Facing Redundancy | 1980s UK | British Industry | What next? | TV Eye | 1981

[@mstt3530]

This is basically 40 years ago, what have we learned? Well, the government doesn’t give a crap. You need to reinvest in yourself.

[@Spookieham]

From the time when TV journalism was damn good. World in Action was a prime example

[@brianmorecombe2726]

Still is.TV shows change but indepth journalism hasnt.

[@BOZ_11]

@@brianmorecombe2726 BS. television is awful nowadays

[@brianmorecombe2726]

@@BOZ_11 On about journalism.Not general TV.

[@BOZ_11]

@@brianmorecombe2726 We're talking about journalism, through the medium of terrestrial television. It is shite now

[@brianmorecombe2726]

@@BOZ_11 It isnt shite.ITV still has the tonight program,the BBC has panarama and 24 hour news.Theres still good jounalism for TV.

[@khalidalali186]

Thames TV was made redundant on December 31st, 1992. It had only been established in July of 1968.

[@person.X.]

Goes against the stereotypes of people being lazy, dim and dependent. All these people both managers and shop-floor workers show they are full of ideas, willing to take risks and hard working.

[@frazzleface753]

Hmm, well I'm not sure about the garden gnome bloke who went round the garden centres and determined there must be a a market because 'there wasn't enough for sale'.

[@_Somsnosa_]

Nah they just need to get off their arses and pull themselves up by their bootstraps. You blame the system for everything /s

[@oldgit4260]

@@frazzleface753 that was a Monty Python skit wasn't it?

[@PMMagro]

The stereotype is there to justify my priviliges.

[@jonkirk2118]

Very interesting. It's funny how people often talk about bygone years as being "simpler" times, yet I don't remember anyone back then saying, "My word, these times we're living in are so simple". It's probably because a lot of people looking back now were children back then.

[@jonnyc429]

Always the way isn't it, as you age things become more complex so you look back at your past as being simpler. Plus your memory filters out a lot of the crap so you're left with the more memorable bits.

[@glpilpi6209]

Speaking as someone who lived through the period we've seen a dreadful culling of well paid jobs over a prolonged period , from around 1982 onwards . I feel very sorry for youngsters now , opportunities are evaporating almost every day with wages at a minimum.

[@zeddeka]

Depends really - in many ways, kids have much greater opportunities now than they ever did then. Levels of education are much, much higher than they were then and the possibility of going to university is much greater now than it ever was back then. Speaking for myself, born in the late 70s from a council estate who went to an appalling comprehensive school, I worked hard and got a degree and earn much more than my parents ever did. Also, so many of the jobs back then involved working in appalling conditions in factories. So many of my parents' generation went to early graves because of it. I think we can be thankful that jobs like that are long gone.

[@agfagaevart]

@@zeddeka You could go to a Polytechnic quite cheaply in the past, but now, its only expensive Universities charging almost 10 grand per year! Even most of the online unis charge the full whack! The bricks and mortar ones are really taking the pee out of students now, they should reduce the fees, for a while. There are apprentiships but not enough! Where are all these opportunies you speak of? Few and far between. This is one reason the youngsters are stabbing each other; They don't have much hope!

[@BOZ_11]

@@zeddeka "Levels of education are much, much higher than they were then" - levels of enrolment are higher, not levels of education.

[@Coolagreen16]

I left school in 1983, but things only really changed in 1997 under Blair's labour government = more opportunity for young people. Same now really, the Tories don't give a shit about working class young people.

[@Guitar6ty]

This current government has killed the life chances of millions of young white working class people.

[@andrewrobinson2565]

My Dad was made redundant in 1983. I left the UK in 1986; the region where I grew up was in Rigor Mortis.

[@alexmckee4683]

Is Rigor Mortis near Bognor Regis? 😂

[@andrewrobinson2565]

@@alexmckee4683 +1 Shildon, where my Dad worked was the railways' and Stan Laurel's birthplace - opposite end of England from Bognor Regis 👍.

[@antonyphoenix3829]

I grew up in Queens Park Wrexham, joined the RAF in 1980 as I could see there was not a great future in the area, a few years later the Steel works were I had been working also closed.

[@robinwitting2023]

As a former steelworker this takes me back; signing on felt like failure; capitulation. Back then people in industrial towns had decent lives. Since then I have seen quality jobs gradually dismantled one after another, either contracted out or pay and conditions reduced; where once there were rungs on the ladder of promotion the Soviet devised team system is the great leveller, as is it's intent. I also believe the work ethic was broken in the 80's. A tough decade. Robin Witting

[@epermute]

I remember being close to leaving school around this time. The tone was that most of us wouldn’t find work. I ultimately went into the RN but most struggled.....thx Maggie!

[@angusmeigh5141]

It was still easier to get a job way back in the 1980s than it is now. Because today you need so much documention and identity documents inorder to get a job. Before all you needed was your name, your adress and your national insurance number! Now you need photo ID, documentary proof of your national insurance number, documentary proof of your address and a bank account to have your wages paid into!

[@jonnyc429]

@@angusmeigh5141 none of those things you listed are difficult to acquire or are in any way an issue though

[@alexmckee4683]

​@@jonnyc429they certainly can be obstacles. Getting a bank account is actually getting harder in the UK for many, as you need photo ID to get one. If you don't have a bank account how can you pay the fees for a passport or provisional driving licence? Also getting a passport is getting harder as there's so much fraud. Lots of people used to use their GP for proof of identity but GPs won't do this now because people don't have a regular GP. I haven't seen my named GP in 18 years. Last time I changed job I had a shock to discover I was at serious risk of being stuck with just such a catch 22 situation despite having worked for 20 years.

[@xraystan]

Love the lack of any kind of PPE when he's mixing those chemicals. Wonder how he's doing now?

[@rhythmictiger]

Yeah I know! I've seen a couple comments on other videos saying their Dads did this kind of work and it ended up affecting them quite badly

[@zeddeka]

Always frustrates me when people of that generation talk about how "things were better" then. They absolutely weren't. The absolutely terrible conditions so many worked in sent them to an early grave.

[@xraystan]

@@rhythmictiger I only ever knew my dad as having one working eye. When I was old enough I asked my parents why. It turns out he was spraying chemicals and they got in his eyes and they only saved one. That was early 1970s and he only had a pair of overalls to wear. He was laid off and had to get a lesser skilled job. These days you'd hope people had PPE, if not the company would be taken to court.

[@marklola12]

@@zeddeka job wise etc yeh it was worse, but community wise, manners wise, TV and music wise and everything else yeh it was better, but work standards and everything else like that was worse

[@samnicholson5051]

The good ol' days before the nanny state and the bloody eurocrats starting forcing us to take safety measures.

[@lindawatmore3321]

No wonder my dad died from breathing problems and cancer and his job was a plumber and he was using asbestos to mixing with plaster to lag pipes and use his bare hands to smear the mixture around the pipes and the building industry used asbestos in the plaster of chimney breast and internal walls between neighbour's house for fire protection. Even in the 80s to purchase ironing board with asbestos to stand the iron on. Artex and Poly tex wall textured finish solid in the 1970s,and 1980s that contains asbestos and the number of homes that have hidden asbestos in their ceilings and plaster on their walls and they are not aware of the fact and drilling holes in the walls and ceilings are putting them at risk. So many times manufacturing materials that have been created by the world that have been found to be dangerous for people and the environment. But profit margins are more important than the people and the truth of God and the evil effects on the people from the world economy and its effects on making money at the cost of human life and resources.

[@LeeDarkParadox]

It's like looking down a telescope in time as to what life and attitudes used to be like.

[@williamfelps2981]

I wonder if camera crews from the British film industry often did work in TV news in the 1980's. Most national news in America that I can recall wouldn't have had anything as visually striking as the tracking shot between three seperate redundancy conversations or seperating the estate crowd by how they received unemployment benefits.

[@agfagaevart]

A lot of British documentary film-makers from the '60 and '70s went on to make movies: Michael Apted. Ken Loach. etc.

[@thepleiadianlightgridproje4337]

Yeah I know Dad I was just about to say is an American who grew up during this time there was something racy about how the British did it Canada their news to a lesser extent as far as going up against American news of that time and keeping in mind American news of that time was probably about at its peak for what it ever was so you know.

[@buddha1736]

40 years later & they now have the joys of Morrison’s supermarkets, Greegs, Macdonnalds, Burger King, pound shops, & single mums pushing 3 kids around.

[@zeddeka]

You honestly think there weren't single mums pushing three kids around then? Teen pregnancies were much, much higher back then than they are now. I suppose at least people now don't usually have to work on appalling conditions with dangerous substances like so many did back then. Things are by no means perfect now - a long way from it. But by god, things were bloody awful back then. we need to stop looking at the past with rose tinted glasses.

[@Coolagreen16]

Morrison's was around in 1983, the only job I could get!

[@swineheartdoppleganger5516]

i think everyone is still unemployed ibn Wrexham by the looks of things! Great doc and good to see them doing well.

[@agfagaevart]

10:28 100% correct! You can't be a nice millionaire.

[@stevo728822]

In the 1980's the thing to get into was computers.

[@oldgit4260]

If you had no soul, yes

[@Nickpaintbrush]

It`d be nice to see how they all did a few years on!

[@poodtang2104]

Agreed.

[@tomservo5007]

too bad Thames TV was made redundant

[@kaiser98berlin]

@@tomservo5007 oh the irony

[@grumpylimey4539]

A quick check at Companies House, and the radio station the chaps started (at 14:28) is still in business. Couldn't find any information on UCP, but possible that's just the brand name and it was registered under a different parent.

[@johnyisme3287]

Just around the corner, heroin. Some places never recovered 40 years later.

[@workonesabs]

When the Lego factory went,that was it...

[@Giorg189]

With the new lockdowns throughout Europe, a lot of people will get unemployed, hope they have enough money for tough times and are skilled to get new job when this armageddon is over.

[@VickersV]

I agree.

[@marklola12]

Well most out of work are not skilled jobs and are jobs that come back but then they rehire instead of getting the people who were let go

[@Giorg189]

@@marklola12 Not true, people get laid off from all kinds of jobs in this 2020 pandemic, from airlines to IT and banking. Those who got unemployed should not give up. Difficult times will pass and every door closed will be another door opened. The important thing is to have enough savings to pass this storm. Rent/Mortgage payments are the most important, then food and utilities. Non-essential spending should be kept to a minimum.

[@EgoShredder]

It's all planned and orchestrated but people refuse to believe this is really happening, and instead cling on to the comforting belief that the virus is to blame and they only need to be more compliant to make things return to "normal". They are in for a real shock when they finally (maybe never) realise that UN Agenda 21 and 30 are real and being rolled out.

[@EveLovesChristJesus]

@@EgoShredder true! Operation Lockstep is active

[@mistofoles]

Well, what you do (Depending on your age) is look for alternative employment, and in the meantime use the redundancy pay to support you financially.

[@OfficialPotato1]

1:29 the greenery

[@movesky6696]

the yellow page's phone book

[@BiblicalBasics]

The root of the problem (I lived through it in the 1970's) is ... toxic industrial relations. In theory, trade unions are a god thing, but in practice they can result in the total loss of the jobs of the people they are supposed to be representing. I have seen this take place in front of my eyes.

[@Mitjitsu]

They weren't exactly run in a democratic fashion. Those running them were far more obsessed with their own ego and activism.

[@Guitar6ty]

What was it that caused the toxicity?? oh yes Thatcher there is no such thing as society just a collection of individuals. No industry left for grandchildren no houses left at an affordable price or rent. The unions pale into insignificance compared to the out right theft of the Banksters of the 2008 economic collapse. Where has all the tax payers money gone??? Who owns all the hotels housing a huge 5th column. Follow the money.

[@jamesauld5145]

Wonder what happened, how they all are, etc here in 2022

[@philipharrison73]

Working in shops British industrial gone 😅

[@tomfu6210]

5:08 swastika in a shot for a whole interview :-D

[@finnmanproductions9240]

5:01 Swastika graffiti was typical of that time, along with NF.

[@agfagaevart]

The good ol' daze that some people want to return...

[@oldgit4260]

@@agfagaevart yes we do want to return but not for those reason

[@EgoShredder]

They were fake Nazis in the 1970s, same as the ones in Ukraine right now and had nothing to do with National Socialist Germany and their ideals. The NF was yet another gov intelligence project, put out there to discredit and discourage anyone rising up against the system. What you have to realise is that sweJ play both sides, so that they always win.

[@Moira_Gloucestershire]

Same in 2020

[@jayjaypen2]

5:47 - Nazi symbol in the background. Can you spot the swastika?

[@sugarfree1894]

I didn't know the GLC issued mortgages.

[@a6703]

& local councils so people could buy their council flats/houses. My in laws bought the council house they rented with a mortgage for £23,000 for 25 years in the mid 70’s.

[@kurtsmith2547]

Is it really necessary to have swastika in the background of this interview at 4:58

[@goldieandblackie]

Yes, because it's not wrapped up in cotton wool or photo shopped, it portrays real life back then.

[@voiletwhitehorse]

If they filmed long enough ,you'd probably see a bunch of skinheads in their dot martins walk past,this is after theyve all sniffed the glue in the lifts of a high rise building

[@MrGoneTroppo]

Marcher Sound went on to great things

[@MAdDyMatt]

1:45 did they have drones back in the day filming this??

[@Coolagreen16]

A crane that wasn't in use mate!

[@torgeirbrandsnes1916]

Where are they today?

[@Coolagreen16]

No bubble wrap back then? I can't remember, I was there though. If I was transported back there to that time I know I wouldn't have made fucking gnomes - plenty of up an coming options like mobile phones or something. Hindsight is pretty nice isn't it!

[@Guitar6ty]

A lot more got finished off with next to nothing many went back to jobs with half the pay they used to earn.

[@VickersV]

Were whitbreads 🍺

[@jackkruese4258]

My god parts of Britain look poor and backward in the 1980s.

[@alexmckee4683]

You should see some places in 2023, look far worse!

[@Guitar6ty]

Now it just looks and is 3rd world.

[@davidtudor283]

now they just text you when you loose your job

[@davidkennedy8929]

Lose!

[@iainlindsay5687]

Frank sorry to sound nasty but you where the manager of a failing business department which you managed, why did you think you could change things around. OMG your home as well.

[@agfagaevart]

Then Maggie and Co. reduced the redundancy payouts. Ho hum.

[@Andy-x3e4z]

Something wrong here,one guy spends his redundancy on a pub when everyone around him are also being laid off,another blows his on making and selling fckn garden Knomes.Says a lot about the average Working class.DONT GIVE THEM A LOAD OF MONEY ALL AT ONCE.THEY HAVNT THE BRAINS TO SPEND IT.

[@ladedalounge]

2024 and here is AI

[@TimeToSlashZoom]

Ah, classic Britain with a swastika at 00:21.

[@harryn2304]

😂😂😂😂

[@voice.of.reason]

Choc ice 15p

[@GAZMofBI74]

Altogether now....for then and today(2023)....🎶"Laaaaaand of Hoooope and Glorrryyyy....?."🎶🤔🇬🇧🤯🤕👌😎👍🤙✌️

[@operatorjeffdeathstar7759]

LOL

[@doodemog]

70s and 80s were shite times, much easier nowadays

[@davidkennedy8929]

Speaking for yourself? The 80s were fantastic for me.

[@solarr2]

👍🇵🇱😎👍🤘

[@kamrankhan-lj1ng]

👍👍

[@Ron-u1z]

The guy with the beard buys two loss making businesses and goes bankrupt. Brains of Britain hevaint. WTF.😂

[@doodemog]

70s and 80s were shite times, much easier nowadays

[@oldgit4260]

Bollocks

[@namelesswhocares8648]

It was less brown then

[@Guitar6ty]

No its worse now than in the 1980s now its 3rd world.