990s was when] … football [was] not just for yobs, [and] books not just for snobs’.

During the 1990s, women enjoyed a form of empowerment thanks to the ‘Girl Power’ movement popularized by the
Spice Girls; a movement that, while seemingly trivial, helped many young women and girls break out of traditional
expectations for females.
A shift in the traditional British stereotype of being unemotional was observed in the 1990s. Beginning in the
summer of 1990 when the English footballer Paul Gascoigne cried on the pitch after receiving a second yellow card in
the World Cup semi-final against West Germany (meaning he would miss the final if England won), continuing to the
death in 1991, of and memorial concert, in 1992, for Freddie Mercury and culminating in the 1997 death of Diana
Spencer, formerly the Princess of Wales, Brits became comfortable with public expressions of emotion. Diana’s death
was one of the few moments in her reign when the Queen, Elizabeth II, was criticized by the British public for failing
to comment on Diana’s death and only agreeing to a state funeral (Diana and Winston Churchill were the only two
non-royals to be given a state funeral in the 20th Century) after public pressure. It was left to Tony Blair to sum up the
mood of the nation by calling Diana the ‘people’s Princess’.