1981 UK riots – front page news
The 1981 riots presented the news media of the time with a huge challenge covering live events around the country that sprang up at a moment’s notice
Politics
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National Front targets 1970s school kids
From the late 1970s, extreme Right groups like the National Front and British Movement tried to recruit in school playgrounds
1970s National Front manifesto is grim reading
A 1970s manifesto from the National Front shows how far mainstream political parties today have drifted to the right with many policies now echoed by them
Misery of unemployment in the 1980s
As mass unemployment returns after Covid, Tony McMahon looks back at unemployment in the 1980s which scaled horrific heights
Croxteth Comprehensive – the 1980s campaign
1981 to 1983 saw a community campaign to keep a school in Liverpool called Croxteth Comprehensive open for local kids
My student union election poster from 1982 – Liverpool Guild of Undergraduates
My student union election poster from 1982 – Liverpool Guild of Undergraduates
Political badges from the 1980s
My collection of political badges from the 1980s shows the causes we cared about from racism to nuclear disarmament and freedom for the people of Chile
An American view of 1980s UK Trotskyists
As Trotskyists enjoyed some political success in the 1980s – we look at the American view of this development on the political Left
Thatcher purges moderates in 1983
In 1983, Thatcher emerged triumphant from a general election and set about a purge of moderates from her cabinet as Tony McMahon reports
How to survive a nuclear war
Back in 1980, the UK government gave advice on how to survive a nuclear war that was rubbished at the time as Tony McMahon discovers