To Folks Who Were Young Adults In The 80's..What Was That Like?

The whole of the 1980s were full of strife and I, for one, could not STAND Margaret Thatcher, who was the Prime Minister for that whole decade. The Cold War terrified me and the 'Special Relationship' she had with Ronnie Reagan sickened me, as she was more interested (it seemed to me at the time) in cozying up with him rather than being over here in the UK. There was an Arms Race too and Neil Kinnock (Leader of the Opposition) was the best Prime Minister we NEVER had. He wanted to stop this nuclear madness but in the end, the likes of the UK and US didn't have the money to carry on with it anyway and the Russians slowed down with it too. It's the likes of China, North Korea, Iran and Pakistan that worry me now. I still have nightmares about nuclear war but not as much as I used to. Having said all that, when I look back on the 1980s now (and I do have diaries so I know more than most) I did have more friends, steady employment (unemployment was very high then) and I could go out with £15 and still have enough left over for the taxi home. I didn't actually have a CD player until 1989. I had built up a large collection of vinyl and cassette albums so I resisted for quite some time before acquiring one. I can understand why vinyl albums are still popular today as there are many people who have resisted the digital revolution, starting with the CD. In fact, I still prefer to play vinyl as opposed to a CD as it's a joy getting the LP out of its sleeve and reading 'stuff.' CDs are small so can't have the same impact so I'm not surprised they're slowly dying out. The one thing I don't like about the present is our reliance on technology. I mean, where is it all leading? Are we going to stop talking to each other? Our resources are 'spent' and the oil is running out. I believe in a few years' time there will be wars fought over resources such as water and food as the population is nearing 9 billion. Basically, there are too many people and not enough land to sustain them all. Put it this way, I'm glad I won't be around at the end of this Century. I don't want to be around to witness the man-made destruction of the planet. Mind you, Mother Nature may have a hand in that. Sorry to be such a doom-monger!!

I try to remember what has changed. I can remember the old record player my mother had and the old records (James Dean). We did had tv but an old one plus it was black and white. No tv whole day on. Only on Wednesday afternoon for kids plus in the weekends (later on) early in the afternoon. After 7pm it was for adults. No computers, we had phone plus an answering machine (still see that old thing). I can remember the first homecomputer with floppy disk, the first cellphones (those very large ones) the way better services flight companies gave plus the seats and food. We wrote letters, had pen palls. People read way more books, kids did play outside, we had public phone cells everywhere incl. phone books, the restaurants were way better, the prices at gasstations way less, the tape recorder was still there, the first walkman (cassettes) were a great invention. The first cd was introduces and no records in my country anymore. They said the cd is expensive but it can't be broke that is why. Our money changed, and it changed again. Train, busses, post etc it all became very expensive. So are schools and the educationlevel is getting less and less. The music I remember the most is partly from the 80's (mostly because we never had the radio on). I can remember the Sundays without car (it was forbidden to drive a car on sundays because of the economic crisis), the doctors who still did visits at your house. I think many things have changed. Less people go to the theater or cinema, more people stay in their homes. Birthdays, celebrations are not that important anymore, we rush way more, we have less time left over as years ago. Also we have less future, way less change to get a job. Everything is done, IT is not the future anymore. There was a moment we all thought 1990 and later on would be completely different (like we saw in the sf movies) but it never happend we are still old fashioned if it comes to that. Women world wide still have less rights. People who are different, think different, make the difference still are not accepted and bullied. So nothing has changed, if it comes to that we still live in the dark middle ages.

I think the overwhelming thing about the 80s was Margaret Thatcher destructive regime, destroying our industrial base, breaking our trust in the police by using them politically for the first time, the dreadful air of despondency, hopelessness and despair that was prevalent in the country all the best, urban

I reached Adulthood in the late 80's. It was good and bad. Throughout the 80's britian became a rich country. the 70's was horrible everybody was poor, out of work or on strike - We would have regular power cuts. In the early 80's there was also a genuine belief in the West that nuclear war was just around the corner, We would watch the videos telling us how to prepare for a nuclear strike. The mid 80's and Russia and the US got their Sh*t together. Music was better, fashion wasn't and obesity was rare... Happy days