8. The 1980s

From the Introduction, “The Changes at ILR that began in the seventies slipped imperceptibly into the eighties, and those that may have originated at that time have, for better or worse, left their mark on the present decade. In other words, dividing history into decades is not a particularly precise way of delineating times. Clearly, there was much gaiety preceding and following the Gay Nineties, as there were certainly many roars heard before and after the Roaring Twenties. Moreover, since the speed of change in academia runs at such a leisurely pace, it is virtually impossible to say exactly when an idea found its way into formal practice. Includes: Introduction; A Dean’s View, 1980-85; Deaning, 1985-88; Robert Risley; and An Advisory Council Perspective

Neo lines: Alan Hollinghurst and the apogee of the eighties

When Alan Hollinghurst’s The Line of Beauty won the Booker Prize in October 2004, it sealed the arrival in fiction of a retrospective exploration of the 1980s which had already been unmistakable in British culture. While the political continuities from Margaret Thatcher’s social revolution have been a central topic in the analysis of Tony Blair’s administrations, the return of the 1980s in popular culture has also been evident for years. Literature has not been insulated from this climate. Since the turn of the millennium Nicola Barker’s Five Miles From Outer Hope (2001), Tim Lott’s Rumours of a Hurricane (2002) and David Peace’s GB84 (2004) have been prominent examples of the ‘neo-1980s’ novel in Britain. It is on Hollinghurst’s book, however, that this essay will focus. To whose 1980s does The Line of Beauty return us? What is at stake

Real wages in the 1980s

Wages ; Purchasing power

Understanding Inflation in the 1980s

macroeconomics, inflation, unemployment rate

Regional income divergence in the 1980s

Regional economics ; Income

Illegal Immigration: A Continuing Issue for the 1980s

[Excerpt] Illegal immigration is not simply a matter of mounting numbers of individuals occupying American turf. Illegal immigrants compete for employment and income opportunities with citizen workers, usually low-wage-earning minorities, women, and youth. Equally disturbing is the creation and institutionalization of a permanent subclass of rightless persons within American society that unauthorized residence here fosters. What follows is a discussion of the issue of illegal immigration, its causes, its social and economic ramifications and the need for a multifaceted, comprehensive policy. It is only through such a complete policy that we can hope to control the problem

Thin Black Line(s)

Thin Black Line(s) focuses on the contribution of Black and Asian women artists to British art in the 1980s. Taking as its starting point three seminal exhibitions curated by artist Lubaina Himid in London from 1983 to 1985, the display charts the coming to voice of a radical generation of British artists who challenged their collective invisibility in the art world and engaged in their art with the wider social and political issues of 1980s Britain and the world