Irish skinheads, rude boys and punks
1980 was a the high point for the whole late 1970s revival of skinheads and there were Irish boot boys and girls around too
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It’s a Sin – LGBT in the Thatcher era
The Russell T Davies series It’s a Sin shows what it was like to be young and gay in the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher and with AIDS
Comparing the riots of 1981, 2001 and 2011
2021 will be the fourtieth anniversary of the 1981 riots and the tenth anniverary of the 2011 riots so what lessons have been learned?
Mary Whitehouse versus Rambo hunks
Here is Mary Whitehouse in 1985 arguing against the movie director Michael Winner and a group of hunks dressed as the cinematic hero Rambo
4-Skins gig in Southall ends in 1981 riot
The 1981 Southall riot saw a clash between the Oi! skinhead subculture and local Asian youth in a district of London that was part of a summer of riots
Town v Gown – students versus locals
Local youth and university students often connected badly in the 1980s with acts of violence not being uncommon as students were viewed as privileged
Dave Wakeling of The Beat draws himself
Dave Wakeling was the front man of the British ska combo The Beat and here is a self-portrait he penned when the band was at the height of its fame
Inflation and unemployment under Thatcher
Both unemployment and inflation soared in the first two years of the Thatcher government though the Tories were open to a rise in the jobless figures
LGBT woes in the early 1980s
LGBT people faced discrimination, the AIDS virus and homophobic legislation from the Thatcher government in the 1980s as Tony McMahon reports
Britain in the era of nationalised industries
Britain once had an economy made up of nationalised industries where the state ran water, transport, energy, telecoms and other services