EQ 4 : How far did Thatcherism bring ‘new times’ to Britain between 1979 and 1987?

Moving beyond the supposed turning point / milestone event (depending on your perspective) of the 1979 election, we consider the events of the 1980s and the extent of the change the decade brought to ‘Modern Britain’. Students are asked to engage with and evaluate Stuart Hall’s hotly debated characterisation of the 1980s as something qualitatively different for the UK, or ‘New Times’. These changes occurred outside of the defined Political and Economic spheres and were sometimes, but not always, avowedly fashioned in resistance to them.

In considering rioters as well as yuppies, pickets as well as scabs it’s hard to avoid the idea that all in Britain were looking towards some sort of ‘new time’ beyond the world around them – even if for some such a ‘new time’ looked very similar to an imagined past. In meeting these figures and events, students investigate the nature of the changes that occurred in the 1980s and what, or who exactly was responsible for making them.

1. Was the 3rd May 1979 a turning point or a milestone?

2. Why were Thatchers Conservatives so electorally successful?

3. Why did ‘The Troubles’ remain unresolved in the 1980s?

4. Was Thatcherism more than an electoral project?

5. Was Thatcher able to reshape society in her own image?

6. How similar were Thatchers extra-parliamentary opponents?

7. How far did Thatcher return Britain to the World Stage?

8. Did the 1980s bring ‘New Times’? – Revision Lesson

1. Was the 3rd May 1979 a turning point or a milestone?

2. Why were Thatchers Conservatives so electorally successful?

3. Why did ‘The Troubles’ remain unresolved in the 1980s?

4. Was Thatcherism more than an electoral project?

5. Was Thatcher able to reshape society in her own image?

6. How similar were Thatchers extra-parliamentary opponents?

7. How far did Thatcher return Britain to the World Stage?

8. Did the 1980s bring ‘New Times’? – Revision Lesson

Factual / Non-Fiction

• Thatcher: A Very British Revolution
  https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m0005brf/thatcher-a-very-british-revolution
  The irresistible rise and dramatic downfall of Margaret Thatcher. Her inner circle reveal how a political outsider won power and dominated British life through a turbulent decade.

• Spotlight on the Troubles: A Secret History : Episode 3
  https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0008rn7/spotlight-on-the-troubles-a-secret-history-series-1-episode-3
  Jennifer O’Leary uncovers IRA arms connections around the world and charts how republicans built a political strategy in parallel with their armed campaign

• Uprising
  https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000y3kq/uprising-series-1-1-fire
  1981: a devastating fire leaves 13 black teens dead. The protests, unrest and accusations of indifference defined race relations for a generation. From director Steve McQueen.

• Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain : Revolution (Episode 4 of 5)
  https://vimeo.com/205881931
  Andrew Marr revisits the Britain of Margaret Thatcher and comes to some surprising conclusions about the British national character.

• The 80s with Dominic Sandbrook
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se9qdComijU
  Dominic Sandbrook takes a fresh look at a dynamic decade. 1980s Britain changed in everything from politics and sport to fashion and popular culture.

Fictional

Films/TV Series

• Pride
  https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05wy443
  Uplifting comedy drama. In 1984 a group of lesbian and gay activists take on hardship from the press and the government, and find unlikely allies in a group of Welsh miners.

• This Is England
  https://www.channel4.com/programmes/this-is-england-film
  (2006) Shane Meadows' award-winning Film4 drama starring Thomas Turgoose. In the 1980s, a bullied 13-year-old finds friendship with a group of skinheads. But one of them is also a violent racist.

• This Is England '86
  https://www.channel4.com/programmes/this-is-england-86
  Shane Meadows' first ever television series revisits characters from his award-winning film, following the lives of Shaun, Lol, Woody and their friends later in the 1980s

• This Is England '88
  https://www.channel4.com/programmes/this-is-england-88
  Shane Meadows' follow-up to the award-winning This Is England '86 picks up the action in the Christmas of 1988 as Lol struggles to cope with what life has thrown at her

• Small Axe: Alex Wheatle
  https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000q6rf/small-axe-series-1-alex-wheatle
  The true story of award-winning writer Alex Wheatle. Having spent his childhood in a mostly white institutional care home with no love or family, he finally finds a sense of community for the first time in Brixton, where he develops a passion for music and DJing. When he is thrown in prison during the Brixton uprising of 1981, he confronts his past and sees a path to healing.

• Small Axe: Lovers Rock
  https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000prjp/small-axe-series-1-lovers-rock
  Lovers Rock tells a fictional story of young love at a blues party in 1980. The film is an ode to the romantic reggae genre called lovers rock, and to the black youth who found freedom and love in its sound at London house parties, at a time when they were unwelcome in white nightclubs.