The showing this week of the biopic on the life of Mrs Thatcher will now doubt present her achievements in a rosy glow. Anyone living through that period who was on the left and politically active will almost certainly have a different view.
A seminal moment locally occurred on the weekend of the 11th ““12th July 1981 when the riots came to Shelton.
Rather like the events of last August the disturbances were born out of resentment and an intense disenchantment with the failure of authority. Like 2011 unemployment amongst the young was climbing and the consequences of Tory Chancellor’s Geoffrey Howe budgets of 1980-1 was to rapidly increase the jobless total. It is calculated that over 2 million jobs were lost in the manufacturing sector in the early years of the decade.
The riots began in Toxteth and spread as did the events of last summer to other major cities quickly. The list is a roll call of the great urban centres as Manchester, Leeds and London followed Liverpool. I was living in London at the time and can clearly recall walking over Greenwich Park and seeing the flames and hearing the disorder in Lewisham.
That weekend the troubles came to Shelton.
A party held at 45 Ashford St began to get too noisy and depending on whose side you believe the police responded or exacerbated the situation. One person in the house said that the police released dogs and batoned many of the party goers in a very heavy handed approach.
Predictably views were divided.
The chairman of the Police Authority a Labour Councillor called Harry Brown from Norton defended the police actions some community activists felt that there was an over-reaction. It was not racial as people at the house included black and white. Among the arrested were people from a wide area including parts of Abbey Hulton and it was the first time that Randolph Conteh’s name became known to a wider public.
The disturbances did not achieve much and rather like last summer authority were able to label those involved in the disturbances as hooligans and overlook the core issues of wasted lives and unemployment.
What a lot of people don’t realise of course is that Margaret Thatcher and her ministers actually came to Shelton just before the riots in 1981.
Disguised as Victorian street urchins, they went around banging on peoples doors and dragged them into the streets, handing them flaming torches and farm impliments with clear instructions to go on the rampage throughout the streets of the city.
Only days before, other Tory ministers were seen doing similar things in Toxteth and Manchester. And it was all a part of a concerted effort to wipe those places off the map of Britain.
…mmm
Of course we all know don’t we that just as with the so called riots last Summer, it had nothing whatsoever to do with poverty or education or wanting to make their communities better.
It was about party politics plain and simple. Those people went out to drum up a revolution. With their political point of view comprehensively rejected at a general election, they did what they always try to do-bring down a government by force and impose their will upon the majority.
We saw it in 1981 following the 79 election, we saw it in 1984 following the 83 election, we saw it in 1989 following the 87 election. And we saw it last year following the 2010 election.
There will always be somebody ready to defend their actions. But don’t try to tell me that the problems of 1981 in places like Shelton, Toxteth and others all started on May 2nd 1979 when Lady T came to power. Don’t try to tell me that things were better in any of those areas during the Labour Winter of Discontent or any of the Labour years before. And don’t try to tell me that during those Tory years things did not get better overall.
The early years of the 80s played their part in accelerating the deindustrialisation of N Staffs
[quote=Shaun Bennett]..Of course we all know don’t we that just as with the so called riots last Summer, it had nothing whatsoever to do with poverty or education or wanting to make their communities better.
It was about party politics plain and simple. [/quote]
Are you having a laugh????
How many of those hooded marauders do you think even know which parties are in Govt?
Don’t talk tosh, it was more to do with consumerism than politics.
“The early years of the 80s played their part in accelerating the deindustrialisation of N Staffs”
Bill has made an interesting point. Key word being ‘accelerating’. Deindustrialisation did not begin in 1979, nor would it have been reversed by any Labour government at that time.
What we WOULD have done however is failed to make the kind of changes that brought about the economic boom of the 90s and 2000s.
OK yes you got me, it went hand in hand with the selfish that just wanted a fast buck and easy consumerism.
But don’t let my negligance in acknowledging that fact above detract from the point that a lot of this is really drummed up by those that are politically motivated and just want to cause trouble and impose their will on the majority-we saw it again at the end of last year with the unnecessary ‘day of action’. We mustn’t forget it just because it flopped.
Shaun again illustrates why people shouldn’t vote for him. Like those of his ilk, have self-serving reasons for wanting to be elected.