The Theat of Nuclear Annihilation in 1980s Britain

[Simster]

My money's on Israel.

Mine too. There really should be a curb on what weapons can be traded legally with Israel in much the same way there are in other states in that region, if only to bring them to the negotiating table with a sensible mindset.

 

[Southover Street Seagull]

Seeing as you are laying the blame for tension at the us's door that's understandable. The country that freed Asia from Japanese imperialism is now acting like a true ally to japan in the face if Chinese expansionism and it's their fault? No wonder the yanks wonder why they bother sometimes. But anti Americanism is rife on here. Still let's see what life is like under a China dominated world I would suspect it won't be a barrel of laughs and the telly imports will be harder to understand for starters

Remember we also contributed to the downfall of Japanese imperialism in the Far East too! Have you seen this documentary series?

http://www.oliverstone.com/untoldhistory

If you haven't then watch it as it may change your mind on the United States causing tension around the world. I'd like to add that it takes 'two to tango' and the Soviet Union were no angels either.

 

[Southover Street Seagull]

Yep, I refer back to my post #32 – it wasn’t a constant state of terror at all, but at times it did feel more a question of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’.

The programme last night quoted the figure that 40% of the British public believed that “nuclear was inevitable within ten years”, yet some of the posters on this thread are angrily indignant at the suggestion that people felt this way. It’s really quite bizarre.

The IRA was a daily concern and a real threat. I remember the briefings we had from the police and company security when working in a record shop in Brighton during the Tory conference, just down the road. Every bin, every pillar box was a potential hiding place for a bomb. But despite the horrors of a car bomb in a busy shopping street, and their other atrocities, it was a different type of fear. It was evil and deadly, but wouldn’t result in mushroom clouds over Britain.

I was born in '71 and my main concern was terrorism from Northern Ireland; nuclear holocaust came second in the worrying stakes. Working for Royal Mail I remember during conferences at Brighton in the early 90's having to show the police around the roof of Milton House in Churchill Square so reconnaissance units could go up there when the conferences were on.

 

[drew]

Yep, I refer back to my post #32 – it wasn’t a constant state of terror at all, but at times it did feel more a question of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’.

The programme last night quoted the figure that 40% of the British public believed that “nuclear was inevitable within ten years”, yet some of the posters on this thread are angrily indignant at the suggestion that people felt this way. It’s really quite bizarre.

The IRA was a daily concern and a real threat. I remember the briefings we had from the police and company security when working in a record shop in Brighton during the Tory conference, just down the road. Every bin, every pillar box was a potential hiding place for a bomb. But despite the horrors of a car bomb in a busy shopping street, and their other atrocities, it was a different type of fear. It was evil and deadly, but wouldn’t result in mushroom clouds over Britain.

What is your problem? I didn't see the program you refer to but quoting a stat like that is meaningless in the context of this debate. Were the same group of people asked whether they feared IRA terrorism and if so what was the result? What did the other 60% worry about, was it terrorism or something else. Most of the posts on here aren't saying there wasn't a fear of nuclear war just that during the 70s and 80s IRA terrorism was higher on the list of concerns. Ask yourself this, what was in the news more? I've no doubt there were people that feared nuclear war more, for example, CND members and probably most of MI6 but from my perspective it was the IRA and from what I recall the same for most of my friends at the time. You obviously felt different!

 

[The Spanish]

...but it doesn't spare the world of its own imperialism - it's a warmongering menace to the world, it's been in a constant state of war since long before any of us were born and has by far the most nuclear weapons in the world.

The us that changed it's own laws to start selling arms to turkey again? After turkey threatened to leave NATO and destabilise the region. Just to keep the peace?

 

[Flex Your Head]

What is your problem?

Errr... I didn't realise there was one?

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Yep, I refer back to my post #32 – it wasn’t a constant state of terror at all, but at times it did feel more a question of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’.

The programme last night quoted the figure that 40% of the British public believed that “nuclear was inevitable within ten years”, yet some of the posters on this thread are angrily indignant at the suggestion that people felt this way. It’s really quite bizarre.

The IRA was a daily concern and a real threat. I remember the briefings we had from the police and company security when working in a record shop in Brighton during the Tory conference, just down the road. Every bin, every pillar box was a potential hiding place for a bomb. But despite the horrors of a car bomb in a busy shopping street, and their other atrocities, it was a different type of fear. It was evil and deadly, but wouldn’t result in mushroom clouds over Britain.

People have selective memories to meet their own personal agendas. Admitting they believed at the time the country could be nuked might be construed as being too leftist and a doom and gloom merchant. Being nuked (and surviving) was a different scariness to being blown to smithereens by the Provos.

 

[drew]

People have selective memories to meet their own personal agendas. Admitting they believed at the time the country could be nuked might be construed as being too leftist and a doom and gloom merchant. Being nuked (and surviving) was a different scariness to being blown to smithereens by the Provos.

What a load of patronising rubbish.

 

[HovaGirl]

were you mostly drunk in the 80`s?

No. I was much more afraid of the IRA than a nuclear threat, as I said, because that almost affected us, personally. The nuclear threat had been there since the 50s. I used to go on Ban the Bomb marches in Brighton in the early 1960s. My mother was a Greenham Common woman, but I still didn't see it as a serious threat in the 80s, probably because I was approaching my thirties and not a kid being fed propaganda at school. I still don't see it as a threat, because any country which pressed the red button has as much chance of annihilating itself as any other it aimed for. But, you get nutters who don't know that, and you get megalomaniac leaders who like to keep others on their toes. It just takes one nutter. And one red button.

 

[HovaGirl]

Besides, as was kind of made clear in last night's programme, there was no threat at all from the mid-80s on. It evaporated once Gorbachev came on the scene.

Yes, exactly. Gorbachev was a safe pair of hands for the growing goodwill between East and West. It all went disastrously wrong when that drunk clambered on that tank and had Gorby arrested. Utter waste of a brilliant opportunity to let Boris Yeltsin carry on.

 

[HovaGirl]

The programme last night quoted the figure that 40% of the British public believed that “nuclear was inevitable within ten years”, yet some of the posters on this thread are angrily indignant at the suggestion that people felt this way. It’s really quite bizarre..

I really don't remember figures like that at all. I wonder where this programme got them from. I was very politically aware in those days (studying politics, among other things) and the threat of nuclear war just wasn't that high up on the agenda, either in the news, on television, or in the pubs and taxis.

 

[HovaGirl]

People have selective memories to meet their own personal agendas. Admitting they believed at the time the country could be nuked might be construed as being too leftist and a doom and gloom merchant. Being nuked (and surviving) was a different scariness to being blown to smithereens by the Provos.

I don't think any fear of being nuked is or was a party political thing. Some things are bigger than party politics and the fear of one's own death is one of them. It's no good implying people like me are Right-Wing, for example, because we do not recall the threat of nuclear war being that serious a matter. The difference between the fear of nuclear war and the fear of the IRA, is that the IRA was real, and blowing people up all the time, all over the place. It was actually happening, and you might be sitting innocently in a pub and get blown to smithereens. Or you might be wandering through Victoria Station, just like you did yesterday, and the day before, and get blown sky-high. My husband missed that by less than 5 minutes, because his train was late.

 

[Mental Lental]

The country that freed Asia from Japanese imperialism is now acting like a true ally to japan in the face if Chinese expansionism and it's their fault? No wonder the yanks wonder why they bother sometimes.

Yeah. Stupid Japs should be grateful when their daughters get raped by US servicemen...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_Okinawa_rape_incident

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Brown_Okinawa_assault_incident

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yumiko-chan_incident

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21626049

(And before you continue your thinly veiled anti-Japanese rant by bringing up Nanking, let me just point out that these incidents are still happening NOW and are likely to continue, certainly in Okinawa.)

 

[The Spanish]

Yeah. Stupid Japs should be grateful when their daughters get raped by US servicemen...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_Okinawa_rape_incident

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Brown_Okinawa_assault_incident

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yumiko-chan_incident

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21626049

(And before you continue your thinly veiled anti-Japanese rant by bringing up Nanking, let me just point out that these incidents are still happening NOW and are likely to continue, certainly in Okinawa.)

i have no plans on playing tit for tat on ww2 japanese atrocities. grow up mate. but go to changi museum if you are British, thats my final word

 

[Flex Your Head]

Interesting reading, particularly the bit about recruiting psychpoaths!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29804446

 

[strings]

If you listen carefully on the car radio at start of Threads they read out a result for BHA. 1-0 to us of course.

Threads was a film I watched as a part of my uni course. I remember it proper scaring me (even though it was 2003 by the time I went to Uni)!

 

[lawros left foot]

Does anyone watch The Americans that has been on itv? Excellent series made in the States about a coupke of Russian sleeper agents in deep cover in the eighties. I was surprised that an American TV network would make a series that is sympathetic to two enemy agents, hopefully it will be back for a third series. Only good thing on itv

 

[Flex Your Head]

Ha! Was just looking back at this old thread (pun intended) I started years ago, and noticed the typo in the title

Anyway, the version on YouTube has long since disappeared, but if you want to watch Threads (genuinely essential viewing) you can do so here - [video]https://archive.org/details/threads_201712[/video].
Or you can buy the remastered DVD from Amazon using Bozza's link, obvs.

 

[Poojah]

Ha! Was just looking back at this old thread (pun intended) I started years ago, and noticed the typo in the title

Anyway, the version on YouTube has long since disappeared, but if you want to watch Threads (genuinely essential viewing) you can do so here - [video]https://archive.org/details/threads_201712[/video].
Or you can buy the remastered DVD from Amazon using Bozza's link, obvs.

Ah, the joys of seeing an 8 year old thread about nuclear annihilation bumped due to the topical nature of its content.

 

[Flex Your Head]

Ah, the joys of seeing an 8 year old thread about nuclear annihilation bumped due to the topical nature of its content.

May I also recommend this ace podcast too - Atomic Hobo? Started off as an interesting look at a strange and (hopefully) distant part of our history but has now become alarmingly relevant.

[video]http://www.juliemcdowall.com/index.php/podcast/[/video]