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1		Life expectancy increased and standards of living improved. The post war period saw rationing gradually end, the birth of the National Health Service and better standards of living. In the West, people's expectations rose and more people owned cars and televisions. More After the war people had renewed hope for the future. Rationing gradually ceased between 1948 and 1954, and in 1948 the National Health Service was launched. It was funded by means of National Insurance and, for the first time, all health services were to be free at the point of need. Most houses now had indoor bathrooms and toilets and as petrol rationing ceased, people were able travel with greater ease.
2		The motor car transformed peoples lives and the landscape. Car ownership grew rapidy in the post-war years, allowing people to travel further. This led to the need for new roads and infrastructure. The first part of the M1 (Britain's first motorway) was opened in 1959 with further developments between 1965 and 1968. Other roads followed, changing the landscape in many areas. More The growth of car ownership saw the spread of multi-story car parks, roadside cafes and filling stations, hundreds of miles of new road development and changes in people's habits. Many people started to walk less, preferring to take the car. Caravan holidays became popular. There were also concerns about pollution levels and the loss of countryside under concrete and tarmac, as more new roads were built. The Beeching Report also saw the closure of many railway lines and car use grew still further.
3		By the mid 50s, wages had increased and the economy was growing. There was growth in industries such as steel, coal and motor cars and this led to a rise in wages, export earnings and investment. In 1957, the British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, told the nation at a Tory rally in Bedford that "Britons have never had it so good". More The 1960s also saw economic growth in other areas as well, for example the discovery of North Sea oil. The first oil was piped ashore in 1975.
4		People's horizons expanded with more money to spend on daytrips and holidays. In the 50s, holiday camps like Butlins were popular, and parks and historic sites had more day trippers. People also started to take a wider interest in the world abroad, with the growth of foreign travel and TV programmes that brought other lands closer to home. More Visiting the seaside, exploring the UK's National Parks, (established in the 1950s after a parliamentary act in 1949) and looking at historic buildings became popular. Eating out became more common and package holidays to foreign destinations saw more people travelling abroad.
5		By the 1970s, economic confidence had been replaced by economic gloom. The early 70s saw high inflation, strikes, power cuts and a three-day working week. Only essential services like hospitals and mass communications like telephones were exempt. More Rising inflation in the early 1970s saw demands for pay rises and a fairer distribution of wealth. Strikes by the coal miners led to power cuts and to the introduction of the three-day week by the Conservative government. From 1st January to 7th March 1974, commercial organizations were only allowed to consume electricity on three consecutive days each week and were not allowed to extend working hours on these days.
6		The late 1970s and early 80s saw widespread strikes and social unrest. The strikes resulted in food shortages, frequent power cuts and rubbish building up in the streets. The British winter of 1978-1979 became known as ‘The Winter of Discontent'. The 1980s saw high unemployment, social unrest and a bitter political struggle between the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Conservative government. More In the late 1970s, the Labour government's attempt to cap wage rises below 5% led to industrial action and the downfall of the government. In the early 1980s, the Conservative government introduced new legislation to restrict the unions. The miners' strike (1984 - 1985) ended with the defeat of the NUM. The political power of the unions was broken. The government of Margaret Thatcher promoted home ownership, free markets and entrepreneurialism, but the era was also marked by social unrest and high unemployment.
7		The postwar years saw the development of the European Union. After the end of World War 2, people wanted to ensure that such a terrible war could never happen again. The fear of another government like the Nazis made people want to unite Europe, and led to the development of the Common Market, later known as the European Union. More The European Union began life as the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951 and went on to become the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1957 (also known as the 'Common Market'). In 1973, the six original members - Belgium, France, (West) Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands - were joined by the United Kingdom, Denmark, and the Republic of Ireland.
8		The end of the war also saw the start of the Cold War. The Cold War developed between the Soviet Union and her allies on one side, and America and her allies on the other - each with nuclear weapons aimed at important places in the others' countries. This brought the world to the edge of nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. More In 1962, the Soviet Union installed near-range nuclear missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles off the coast of the United States. The fate of millions of people rested upon the ability of the American and Soviet presidents, John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev, to reach a compromise. Pamphlets were issued on how to survive a nuclear attack and a whole generation grew up with the knowledge that the world could be devastated at the touch of a button.
9		Supermarkets and 'impulse buying' led to a great deal of waste. The growth of supermarkets and prepackaged food also led to ‘impulse' buying (buying something because you see it on the shelves, not because you need it) and the beginning of a huge waste problem, both in food itself and the packaging around it. More During the late 60s and 70s public concern about consumerism grew.
10		Over-production in Europe saw the development of 'food mountains'. Subsidies on food production (grants given to farmers for certain types of food) in the 1970s saw farmers producing very much more than was needed in the European Economic Community (EEC). The food could not be sold and was stored, creating huge food mountains. More The EEC's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) saw a levy placed on imports cheaper than those grown in the EU and other measures to subsidize the internal market, increase agricultural productivity and provide a fair standard of living for the farming community. When the CAP was first devised in the 1950s, the member states imported many agricultural products. By the 1970s and 1980s this was no longer the case and the CAP became extremely expensive due to over-production of the subsidized products. In many years, far more was produced than could be sold. This food had to be stored, creating ‘mountains' and ‘lakes' of produce.
11		Developing countries faced debt and sometimes famine. At the same time developing countries, where much of the population lived in poverty, were facing more and more debt. TV pictures showing the results of famine in Ethiopia made people more aware of this and all over the world new charities arose to help with famine relief. More In the developing countries, people often had insufficient food to maintain their health. In the 1980s, many of these countries applied for financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Ethiopia saw widespread famine in the mid-1980s. The country had to rely on foreign aid to feed its population. Band Aid, founded in 1984, produced the single "Do They Know It's Christmas?", which led to other charitable singles, as well as to the Live Aid concert in 1985 and to Sport Aid and Comic Relief.
12		Society changed greatly and there were calls for greater equality. This period saw huge changes in what people felt was right in society. More people chose to live together rather than to marry. There were calls for equality for women and for people of all races and social backgrounds to have equal access to education and jobs. More The struggle of women to become equal in law, work and pay intensified during the 60s and 70s. Divorce became more acceptable and easier, and single parent families more common. Women started to demand birth control and fulfilling careers, as well as being wives and mothers. Victorian values were mostly rejected and people in the West demanded the freedom to live their lives according to their interests and abilities, not their ‘place in society'.
13		Education in Britain gradually changed. At the beginning of the period, children were split up at 11, some going to grammar schools (12-20% of the population) and the rest to schools with more basic education. Then comprehensive schools were introduced, which gave education to children of all abilities and interests. More The 1944 Education Act provided universal free secondary schooling where entry to type of school was based on the 11+ examination. From the 1960s onwards comprehensive schools, designed to provide an education for children of all abilities, became part of government policy. Schooling became compulsory for all children until the age of 14, later 16. More children, especially girls, started to go to university.
14		The threat of nuclear war led to widespread protests. Fear that the Cold War could lead to a terrible nuclear war led to the setting up of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and a growing demand for world peace. In the USA and Britain, mass peace rallies attracted thousands during the 60s, 70s and 80s. More In the 60s and 70s, protests against the Vietnam War attracted thousands. Then, in 1981, a group of women arrived to protest at the arrival of cruise missiles (with nuclear warheads) at RAF Greenham Common. A peace camp was established and, on 1 April 1983, tens of thousands of protestors formed a 14-mile human chain from Greenham to Aldermaston and the ordnance factory at Burghfield. The protests continued into the late 1980s.
15		The period also saw the growth of human rights and environmental groups. These included Amnesty International, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth. Groups like Greenpeace campaigned about environmental issues. They used direct action but with no violence (e.g. they would form barriers to stop things happening that they thought were wrong). More Greenpeace opposed the use of nuclear weapons, whaling and nuclear power and raised concerns over marine reserves. They used their ship, the Rainbow Warrior, to disrupt the ocean-dumping of toxic and radioactive waste, nuclear testing and over-fishing. Then, in 1985, the French government secretly bombed the ship in Auckland harbour, killing a Dutch freelance photographer. Other more extreme direct action groups included the Animal Liberation Front, which attacked centres producing fur or that carried out experiments using animals.
16		The 1950s saw the start of youth culture and the idea of the teenager. Each youth culture had its own fashion and style (e.g. mods, rockers, hippies, punks, new romantics) and music (e.g. Rock and Roll, Psychedelic Rock, Glam Rock, Punk, New Wave). Fashions in clothes and music were aimed mostly at the teenage market. More The 1950s and early 60s saw the growth of the ‘mods and rockers’. The rockers rode motor bikes and listened to Elvis Presley etc. The mods rode scooters and listened to R&B, Soul and Beat Groups such as The Who and the Small Faces. By late 1966, a new youth culture arose, spreading a spiritual philosophy of anti-materialism, love and peace. The hippie movement and its ‘Flower Power' slogan spread worldwide. Hippies gathered at huge music festivals featuring protest artists like Bob Dylan. The early 70s saw Glam Rock, then around 1974-6 Punk becoming a major cultural phenomenon in the United Kingdom. Punks dressed to shock and listened to hard-edged music often with anti-establishment lyrics by bands like the Sex Pistols and The Clash.
17		Youth culture had a great influence on art, politics and social values. The Hippie movement introduced ideas which have lasted right up to today, from the spread of people living together to the popularity of health foods and alternative medicines. However youth movements also caused concern to the older citizens. More Gangs of mods and rockers fighting in 1964 sparked the first outcry about British youth. Hippies were criticized for their anti-work, pro-drug stance and their permissiveness. The Punk Rock movement, which arose amid the social unrest of the mid 70s, made a show of rejecting mainstream views and opinions and aimed to shock.
18		Fashion in clothing changed quickly and was used to make a statement. Different groups had different fashions that were often used to make a statement. For example, hippies tended to wear flowing, colourful clothes adapted from eastern garments while punk clothing, with its ripped clothes and mohican hair styles, was designed to be confrontational and shocking. More The era saw the clean-cut outfits of the mods and the black leather jackets of the rockers, miniskirts, ethnic inspired kaftans, hot-pants, flared jeans, platform heels and the anti-fashion punk clothing covered with inverted crucifixes, Nazi swastikas, fake blood with spiked jewelry and safety pins as body piercings, followed by the padded shoulder suits and power dressing of the mid-80s.
19		Fashion in the home was also important. For example, bright and exciting materials for curtains replaced dull florals. Open-plan living layouts were seen for the first time, new furniture came from Scandinavia and Italy and DIY gained in popularity. Cosy and warm became unfashionable. Cool, clean and without clutter was the new look. More In the 1950s, patterns of coloured squares and squiggly designs were popular on sofas and chairs, and prints in the style of Jackson Pollock's paintings appeared on wallpapers and textiles. The 60s saw plastic and metallic furniture in bright modern colours. In the 1970s, there was a fashion for strong colours, especially orange; bean-bag chairs, lava lamps and formica tables all came into fashion. In the 80s, people bought bed settees, TV couches and a range of new electronic equipment made viable when the silicon chip became the 'micro chip'.
20		New towns and flats were built to house those who had lost their homes in WW2. A number of new towns were built, which were also used to re-house people in old insanitary housing. In the early years, problems developed as people felt more cut off, without the support of the friends and neighbours they had lived among for years. In many inner city areas, tower blocks replaced low rise housing. More Under the 1946 Act, 28 new towns were eventually built, including such towns as Stevenage and Basildon. Lessons were learnt and, in the later phases, more care was taken to build community facilities. In their early years, the excellent views of tower blocks had made them popular living places. Later, the buildings themselves deteriorated, and people found it difficult to form bonds with others in such huge structures.
21		New social problems arose. More use of illegal drugs saw a lot of money being made by rich criminals who bought and sold drugs for profit. Football hooliganism was a big issue from the 1980s onwards. The tower blocks, built after the Second World War as a "quick-fix" to housing shortages, became areas of rising crime, vandalism and people feeling cut off from the rest of society. More The 1980s saw the start of the growth of 'no go areas' (places difficult to police where people did not want to walk at night). Football grounds sometimes became battlegrounds, deterring families and making it necessary to fence in the fans.
22		The Space Race saw the first manned space flight, the moon landing and the microchip. In 1961, the Russians launched the first manned space flight. This was followed by the first manned moon landing by the Americans in 1969. Because of the Cold War and the Space Race, computers were developed along with linked technologies such as the transistor, followed by the silicon chip and then the microchip. More The development of the microchip led to the revolution in the communications and entertainment industries, which is still going on today. The first personal computers, for home use, had hit the market at the end of this period.
23		TV advertising led to a big increase in entertainment and consumer goods. Dinner parties were popular and, in the 1970s, a new dance craze, the disco, was born. Homes were also full of the latest labour saving gadgets. There was a growth of home shopping and companies offered to deliver goods before people had to pay. Britain was becoming a credit-driven society. More By the 1950s, most homes had indoor lavatories, running water and electric light. Fridges, vacuum cleaners and portable radios were common. In the 60s, 'must-have' items included tea makers, coffee makers, tumble driers, spin driers and the electric blanket. In the 70s you could buy upright vacuum cleaners and dishwashers, electric shavers and iron hair curlers, instant cameras and cassette tape recorders. In the 1980s, the video player started appearing in homes with personal stereos were coming in at the end as the 'must-have' piece of equipment. In the 70s discotheques sprang up around the country and skateboarding became popular with the young.
24		This era also saw the end of European empires and the outbreak of violence in Northern Ireland. The countries in Africa and Asia ruled from Europe demanded, and eventually were given, self government. The early 70s saw a savage outbreak of violence in Northern Ireland, which continued over many years and led to a generation that grew up never knowing peace. More The troubles in Northen Ireland lasted from the late 1960s to the late 1990s and were between the mainly-Protestant Unionist and mainly-Catholic Nationalist communities. The disputes were over political discrimination against the Catholic minority, British rule and Northern Ireland's status within the United Kingdom. The early 80s also saw the Falklands' War with Argentina.
25		Despite improvements there were new challenges to face. There was still a lot of poverty and a lack of opportunity within countries in the West, as well as in the world at large. New problems were also developing. Family ties were breaking down leaving more elderly people isolated and AIDS, a totally new disease, shook the world. More Although, in 1979, Britain had its first woman Prime Minister, equal pay had yet to be achieved. The period also saw the beginning of an explosion of interest in fitness, and health clubs sprang up throughout the country. However, the world was also facing up to the presence of a new, virulent disease which would bring huge challenges and destroy medical complacency forever.

Burns Night Crannachan

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