1980s Archives

1980s Gays – rebels or Tories?

The 70s 80s 90s Blog5 months ago5 months ago09 mins

In the 1980s – gays had the choice to be Tories or rebels. Faced with Clause 28 and bigotry around AIDS, most chose the latter as Tony McMahon discovers.

1980s homophobia in the House of Lords

The 70s 80s 90s Blog11 months ago11 months ago014 mins

A debate in the House of Lords on the Local Government Act reveals 1980s homophobia at its very worst as Tony McMahon discovers

The menace of British fascism in the 1970s

The 70s 80s 90s Blog1 year ago1 year ago012 mins

British fascism experienced a surge in the 1970s led in the main by the National Front

It’s a Sin – LGBT in the Thatcher era

The 70s 80s 90s Blog2 years ago2 years ago011 mins

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

LGBT woes in the early 1980s

The 70s 80s 90s Blog3 years ago3 years ago02 mins

LGBT people faced discrimination, the AIDS virus and homophobic legislation from the Thatcher government in the 1980s as Tony McMahon reports

Austerity economics – failure 35 years ago

The 70s 80s 90s Blog6 years ago3 years ago05 mins

The 1979 Thatcher government introduced a form of austerity economics called monetarism that ended up being a complete failure

Labour Party youth wings: NOLS and LPYS

The 70s 80s 90s Blog6 years ago3 years ago17 mins

NOLS and the LPYS were the two youth wings of the Labour Party in the 1970s and 1980s and they couldn’t have been more different

Political badges from the 1980s

The 70s 80s 90s Blog9 years ago3 years ago05 mins

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