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".

Iron Lady Film

Margaret Thatcher ran for President even though she never had the intention of being elected. It was crucial that she was Prime Minister as she needed to turn Britain around.

Thatcher believed that the growth of small businesses was fundamental to the turn around of Britain "You are the backbone of our Nation". Many people went to the Trade Union to help defend their jobs, however it was now preventing people from working, which is the opposite impact of what it was set up to do.

The film depicted "If you want to change the party lead it, if you want to change the country lead it". This gave Thatcher the inspiration to lead the country to victory. Margaret Thatcher "Transformed the British Economy and reversed the countries post-war decline". She was referred to in a telegraph as "The woman who changed the face of history". 

Another flashback occurred in the film and there was the "highest level of unemployment since 1934". Furthermore, there was the "biggest collapse of production since 1921". The country is in desperate need to obtain a strong leader as it has a crippling economy. One newspaper portrayed that there were "over 3 million unemployed". 

In 1982 the Falklands war occurred. This was a war between Britain and Argentina. They sent in the HMS Conqueror to try and re-capture the Falkland Islands as this was British territory.  The British Troops won the short lived war and became British territory again. 

In the film, newspaper articles were portraying slogans such as "Business is Booming" and "10 years in Office". Thatcher had revolutionised Britain and things were getting back on track. 

An idea which Margaret Thatcher had enthused was for everyone to pay equal tax. This was an abhorrent idea as how can a poor person pay the same as a rich and wealthy person? This led to the poll tax demonstrations.

Margaret Thatcher backed down as Prime Minister after 11 1/2 years. 

Iron Lady Film

The Iron Lady film was an eye-opening film to watch as it gives you a visual insight into what actually occurred as she reigned as Prime Minister.

During the first few minutes of the film there were air raids perforating in the background to give you an insight as to the time period which it was set in. Everyone was money conscious as prices had gone up. A pint of milk now costs £0.49p. Moreover there were a lot of Newspaper headlines portraying the bombings that were encircling Britain.

Margaret Thatcher was having flashbacks to the war. Thatcher received a letter offering her a place at Oxford University. The air raids went off again and they all went into their Anderson shelters, ensuring that they covered the butter as this was an expensive and scarce commodity to own.

There was an explosion at 2:50am at the Grand Hotel in 1984 which was situated in Brighton. Margaret Thatcher was at the Hotel for a conference about the Conservative Party. This was therefore believed to have been an intentional explosion to destroy Thatcher by the IRA which is the Irish Republican Army. Thatcher and her husband Dennis were luckily enough found alive, however five people were pronounced dead at the scene.

At the age of 24 years Margaret Thatcher lost her seat at parliament in the 1950 General Election. Even though she lost the election, Thatcher was still putting effort into the Dartford Conservative party, she was a fighter who would not give up.

In 1959, Margaret Thatcher became the Leader of the Conservative Party after receiving 29,697 votes. At a conference there was an argument about why they closed the schools. The strikes were resulting in a massive economic downturn. Thatcher defended the decision by stating "Teachers can't teach with no heating or electricity".

There was a breakdown in the economy. The rubbish bags clogged the streets and there was no sanitation, blackouts and low petrol. The stench of Britain must have been despicable to breathe in. The whole country was coming to a standstill as people were striking to save their jobs and for a higher pay. Many miners wanted to receive an average 35% wage increase.

Inventions- How has this revolutionised the technology industry?

During the 1980’s time period there were some key inventions introduced that would change the face of technology as we know it today. One of the inventions was created by Philips in 1981. The CD was one of the greatest inventions of all time in which we still use in the modern day society. It enables you to transport songs wherever you go.  Portrayed below is an image of the rise in demand of the compact disc:

The camcorder was invented  by Sony in 1982. This was the first creation of a blend of the “video camera and a video recorder”. This revolutionised the technology industry. This then enthused the industry to create smaller and high tech camcorders. 

Microsoft introduced the Windows programme in 1985. This has revolutionised the computer industry as Windows is still used today in the modern society. It is a fundamental software which enables you to perform tasks and input images and text. 

The "first 3-D video game" was invented in 1987.  Video games were developed as early as the 1940's, however it was not until arcade video games came out in the 1970's and 1980's that it popularised the gaming industry. Today this has led to the invention of X-Boxes, Play Stations, PC games and the Wii. 

Disposable Contact Lenses were beginning to be introduced in 1987. The "Danalens" was the first contact lens to be invented which occurred in 1982. This has led to the continuation of coloured contact lenses in today's society which alter peoples appearance. Moreover, it has led to prescription contact lenses which prevent people from having to wear glasses.

Tim Berners-lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989. This enables people to surf the internet and it opens up a world of research possibilities. It permits people to gather the necessary information required for research and to expand on their knowledge. It comes up with multiple search engines which enable you to compare the facts and draw on your own conclusions.