12/06/2025
June 12th 1981
One for Y12 history.
In June 1981 Thatcher’s monetarism experiment was going horribly wrong.
Public spending was slashed and taxes increased such as VAT raised to 15% and Petrol Duty raised by 15p in the pound in the March budget. It was christened by Labour leader Michael Foot as the “No Hope budget” by 1981 opinion polls will put the Conservative Party at just 16% approval.
On June 12th 1981 Coventry band The Specials released single “Ghost Town” its story of social strife and inner city hopelessness would hit number one and become one of the most famous songs of the decade.
This message of hopelessness would play out in July when cities such as Liverpool (Toxteth) and London (Brixton) erupted in violence.
“𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴?
𝘎𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘧“