Strikes

Margaret Thatcher stated "Power is like being a lady... if you have to tell people you are, you aren't. " During the 1980's there were a series of strikes occurring throughout Britain. The biggest concern was the strike of the miners as the government decided to close the pits in 1984 on the 6th March. The "National Coal Board proposed to close 20 of the 174 state-owned mines and cut 20,000 jobs out of 187,000". Due to the strikes it caused a downturn in the economy. By 1992, the government had forced 97 coal mines to shut down and then it resulted in "150 coal mines" closing. As strikes lasted a year, more coal miners were delving into poverty.

In Billy Elliot, the working class citizens were coal miners. Portrayed below is a video from the musical: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeuLTEXazJs

This song depicts that they had a strong hatred towards Margaret Thatcher and wanted a new Prime Minister to reign over Britain that would be in favour of the working classed citizens.

When I viewed the Musical in theatre, you could really feel the fury encircling you and the hatred of the actors towards Margaret Thatcher. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJj_f8Oi4zg 

Furthermore, there were a series of "hunger strikes" taking place in prisons in 1981. As a result of the hunger strike "ten prisoners had starved themselves to death".