The ConDems’ Cuts: back to the squalor of the 1980s

John Cooper Clarke encapsulated it brilliantly in Beasley Street.. I lived through one recession, unemployed in Coventry after Art college, as the neoliberals began their project. I dread to see the poverty, privations and squalor freely stalking the streets once more. The (actually unprecedented) ConDem cuts and privatisations are intended to finally rip away the social gains made after 1945, to finish the job. They are using a crisis (not of our making) to dismantle the welfare state and cement in place the gross social inequalities required to maintain, nay- to even further inflate- the coffers of a bloated and pointless international financial aristocracy (along with their political and media flunkeys)….

Factory being demolished Aston Birmingham- once a thriving industrial area male unemployment now risen to 43% 1987 © John Harris/reportdigital.co.uk

DHSS Office 1980s, Brixton, London © John Sturrock/reportdigital.co.uk

A homeless family living in a car, after being evicted from their council home for rent arrears © John Sturrock/reportdigital.co.uk

Crowds gathered in the centre of Coventry to greet The People's March for Jobs 1983 © John Sturrock/reportdigital.co.uk

Unemployed youth Coventry 1982 © John Harris/reportdigital.co.uk

Sign welcoming new arrivals with the prospect of employment and job opportunities in Coventry © John Harris/reportdigital.co.uk

Locked factory gates of the demolished Coventry Climax factory © John Harris/reportdigital.co.uk

Relatives mourning at the funeral of Satnam Singh Gill a young asian girl murdered by racists in her parents corner shop Coventry © John Harris/reportdigital.co.uk

Black and white unite at an Anti racism concert by The Specials, Coventry, as "Ghost Town" goes straight to number one in the pop charts © John Sturrock/reportdigital.co.uk