TWBN #8: Thatcher Years

Margaret Thatcher has been the dominant politician of the last thirty years. She was Prime Minister from 1979-1990. In 1979 (the first election I voted in), 1983 and 1987 she won the General Election against my wishes; I've felt out of step ever since. The Thatcher years changed a lot of things. Here are some of the things I believed that have been overtaken (some of them may need explaining later):

Council houses are a good thing
Buying your own house is for rich people
If you're rich you own a house and you pay rates
The Government should run utility (power, telephone, post) companies; how else can you get the same service all over the country?

The wiki page for her portrays a more liberal politician in the early years than I remember later; maybe she grew out of it, but she supported David Steel's Abortion Bill and Leo Abse's bill to decriminalise homosexuality. On the other hand she supported capital punishment and supported the reintroduction of the birch.

These are some of the highlights of the Thatcher Years:
Falklands War 1982
Miners' Strike 1985
Section 28 1987

I thought she and her pals were awful and I was very glad when she was defeated, except that she was replaced by John Major, another Tory, who then proceded to win another election against Neil Kinnock's Labour Party. What a nightmare.

TWBN#7: Bhopal, Chernobyl

I vaguely remember Chernobyl. It happened on 26 April 1986 and it was the worst nuclear power plant disaster so far. Since then nuclear power production has greatly reduced (or at least western nations are not building new ones) and more safety procedures have been introduced in existing nuclear plants. An informative article at the BBC H2G2 site says there was never any danger of a nuclear explosion; this is a misunderstanding that many people have about nuclear power plants; reactor fuel is not explosive like nuclear weapons. It is very dirty though and surrounding countryside (and some surrounding countries) were affected and continue to be affected for years.

Strangely I remembered Bhopal as being more recent, but in fact it happened in 1984. It was also a much more serious accident than Chernobyl in its immediate effects on the surrounding population. A poisonous gas was released from a Union Carbide pesticide plant and spread to the nearby city of Bhopal, exposing half a million people. There is much more serious disagreement about the handling of the accident and what happened later than in the case of Chernobyl. Union Carbide claim that the accident must have been the result of sabotage, since they had safety procedures in place, whereas The Bhopal Medical Appeal gives a more believeable account from the victims' points of view, including eyewitness accounts. Union Carbide passed on responsibility for the plant to the local government in Madhya Pradesh. The Union Carbide site reads like an effort to wriggle out of any responsibility.

TWBN#6: Novelty Records in the Charts

This may not be a great comparison because the nature of the charts has changed in the past few years; a lot of songs are downloaded rather than bought from record shops. Also I don't watch Top of The Pops as I used to, but there were lots of songs that were basically just jokes "sung" by crap groups or one-off gimmick records that sold on the basis of celebrity or I don't know what.

The Goodies "Do the Funky Gibbon"
The Wurzells "I've got a Brand New Combine Harvester"
Black Lace "Agadoo"
Rolf Harris "Two Little Boys"
Clive Dunn "Grandad"
Telly Savalas "If"

Groan groan. I used to watch the Goodies tv show and it was funny, sometimes hilarious, though I only remember one sketch that they would regularly repeat: A young boy was doing an advert or a piece to camera and fluffing it. The producer would let him get away with it a few times and then swat him round the head and shout "Get it right!". Not hugely funny in retrospect, you had to be there. I can't remember what episode this song came from (I think it came from a sketch), but there's an article here which purports to be from Bill Oddie, talking about listening at the time to Parliament (unbelieveably he means George Clinton's Parliament Funcadelic, or P-Funk and not this. I can't believe Bill Oddie was into that stuff!), Sly Stone and Miles Davis! Wha?

"I've Got a Brand New Combine Harvester" was a hit by the Worzels. It was a dreadful rewrite / ripoff of the earlier and much better "I've Got a Brand New Pair of Rollerskates" by Melanie Safka. Actually her song was called "Brand New Key", but most people remember it by the first line I think.

Aaaaarghgadoo (my spelling) was unleashed on the nation by Black Lace. It was deliberately targetted at unwitting club and party goers, wholly innocent of the group's desire to take control of them by the means of making them learn a ridiculous dance, perform it in groups on the dance floor, in the process turning their minds to mush. Here is a link (follow with care) to a demo of the dance done by a pineapple no less, on the Black Lace website. Luckily their plan for World Domination via the drunken minds of UK youth failed.

Rolf Harris' "Two Little Boys" was just mush. Just enjoy your life and don't try to find it. Take my advice.

Clive Dunn was an actor in the popular comedy series "Dad's Army". His character, Corporal Jones, was a popular part of that show and he obviously capitalised on that when he released the shocker that became number one "Grandad". This one made me feel particularly queasy because it was basically a bunch of kids singing "Grandad, Grandad, we love you". On Top of The Pops they had him in a rocking chair surrounded by adoring schoolkids. He later went on to make a children's programme also called "Grandad".

Telly Savalas was the big bald cop in the American tv series "Kojak". He was known for sucking lollipops and saying "Who loves ya baby?" a lot. I guess someone told him he had a nice voice, so he spoke the words of that "if a picture paints a thousand words" thing. It was kind of like a car crash at number one. There's a picture of one of his records (called simply "Telly") here, and several fans defend the great man!

There's a sub-genre of revolting novelty for football records. Many people have moaned about this before, so I'll just briefly mention that my Dad once bought me "Blue is the Colour" by Chelsea Football Team. I think it's healthy if you face up to the difficult issues in your life.

TWBN#5: Bad British Food

We have a reputation in the UK for producing bad food and expecting people to eat it. Our rep is particularly bad with our european neighbour, France. Our food tends to be functional, as in "fill 'er up mate", and french people are more often brought up to treat food more seriously. Well all I can say is it's a bit better than it used to be! (Does that sound too enthusiastic?). Nowadays you can usually at least get a half decent meal in most places. The worst locations for food in the UK used to be motorway service stations and schools. Our own cheeky chirper Jamie Oliver has recently got stuck into school meals - I mean trying to help make them better - and good on him for having a go, even if some freedom fighters disagree. The Government are also talking about reintroducing cooking at school, which should also help, but I've heard that the current equivalent is more about planning a menu for people with special dietary requirements than learning how to cook something nice.

TWBN#4: The Berlin Wall and Other East European Monsters

I was lucky enough to visit Berlin before the Wall came down, so I got to see how strange it was to have that city (West Berlin) in the middle of East Germany, surrounded by a huge wall. Apparently the East German Government explained when they erected it that they had to protect East Berlin against the massive influx of West Germans that would happen when the wessies saw how well their neighbours were getting on. Nonetheless plenty of people tried to escape the other way (with often fatal consequences). There's a well-written book by an Australian woman about living in the East and some that tried to escape, called "Stasiland". Here's a link to an extract on the Guardian website. My partner lived in West Berlin for some time as an au pair when she was a teenager. When I first went there with her in 1987 (I think) to visit the family she had stayed with I thought it was fascinating, but now I think The Wall was desperate and quite ridiculous. The Wall allowed the close juxtaposition of these two opposed cultures and exacerbated their differences, which made for a great tourist attraction. I was struck by the playful response to it by people on the Western side See this site by Chris DeWitt for lots of pictures of the Wall and another for some more. A lot of it looks brutal and quite shocking. So a spectacle worth seeing, but a repressive experience for people in the East, I think, so I was very glad to see it come down; that was amazing to watch (that link goes to a story on the BBC site with testimonies from eye-witnesses).

The Fall of the Berlin Wall was part of a wider, very exciting breakdown of Soviet control over other Eastern European countries, starting in early 1989 with Poland, where the massive "Solidarnosc" (Solidarity) trade union, led by Lech Walesa, was able to defy General Jaruzelski and force free elections. That was a stunning victory and seemed to inspire people in other countries in the region to stand up to their governments. Previous protests had been crushed, but now somehow people seemed more powerful than the armies. The most memorable of that year were the Czech "Velvet Revolution", remarkable for the election of a Frank Zappa - loving playwright as president and the Romanian more violent one.

Brief Introduction to the Berlin Wall in English and German

TWBN#3: Racism at Home and Away

There will be few people in future years who defend the South African State and its Apartheid laws of 1948-1990. The UN describes these laws as "Racist beliefs enshrined in law". Racist arguments in the UK have always focussed around immigration. I wasn't aware at the time (1968) of Enoch Powell's "Rivers of Blood" speech, but it was certainly quoted often enough in the 70s and 80s as I grew up. I remember particularly the abuse that some people got as "niggers" or "pakis", though in my little rural town there were not many people of different ethnic origins around, so most of the abuse was in the press or at football matches. There was one particular television programme that makes me wince when I think about it - it was called "Love Thy Neighbour". I wonder whether black people complained about this programme when it was aired; perhaps this was in the days when complaints weren't taken so seriously. "Love Thy Neighbour" was written by a team with a record of ridiculing bigots, and the main white character in this was certainly a racist bigot, but the black characters suffered a lot of outrageous abuse in the name of ridiculing the bigot. It was apparently immensely popular though. Around that time I'm sure you would have heard a lot more racism in pubs and clubs; I think Bernard Manning's and Jim Davidson's heydays were back then. Davidson's act included a character called "Chalkie", which was basically a chance to take the piss out of West Indians. People complain about political correctness, but I think it's good that (video link) idiots don't get away with racist stuff so easily these days; I can't imagine many black people feeling comfortable going to see Manning or Davidson in the 70s


The Story of Apartheid in South Africa at the BBC World Service.
The UN web page about Apartheid with pictures
Informative article at InfoPlease

TWBN#2: The IRA Bombing Campaign Part 2

I wrote earlier about my memories of the IRA Bombing Campaign in the 80's. I also want to say something about how I think it affected people and the Government at the time, though as I said in the earlier post I accept that I'm not an expert, just someone who was around at the time. I'm surprised actually that people aren't talking about this more, because there are some obvious parallels with the current "War on Terror".

There was a lot of pressure on the Police and this led I think to Police mistreatment of irish people, particularly men. Irish people were already somewhat stereotyped and the bombings (particularly the ones in the 70's I think, but also later) made it more likely that you would be stopped, searched and possibly harassed if you were Irish.

The mistreatment went further in the cases of the Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six, two groups of men who suffered appalling injustice at the hands of the Police and the justice system. I don't know enough detail to allow a comparison between the justice system then and now, but what seems obvious is that when the police are under great pressure they are more likely to cut corners and not pay enough attention to the rights and needs of their more vulnerable suspects (I think these cases happened before there was a lot of awareness of how seriously psychological pressure could affect the testimony of people).

It's apparent that stereotypes that were around at the time and had been around for a long time contributed to a dehumanising effect which was part of the environment in which it was seen as OK to mistreat Irish suspects by those in authority. Other aspects of this environment may have been lack of professional control and a general hysteria at certain times, reflected (or encouraged) by the press. You would hope that there should be more awareness of this nowadays, but Abu Ghraib still happens.

The other parallel that I see is that governments enact laws aimed at putting pressure on the terrorists, but the actual effect is to put further pressure on the wider group (i.e. Irish people in the UK, or Muslims in the UK). In 1971 Internment (indefinite detention without trial) was introduced in Northern Ireland. It was ended in 1975. In later years this policy was seen as a great recruiter for the IRA. We might see this as a parallel with the recent repeated demands for longer periods of detention without trial of terrorist suspects.

TWBN#1: The IRA Bombing Campaign

This is the first in what might be a series of "Think the World is Bad Now?" (TWBN) posts, which I warned you about in an earlier post. People seem to think everything is worse than it used to be, but a lot of things that are going wrong now are not unprecedented and some things have actually got better. I'll start with a terrorist campaign that was "provoked", instigated and nurtured, then was relaxed, revived and finally (?) abandoned, all within the UK (although many would say it would never have got far without serious financial support from Irish Americans).

I only want to talk about what I remember of this with just a bit of prompting / help from other sources. I think it can teach us a lot about living with a terrorist threat and what mistakes it can push the Government into. I don't remember much about the first period in the early seventies, I don't think I paid much attention to the news in general at that point, but I did sort of know that some people were letting off car bombs and sending letter bombs. The main attacks in the early seventies were the Guildford and Birmingham pub bombings. The ones I remember are these (I had to look up the dates):

Car bomb kills Airey Neave (1979)
Hyde Park Bandstand Bombing (1982)
Harrods bomb (1983)
Grand Hotel Brighton blown up during the Conservative Party Conference (1984)
Manchester Arndale Centre (1996)
Mortars in Whitehall (1991)
Canary Wharf (1996)
Bus bomb near Waterloo Bridge (1996)

When Airey Neave was killed it was a big shock because it was a car bomb that went off in the House of Commons car park. The Hyde Park bandstand bombing stands out because the press made a big fuss about the horses that were killed and injured. I remember that being on the front pages. The Harrod's bomb apparently made some of my family worry for me because I lived in London at that point. This attack was apparently the model for a similar one in Doris Lessing's "The Good Terrorist" (good book by the way).

The biggest attack of the 80's was the Grand Hotel in Brighton which was blown up during the Conservative Party Conference. The Tories at that time were at the height of their powers, Thatcher particularly. I hated the Government and its policies at that time, but this attack was pretty shocking and the pictures made me queasy. The stand-out image was of Norman Tebbit (he was once paraphrased as telling unemployed people to "get on your bikes" to look for work) being lifted from the ruins in his pyjamas I think (the bomb went off in the middle of the night).

The Arndale Centre in Manchester in June 1996 is the one I remembered out of order. It actually came after Canary Wharf. I just read on the BBC site about this one that it went off while bomb disposal people were trying defuse it (or were about to) and that those injured were mostly outside the police cordon (hit by flying glass). Apparently the Centre has been rebuilt and is much better than it used to be.

The mortars that went off in Whitehall were fired from the back of a van. One exploded in the Garden of 10 Downing Street but no one was hurt.

Canary Wharf was hit by a large bomb in 1996. This marked the breaking of a ceasefire that had lasted over a year. The bomb that went off prematurely in Aldwych near the Strand killed a young man called Edawrd O'Brien, the bomber. This one brought home to me that the IRA frequently chose volunteers who were able to blend into their surroundings and seemed unremarkable.

In 1997 the IRA declared a new ceasefire that has remained in place since then, though there have been further attacks by splinter groups, notably the Real IRA.

Sources
Wikipedia
20th Century London
BBC News

Think the World's Bad Now? (TWBN)

Sometimes people seem to think things have never been worse; Iraq, Afghanistan, Climate Change, alright there's bad stuff around, but there was bad stuff before also:
The IRA Bombing Campaign
British Forces "Shoot to Kill Policy" in Northern Ireland
Single Party Dictatorships in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania...
The Berlin Wall
Apartheid South Africa
British Food Was Bad (no, really bad)
Joke Records in the Charts
Nuclear Arms Race
Chernobyl
Margaret Thatcher & Co.
Ronald Reagan & Co. (they put a dummy in charge of the World's greatest superpower!)

Perhaps I'll do a series; plenty of material.