No Such Thing as SocietyThe 1980s was the revolutionary decade of the twentieth century. To look back in 1990 at the Britain of ten years earlier was to look into another country. The changes were not superficial, like the revolution in fashion and music that enlivened the 1960s; nor were they quite as unsettling and joyless as the troubles of the 1970s. And yet they were irreversible. By the end of the decade, society as a whole was wealthier, money was easier to borrow, there was less social upheaval, less uncertainty about the future. Perhaps the greatest transformation of the decade was that by 1990, the British lived in a new ideological universe where the defining conflict of the twentieth century, between capitalism and socialism, was over. Thatcherism took the politics out of politics and created vast differences between rich and poor, but no expectation that the existence of such gross inequalities was a problem that society or government could solve because as Mrs Thatcher said, There is no such thing as society people must look to themselves first.From the Falklands war and the miners strike to Bobby Sands and the Guildford Four, from Diana and the New Romantics to Live Aid and the big bang, from the Rubiks cube to the ZX Spectrum, McSmiths brilliant narrative account uncovers the truth behind the decade that changed Britain forever. |
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Page 3
... Live Aid had raised £ 30m , three times what had been expected . The worst that could be said about that extraordinary day was that most of the people in the crowd had very little idea of the scale and complexity of Africa's problems ...
... Live Aid had raised £ 30m , three times what had been expected . The worst that could be said about that extraordinary day was that most of the people in the crowd had very little idea of the scale and complexity of Africa's problems ...
Page 165
... live appearance . Once the link - up with Philadelphia was achieved , Jack ... Aid in the whole of the twentieth century . It was remarkable not only for ... Aid united ; everybody , whether they were for or against the miners , or ...
... live appearance . Once the link - up with Philadelphia was achieved , Jack ... Aid in the whole of the twentieth century . It was remarkable not only for ... Aid united ; everybody , whether they were for or against the miners , or ...
Page 167
... Live Aid concert . Bob Geldof realized very early in his campaign that it was never going to be enough . By his figures , the £ 8m generated by the initial Band Aid record was enough to feed Africa's 22m starving people for eight days ...
... Live Aid concert . Bob Geldof realized very early in his campaign that it was never going to be enough . By his figures , the £ 8m generated by the initial Band Aid record was enough to feed Africa's 22m starving people for eight days ...
Contents
Sisters Are Doin It for Themselves | 31 |
Protest and Survive | 44 |
Diana and the New Romantics | 63 |
Copyright | |
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April Argentine Argentinian Arthur Scargill bank became Bob Geldof bomb Britain British Brixton cabinet called campaign cent club Commons conference Conservative Party council Daily Mirror David decade December Diana Downing Street Duran Duran election England Falklands February football Geldof Guardian Hansard Heseltine House industry islands January John journalists July killed Labour MP Labour Party later leader Live Aid Liverpool London Lord March Mark Thatcher Michael Michael Foot Midge Ure miners months named Neil Kinnock never newspaper Nigel Lawson Norman Tebbit November nuclear October Peter picket police political poll prime minister prison programme protest record resigned riot Scargill secretary story strike Sunday Tatchell television thought told Tony Benn took Tory MP trade union vote wanted week Whitelaw women Woodrow Wyatt Yorkshire young