Racism in 1980s clubs – the door policy!
1980s night clubs operated a high degree of racism when it came to their door policy excluding black youth from entering as Tony McMahon discovers
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Terry Hall from The Specials – 1959-2022
Just a week before Christmas 2022 – the lead singer of The Specials Terry Hall passed away as Tony McMahon reports
Today’s recession – any lessons from the 1980s?
The recession of 2022 and 2023 has big similarities but also huge differences with the early 1980s recession of Margaret Thatcher as Tony McMahon discovers
UK inflation in the 1970s and 1980s
Inflation is on the rise again but will it ever be as bad as the 1970s? Tony McMahon compares that decade to the situation now.
1980s homophobia in the House of Lords
A debate in the House of Lords on the Local Government Act reveals 1980s homophobia at its very worst as Tony McMahon discovers
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
WH Smith goes ska in 1980
1979 and 1980 were the glory years of the so-called “second wave” of ska music – first wave in Jamaica twenty plus years before and now the 2Tone wave came crashing out of Coventry. The Specials seized the charts by the scruff of the neck with a string of hits. And even WH Smith felt…
Heroes of 2Tone in the Record Mirror
Heroes of 2Tone in the Record Mirror – from my archives!
Neville Staple: Original Rude Boy
Tony McMahon co-wrote Original Rude Boy – the authorised biography of Neville Staple, vocalist in the legendary group, The Specials
