61–70 of 99 posts
Whenever I leave a job, or an office closes down, I print up a few copies of the Kak poster, and leave them hidden around: https://scarfolk.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-dont-campaign-and-... I've also gotten the Scarfolk book, and it is genuinely a weirdly creepy piece of art.
I know the 1970s were the malaise decade for a lot of places, but the situation in the UK always seemed... malaisier than anywhere else. What was going on then? I see clips of children's shows from 1970s UK and a lot of them are just creepy and not age-appropriate.
As a kid that grew up in the 80s in the UK and caught the tail end of the educational videos mentioned in the article - the government of the day did use brutal imagery to try to instil fear in kids back then. I remember explicit imagery of burns from fireworks and … a really nasty “educational” video about a kid who tried to rescue a frisbee from an electricity substation that then dies of electrocution. We had also…
That's right, except the bit about "general strikes". There were flying pickets: workers would travel across the country to support strikes by workers in other industries, rather like football fans. But to the best of my knowledge, the only General Strike in the UK happened in 1926.
Britain’s current government can be alarmingly Scarfolk-like at times. Take this graphic tweeted by the Prime Minister: https://twitter.com/RishiSunak/status/1633158789103747072 “If you come to the UK illegally you will be DENIED access to the UK’s modern slavery system” Put that in a 70s typeface and slightly weathered poster appearance and it’s pure Scarfolk.
"Modern slavery system" is hilarious, but even more worrying is claim that one might ever lose the modern society's protrection against being enslaved under some conditions.
Admittedly, their modern system is a huge improvement over v1
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nothing worked reliably due to constant industrial action. We had a low-level civil war due to the IRA, with bombings being almost routine. We felt like we would be the first to go if the cold war went hot, due to the strategic importance of the radar base at RAF Fylingdales and the USAF base at Greenham Common. The decade was underscored by a pervasive fear of total societal collapse. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T…
Interesting to see the three day week being blamed on industrial action. The industrial action was caused by workers losing spending power because of insane oil price inflation shocks. The government used this to cut public sector pay. The shocks were caused by Arab-led OPEC objecting to US support for Israel in the Yom Kippur war, and the US was just as affected. https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Oil_crisis_of…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_United_Kingdom_miners%27_...
> I finally discovered that I hadn’t imagined it—it’s a 1977 public information film called “The Finishing Line,” which was made to deter children from playing near railway lines. The film was screened at my junior school https://youtube.com/watch?v=SXGqwCbeFD8
I still have difficulty crossing rail tracks on foot after that film. Same period was "Apaches" (farm safety), in which 10 children are killed one by one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3yyKFaq-aw
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gashlycrumb_Tinies
... I feel like some cultural element, at least during a certain era, is coming into focus for me.
I know the 1970s were the malaise decade for a lot of places, but the situation in the UK always seemed... malaisier than anywhere else. What was going on then? I see clips of children's shows from 1970s UK and a lot of them are just creepy and not age-appropriate.
Probably not unrelated to the Yewtree types being untouchable in that period.
I know the 1970s were the malaise decade for a lot of places, but the situation in the UK always seemed... malaisier than anywhere else. What was going on then? I see clips of children's shows from 1970s UK and a lot of them are just creepy and not age-appropriate.
If the BBC is making a tv show or something out of it, it would be awesome if they built such a place . Obviously just parts and like a film set.
Do more and I am sure it would become a tourist attraction. I would love to visit.
Even more awesome if they had it staffed with actors.
A lot like Dismaland
Britain’s current government can be alarmingly Scarfolk-like at times. Take this graphic tweeted by the Prime Minister: https://twitter.com/RishiSunak/status/1633158789103747072 “If you come to the UK illegally you will be DENIED access to the UK’s modern slavery system” Put that in a 70s typeface and slightly weathered poster appearance and it’s pure Scarfolk.
I think the reality inspired the satire. E.g. the (also very 1984) "SECURE BENEATH THE WATCHFUL EYES" poster from 2002: https://art-for-a-change.com/News/eyes.htm And the banned 1997 Conservative election campaign posters: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/guardianwitness-blo...