1979 to 1990, in ten parts. Inflation, the factories, the unions, the miners, the sell-off, Right to Buy, the boom, tax and spending, and whether any of it worked.
13 modules · about 125 minutes
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1 What Thatcher Inherited 1945 to 1979. Thirty years when both parties ran the economy the same way, why it worked, and the winter it stopped working. The free module, and the question the rest of the series answers. 9 steps · 14 min · Free Done 2 Thatcher's War on Inflation 1979 to 1982. Interest rates, a four-year plan, and a Budget that 364 economists said would not work. 8 steps · 12 min · Free Done 3 The Decline of British Manufacturing 1979 to 1990. The recession fell hardest on the places that made things. How much of British manufacturing went, how many jobs with it, and whether any of it came back. 5 steps · 8 min · Free Done 4 The Pound and the North Sea 1979 to 1990. Britain strikes oil, the pound goes to its post-war peak, and a Chancellor resigns over what to do about it. 6 steps · 9 min · Free Done 5 Thatcher and the Unions 1979 to 1990. Hospitals on emergency cover, five Acts of Parliament, and strike days down by nine tenths by the end of the decade. 6 steps · 9 min · Free Done 6 The Miners' Strike March 1984 to March 1985. A year on strike over whether a government could close an industry, and the union was broken by its own rulebook. 6 steps · 9 min · Free Done 7 Selling the State 1979 to 1990. The state sells the telephones and the gas, invents the regulator, and Tell Sid brings the share to the high street. 8 steps · 12 min · Free Done 8 Right to Buy 1980 to 1990. A million and a half council homes were sold to the people living in them, and who owns a home in Britain changed for the next forty years. 6 steps · 9 min · Free Done 9 The Big Bang and the Lawson Boom 1979 to 1990. The rules stopping money leaving the country were scrapped, London's financial markets dropped their own in one day, and households borrowed instead of saving. 6 steps · 9 min · Free Done 10 Tax and the Public Finances 1979 to 1990. The top rate from 83% to 40%, VAT nearly doubled to pay for it, and a total tax burden that was higher at the end than at the start. 6 steps · 9 min · Free Done 11 The Welfare State and the Poll Tax 1979 to 1990. Social security spending at a post-war record, the pension cut loose from earnings, and a flat tax on every adult that ended the premiership. 8 steps · 12 min · Free Done 12 Did Thatcher's Economics Work? The results, including the ones that cut against. The decade's growth set beside the 1970s, the productivity gain, the unemployment floor and the gap that never narrowed back. 6 steps · 9 min · Free Done 13 How Britain Compared 1979 to 1990. Inflation fell across the rich world in these years. France tried the opposite policy and reversed it. What was actually Britain's to claim. 3 steps · 4 min · Free DoneCountry data from the World Bank (CC BY 4.0) and the UNDP Human Development Report (CC BY 3.0 IGO)
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