View Full Version : Forgotten Public Panics
Over the years there have been numerous issues/events/crazes that have caused intense panic and hysteria amongst the general public at large here in the UK, and then seemingly forgotten about soon after, once both the public and the media had moved onto the next 'big issue'.
As you all know full well, the foremost panic at the moment (both here and the world over) is Coronavirus. Does anyone remember any big issues/events/crazes during their lifetime (ultimately post-WW2) that became fully-fledged panics and then quickly forgotten?
We were talking about this at work today. Do you remember the supposed petrol shortage a few years ago when there were huge queues at the petrol stations and it caused an actual shortage?
I was in the thick of it when the Falklands War broke out...
Does ANYBODY else remember the numerous scare stories in the press in the 70s when we were told the next Ice Age would be hitting around the year 2000?
I also remember Hong Kong Flu. My Mum and one of my brothers WERE very ill, but the other four of us in the house didn't even catch it.
And then those of us who survived that were supposed to be dying of AIDS...
I was in the thick of it when the Falklands War broke out...
I remember feeling very scared. That must have been frightening, how were you in the thick of it?
I'm not in the UK, but I was 18 on 9/11 and my family is from about 45 minutes outside New York City. It was my first week away at college in Baltimore, which is about 45 minutes from Washington, DC. It was the absolute most terrifying day of my life. All the phone lines were overwhelmed so I couldn't get in touch with my family for a few hours and I didn't know if people I knew in NY had been killed. Afterwards we had no idea what would happen next. I remember looking up every time a plane flew over, being scared to fly, being scared to be in big crowded places, etc... for quite a while. It was the first time I'd been away from home so that made it extra disconcerting! And this is before I had any trace of anxiety!
MyNameIsTerry
04-03-20, 05:29
The big hurricane famously dismissed by one weather forecaster.
The IRA bombings.
A few earthquakes.
The scaremongering and utter nonsense peddled by the health bodies themselves about AIDS.
All those police scary animal posters with hyenas on who were going to rob us.
The oil panic buying mentioned above that only made it worse.
Anyone remember the old public safety adverts that would probably terrify many a millenial? The railway lines, electricity pilon and the knife, the man mowing over his cable (until manufacturers worked out how to prevent the worst of it by getting rid of DC current in the things), and the creepy one about kids drowning.
Going much further back what about the mud slide that engulfed a school killing children and teachers trying to protect them.
I remember the Swine flu pandemic in 2009, the terrorist attacks on the London Underground in 2005. Also the 9/11 attacks in which I remember feeling like it was the beginning of the end of the world and I didn’t struggle much with anxiety then but I think that affected the world and how people viewed flying from then on. Even now watching any documentary or anything i can’t comprehend it. My dad was in the gulf war too and I remember that. I remember when we lived in Germany and having a constant threat of the IRA, I remember something being left underneath our car and my dad going outside to see what it was incase it was a bomb of some description. I was very young then but remember being frightened. I guess when we really think about it, there are always bad things happening and fortunately most of us come through unscathed. Like we say, the media just gets worse year on year. We didn’t have access to worldometer statistics and suchlike when swine flu was going on. If we did I didn’t know about it.
Let's not forget Y2K ;)
Positive thoughts
ankietyjoe
04-03-20, 13:45
My local Greggs opened 12 minutes late one Monday morning and you'd think somebody had been murdered.
Let's not forget Y2K ;)
Positive thoughts
Another Armageddon that never was....
MyNameIsTerry
04-03-20, 14:18
What about all those earth killer asteroids? Been a while since we had one of those threads. The media loved them but these days it's just another yawn worthy space rock passing by...
I remember the Swine flu pandemic in 2009, the terrorist attacks on the London Underground in 2005. Also the 9/11 attacks in which I remember feeling like it was the beginning of the end of the world and I didn’t struggle much with anxiety then but I think that affected the world and how people viewed flying from then on. Even now watching any documentary or anything i can’t comprehend it. My dad was in the gulf war too and I remember that. I remember when we lived in Germany and having a constant threat of the IRA, I remember something being left underneath our car and my dad going outside to see what it was incase it was a bomb of some description. I was very young then but remember being frightened. I guess when we really think about it, there are always bad things happening and fortunately most of us come through unscathed. Like we say, the media just gets worse year on year. We didn’t have access to worldometer statistics and suchlike when swine flu was going on. If we did I didn’t know about it.
The Swine Flu pandemic of 2009 (as things stand so far) was actually far worse than the current CV. And I wasn't overly fazed by it at its peak either. Approximately 28, 456 people in total tested positive for it here in the UK and it reportedly yielded 474 fatalities here to. So far (touch wood), zero CV fatalities here.
I was probably more concerned at the time about the Credit Crunch that started towards the end of 2007 and was probably at its worst during the first half of 2009, and all the constant tales of hypothetical Armageddon-type scenarios due to it, that thankfully never materialised.
The terrorist attacks in Central London in July 2005 were pretty damn scary at the time, even though I live in leafy Staffordshire, several miles away from our Capital, but I remember being extremely freaked out by the English city riots of August 2011, even though thankfully both my town and the county of Staffordshire as a whole were completely unaffected, despite the nearby big cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton being seriously affected. I was traumatised by said disturbances for almost a year, even though, in a physical sense, they never actually affected me directly, but most certainly did mentally and emotionally.
I also remember the big moral panic about 'chavs' from about 2003 onwards, which probably came to a head during the August 2011 riots, then said culture suddenly seemed to peter out rapidly and they (chavs) hardly ever seem to get mentioned these days. I also hate the way that certain places have been labelled 'chav towns' and the general trend of 'town-bashing' that seems to have become increasingly prevalent over the past twenty-odd years or so.
You are not wrong, Kirbear, the media do seem to get worse year on year, and sadly, they seem to be untouchable.
Let's not forget Y2K ;)
Positive thoughtsIt actually happened...twenty years later!
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2020/01/09/2020-brings-back-y-2-k-bug-causing-defects-parking-meters-and-wwe/4419535002/
Sent from my moto g(7) power using Tapatalk
MyNameIsTerry
05-03-20, 05:05
Anyone remember the media going nuts about the flesh eating bacteria? We very rarely see a thread about it on here, in my time here anyway, but I bet the boards had their scare back then.
And the common denominator is always the media combined with anxious people or those easily led.
WiredIncorrectly
05-03-20, 14:04
My local Greggs opened 12 minutes late one Monday morning and you'd think somebody had been murdered.
In 12 minutes I could have made and ate my own breakfast.
whispershadow
06-03-20, 17:30
leaving the EU was supposed to make our economy collapse as well.Brexit's forgotten cause of the coronavirus scare.
ankietyjoe
07-03-20, 20:55
In 12 minutes I could have made and ate my own breakfast.
/whispers - I don't even eat breakfast.
leaving the EU was supposed to make our economy collapse as well.Brexit's forgotten cause of the coronavirus scare.
Personally (and rather ironically), I now see the Coronavirus as a kind of 'drill' for the feared worst-case scenarios concerning Brexit, though I could be talking a load of old pony, of course.
What about the major panic of 1958?
The BLOB!!!
Had the entire country in a frenzy!
What about the major panic of 1958?
The BLOB!!!
Had the entire country in a frenzy!
The BLOB? Please enlighten us (as long as it's not too sensitive a topic, of course).
MyNameIsTerry
09-03-20, 19:47
The BLOB? Please enlighten us (as long as it's not too sensitive a topic, of course).
Not the 'on the' type :sofa: the film with Steve McQueen.
Just thought of another one.
Remember the (UK) Foot and Mouth crisis of 2001?
I clearly remember all the panic that caused at the time, and I especially remember hearing and reading about many businesses in rural communities soiling their underpants due to both the prospect and actual cases of lost custom/revenue due to said crisis and their areas being in lockdown. A bloke who was in a cover band with my brother back then (and was in his early 50s at the time) was convinced that the F&M crisis was actually non-existent and all concocted by Blair and his 'New Labour' govt of the time as some 'hidden agenda' to put farmers and the like out of business and went on to opine that he (Blair) was the worst PM this country had ever had! Talk about totally BS conspiracy theories? I also remember about two years prior to then that very same person also admitted to being very anti-Thatcherite some ten or so years earlier!!
MyNameIsTerry
09-03-20, 20:19
Yes, I remember F&M as it affected what we did sending out engineers and meter readers. There had to be disinfectant trays they could use or we couldn't send them to any farm or even certain larger places.
The Edwina Currie salmonella eggs furore
MyNameIsTerry
09-03-20, 20:58
The Edwina Currie salmonella eggs furore
John Major gave her a stern telling off over that...and then she disciplined him in return :whiplash::emot-puke:
Making it a Major Curried Eggs Scandal...
Remember the 'Happy Slapping' craze that brought panic and terror to many of our streets during the latter half of the noughties?
Where violent thugs would be giving their victim(s) a vicious pasting and it being filmed at the same time, then ending up on the likes of YouTube, etc.
I seem to remember said craze being pretty much gone by about the latter half of 2011 and beyond, and thank god as well. Possibly a by-product of the 'chav' culture of that particular era.
I remember all the panic during H1N1 and Y2k
AIDS, the BIG one, killer bees, nukes, Y2K, west Nile, Ebola, swine flu, the end of the Mayan Calendar, 06/06/2006, Zika....
Damn this makes me feel old...
Oh, and the 2004 asteroid, Apophis... I wonder where that thing is floating now?
AIDS, the BIG one, killer bees, nukes, Y2K, west Nile, Ebola, swine flu, the end of the Mayan Calendar, 06/06/2006, Zika....
Damn this makes me feel old...
In a lot of ways, despite a lot of the horrible and scary threats of the past, I'm kind of glad that I grew up during a seemingly more innocent and carefree time where we didn't have 24/7 rolling news channels, social media and generally less hysterical and sensationalist media. Oh innocence is bliss!!
MyNameIsTerry
15-03-20, 20:26
Killer bees and happy slapping, how could I forget about those! And not long ago we had the creepy clowns too. I was really hoping to bump into one of them on a dark night so I could vent some stress relief on one :winks:
We had other killer species too in recent years. Giant mutant rats as well. All gone as the media have moved on to other things.
Did I mention the flesh eating bug? Like each pandemic that was constantly in the news.
Oh yeah...what happened to MRSA?
Sparkle1984
16-03-20, 21:51
I remember the mad cow disease (BSE) scare in 1996 and it causing CJD in humans who ate infected beef. I was only 12 years old at the time and I remember being scared as I had eaten beef especially when I was younger. At the time, some people were predicting that millions of people in the UK could die of CJD (it has a 100% mortality rate, so in that respect it's scarier than coronavirus). It particularly scared me that scientists said the incubation period could be several years long, so even if you had eaten infected beef in the 80s, you could still die. In the end, only about 200 people contracted CJD and died. I remember in 1996, I was too scared to eat beef for several months, although I gradually reintroduced it into my diet!
24 years later, I am still alive! :) So whenever I see headlines with wild figures saying millions of people could get coronavirus in the UK, I remind myself of the mad cow disease/CJD scare. That's not to say that people shouldn't take it seriously - I am staying indoors as much as possible at the moment to help prevent the spread of coronavirus. I am still fairly young and healthy so if I caught it I would probably survive, but my parents are in their 70s and have underlying health conditions, so I definitely wouldn't want to inadvertently spread it to them.
Hi gang. Just wondering what happened to the coronavirus thread? Sorry, I've been just getting over the leave-me-alone-a-virus!
My dad (currently in a nursing home) has MRSA. He's being treated. They barely bat an eye at it in a nursing home. plus they've locked the door for two weeks because of the coronavirus so nobody can visit their loved ones. He's a tough old guy. Time will tell. I may go get tested for it myself as I was up visiting him a few days ago feeding him and rubbing his head. He has it in his eyes. That's life.
N.
Don't forget the mass panic of 1933...King Kong!
And of course the panic of 1975...JAWS! Dun Dun!
Panicattacka
18-03-20, 05:54
Anyone remember living under the threat of the "4 minute warning" in the 70s and 80s? The Soviet Union could fire nukes that would hit the UK in about 4 minutes and blow us back to the stone age, with added radiation just for shits and giggles. I was a kid at the time, but it depressed the hell out of me and I used to think why bother planning for the future? We could all be dead in 4 minutes!
And then in 1989 the Warsaw Pact suddenly collapsed, and in 1991 even the USSR itself was suddenly gone. All that worrying, and for what?
My dad (currently in a nursing home) has MRSA. He's being treated. They barely bat an eye at it in a nursing home. plus they've locked the door for two weeks because of the coronavirus so nobody can visit their loved ones. He's a tough old guy. Time will tell. I may go get tested for it myself as I was up visiting him a few days ago feeding him and rubbing his head. He has it in his eyes. That's life.
N.
That's another 'crisis' that barely seems to get mentioned in this country anymore. During the first half of the 2000s the Daily Fail, etc were constantly spewing out OTT scaremongering stories about the MRSA bug plaguing NHS hospitals, etc, and remember it blatantly used as a political weapon to bash Blair and Co with during the run up to the 2005 General Election, then strangely, a lot of the hysteria surrounding MRSA was pretty much gone from about 2006 onwards, despite New Labour still remaining in power for another four years!
leaving the EU was supposed to make our economy collapse as well.Brexit's forgotten cause of the coronavirus scare.
It does now seem like the aftermath of Brexit would have been a walk in the park compared to what's happening ATM with this CV pandemic.
I've just remembered the fuel protests of September 2000 and the sudden hatred of the Blair govt at the time. I bet most people wouldn't even have batted an eyelid over those things nowadays under the watch of BoJo and Co, even had the CV pandemic never happened.
George Carlin: Germs.
Warning: Naughty words...hey it's Carlin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X29lF43mUlo
I remember the Swine flu pandemic in 2009, the terrorist attacks on the London Underground in 2005. Also the 9/11 attacks in which I remember feeling like it was the beginning of the end of the world and I didn’t struggle much with anxiety then but I think that affected the world and how people viewed flying from then on. Even now watching any documentary or anything i can’t comprehend it. My dad was in the gulf war too and I remember that. I remember when we lived in Germany and having a constant threat of the IRA, I remember something being left underneath our car and my dad going outside to see what it was incase it was a bomb of some description. I was very young then but remember being frightened. I guess when we really think about it, there are always bad things happening and fortunately most of us come through unscathed. Like we say, the media just gets worse year on year. We didn’t have access to worldometer statistics and suchlike when swine flu was going on. If we did I didn’t know about it.
Just imagine all the uproar had Gordon Brown and Co. imposed a lockdown during the 2009 Swine Flu pandemic, especially as the global, let alone the UK's economy, was completely up the creek when said virus first entered our shores in the late April of that year. He and the late 'New Labour' govt would have been dubbed 'fascists', and the fanatical hard-righters (especially the fledgling EDL) probably would have started riots in our major cities, which not only would have been totally pathetic in the extreme, but also a complete and utter waste of time, just like the pondlife who turned over our major cities during the disturbances of two years later.
And David Cameron, The Scum, Daily Fail, etc, would have had field days constantly screaming out 'BROKEN BRITAIN'!!
Joyriding was another fully-fledged moral panic during the late 80s and the first half of the 90s.
A real shame that from around the mid-80s onwards when car crime started to increase dramatically that a lot of the vehicle manufacturers were caught napping and failed to 'design out crime' from their vehicles.
Also thefts of car audio systems was a big thing back in the 80s and much of the 90s, but rarely ever heard of nowadays.
I know this is still fairly recent, but I remember around 2017 or so, acid attacks were quite a big thing that hardly seem to get mentioned lately. Also around the same period there was also much hysteria over moped gangs, which also appears to have died down a fair bit now.
Just imagine all the uproar had Gordon Brown and Co. imposed a lockdown during the 2009 Swine Flu pandemic, especially as the global, let alone the UK's economy, was completely up the creek when said virus first entered our shores in the late April of that year. He and the late 'New Labour' govt would have been dubbed 'fascists', and the fanatical hard-righters (especially the fledgling EDL) probably would have started riots in our major cities, which not only would have been totally pathetic in the extreme, but also a complete and utter waste of time, just like the pondlife who turned over our major cities during the disturbances of two years later.
And David Cameron, The Scum, Daily Fail, etc, would have had field days constantly screaming out 'BROKEN BRITAIN'!!
And it wouldn't be true for the reverse?
And it wouldn't be true for the reverse?
And I'm sure Labour we're still getting it in the neck this time two years ago when the hysteria over our knife crime epidemic was really going into overdrive from the right-wing rags, who dubbed this country the 'Wild West of Europe', whilst ironically, there barely seemed to be a peep from Jeremy Corbyn over it at the time, who in turn was constantly getting it in the neck himself over being a commie/terrorist sympathiser and of course, an anti-Semite, in which surely MPs from the other parties (including the Tories) must also be guilty of the latter, yet there never seems to be the same outrage!!
What about the Trump Panic of 2020?
I just witnessed a severe case of TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) about an hour ago. Off the rails. I was sitting outside at a small table with a friend chatting over coffee (both of us unmasked by the way). Across the way was a grocery store called whole foods market. Suddenly I heard some guy screaming and we looked over and a masked gentleman probably about 70 to 75 years old was right in the face of another guy screaming at him as loud as he could about I'm sick of it I'm sick of it! I wish I had the presence of mind to pick up my phone and start recording it would have been great. I asked my friend what does it say on the guys shirt? Then the guy turned and it said Trump 2020. Then the Trump guy said to the other guy you must be a Democrat because you're so violent. I started to laugh at that one. There were two security guards there just in case this thing got physical but it didn't. Then the older masked gentleman stormed off into the store completely unhinged. It went on for about 90 seconds. The Trump supporter had a bag of groceries in each hand and was on his way out of the store when the lunatic was walking in. Apparently the guy just saw the shirt and flipped out LOL. We waved the Trump guy over to us and he came over and we chatted for about 10 or 15 minutes. I said that's exactly why conservatives aren't saying much because this insane behavior is not going to sell with the American public. Why step in to try to stop it? Quite a show.
N.
Anyone remember the moral panics in the 90s over the two English cities of Manchester and Nottingham both being plagued by gun crime epidemics and their being nicknamed 'Gunchester' and 'Shottingham', respectively.
I remember Birmingham also went through a similar epidemic during the early 2000s, coming to a head around early 2003 with that notorious incident in the Aston area on New Year's Day, but strangely I don't recall it being given a firearms-themed nickname like the other two.
Pamplemousse
07-08-20, 12:17
Also thefts of car audio systems was a big thing back in the 80s and much of the 90s, but rarely ever heard of nowadays.
That's because car stereos are so tightly integrated into the fabric of the car now that they're unusable outside of it, and generally unique to the vehicle.
That's because car stereos are so tightly integrated into the fabric of the car now that they're unusable outside of it, and generally unique to the vehicle.
At least that's one lasting solution that the vehicle manufacturers got right from the mid-90s onwards.
Surely most average shop-bought car audio systems intended for aftermarket installation are pretty much as cheap as chips nowadays, unlike back in the 80s and 90s when they were desirable (and more costly) 'hot products' like colour TV sets and VCRs.
Anyone remember the moral panics in the 90s over the two English cities of Manchester and Nottingham both being plagued by gun crime epidemics and their being nicknamed 'Gunchester' and 'Shottingham', respectively.
I remember Birmingham also went through a similar epidemic during the early 2000s, coming to a head around early 2003 with that notorious incident in the Aston area on New Year's Day, but strangely I don't recall it being given a firearms-themed nickname like the other two.
Wouldn't be surprised if those firearm- themed nicknames for both Manchester and Nottingham back in the day were engineered by The Scum and/or the Daily Fail, two of the main purveyors of moral panics!!
Anyone remember living under the threat of the "4 minute warning" in the 70s and 80s? The Soviet Union could fire nukes that would hit the UK in about 4 minutes and blow us back to the stone age, with added radiation just for shits and giggles. I was a kid at the time, but it depressed the hell out of me and I used to think why bother planning for the future? We could all be dead in 4 minutes!
And then in 1989 the Warsaw Pact suddenly collapsed, and in 1991 even the USSR itself was suddenly gone. All that worrying, and for what?
I have tended not to take much notice of all the scare panics over the years ... but I certainly remember the 4-minute warning stuff in the 1970s .. coincided with the all power cuts and remember sitting in candle light when the 'leccy came back on to a BBC report on the TV about the Russia threat. Was only about 8 years old but I remember being scared. Seem to remember that there was some threat about them also poisoning water supplies.
Mind you the 1970s were a pretty dreary and scary period in UK history which are better forgotten ... along with the dreadful fashions!
I have tended not to take much notice of all the scare panics over the years ... but I certainly remember the 4-minute warning stuff in the 1970s .. coincided with the all power cuts and remember sitting in candle light when the 'leccy came back on to a BBC report on the TV about the Russia threat. Was only about 8 years old but I remember being scared. Seem to remember that there was some threat about them also poisoning water supplies.
Mind you the 1970s were a pretty dreary and scary period in UK history which are better forgotten ... along with the dreadful fashions!
I don't think a lot of us these days especially, really know we're born, particularly when we keep belly-aching about seemingly trivial things that don't always really matter.
And this is people across all age groups and political/social spectra.
Hopefully this year's Corona pandemic might make us value and appreciate things more from now on.
I have tended not to take much notice of all the scare panics over the years ... but I certainly remember the 4-minute warning stuff in the 1970s .. coincided with the all power cuts and remember sitting in candle light when the 'leccy came back on to a BBC report on the TV about the Russia threat. Was only about 8 years old but I remember being scared. Seem to remember that there was some threat about them also poisoning water supplies.
Mind you the 1970s were a pretty dreary and scary period in UK history which are better forgotten ... along with the dreadful fashions!
Yesterday evening I was watching a very old episode of 'World In Action' from the early 70s (1972) on YouTube about the Angry Brigade, who were allegedly a British hard-left militant movement who had terroristic tendencies, and used to set bombs off in major cities and target high-profile figures (such as MPs), and their attacks allegedly predated the Provisional IRA's first major atrocities on the British mainland.
IMO, 'WIA' represented proper investigative journalism and was often instrumental in successfully addressing many hard-hitting issues of its time prior to its cancellation in 1998. A far cry from a lot of the dumbed down, tit-for-tat garbage that has been known to circulate online in the years ever since, often devised by keyboard warriors (and indeed fake news-mongers) with rabid agendas of their own!!
This morning I posted on one of the Covid threads about wishing social media disappeared from the face of the earth, as I believe it is largely responsible for our increasingly fearful society and kind of feeling grateful that I grew up in the 80s when all we had was news bulletins at set times throughout the day on the TV and radio, plus conventional printed newspapers that didn't rely so heavily on sensationalism and dumbing down, unlike today of course.
But on the other hand, there were some pretty ghastly things that happened during that particular decade, both within our own shores and internationally such as;
The height of the Cold War and the Able Archer incident in November 83, which allegedly brought us pretty damn close to a third world war/nuclear war.
Various (IRA) terrorist attacks (80-89).
Various inner-city riots. (80-89).
High unemployment rates (80-89)
Rising crime rates (80-89)
The miners' strike (84-early 85).
The onset of the AIDS pandemic from around 84 onwards.
The height of UK football hooliganism (80-89) and stadium fires in 85.
The Wapping dispute (86)
Chernobyl nuclear tragedy (86)
Zeebrugge ferry tragedy (87)
Hungerford massacre (87)
Onset of rave culture (late 87-88)
Lockerbie tragedy (88)
Hillsborough stadium tragedy (89)
And various others.
I really dread to think what it would have been like had the Internet, social media and even 24/7 rolling news channels been around back then, but then again VCRs were often the source of moral panics back then, especially the 'video nasties' phenomenon.
MyNameIsTerry
01-10-20, 06:10
Weird year with Covid. We've missed out on many giant killer locusts or mutant rat stories. Strange considering the link to wildlife. God help anyone in China if The Daily Mail have a branch out there :roflmao:
Anyone remember the old public safety adverts that would probably terrify many a millenial? The railway lines, electricity pilon and the knife, the man mowing over his cable (until manufacturers worked out how to prevent the worst of it by getting rid of DC current in the things), and the creepy one about kids drowning.
I took a stroll down public safety advert lane not so long ago...
Things started 'tamely' enough with Willy Weasel sitting up in the road having been knocked down by a car. (It's ok cockers, Willy was ok, but his ice cream was a write off) then I graduated to Charlie Says and the one where the cat prevents child abduction episode, then a montage of about 50 old public safety adverts...
My eleven year old walked in during the 'death by pylon' one, and I think he's scarred for life - so he definitely isn't ready for creepy-reaper-dude who looks on (chuffed) while kids are drowning!
TV horror aside, I think that our near-nuking crisis of the 80s stays with me the most. I was terrified. Everybody was terrified. A year later, we were grooving to FGTH's Two Tribes 12" - handbags in the middle of the dancefloor and enough Shockwaves hairspray to obliterate the ozone: "We got the bomb, we got the bomb, yeeeaaaaaaahhhhh"
Speaking of Ronnie Reagan etc...
Spitting Image IS BACK on the 3rd Oct (I think?) and all the oldies are available to watch.:yahoo:
I, for one, can't wait to see what they've done with Boris, Camilla Parker Bowels (intentional typo) and Katie Hopkins. :yesyes:
This morning I posted on one of the Covid threads about wishing social media disappeared from the face of the earth, as I believe it is largely responsible for our increasingly fearful society and kind of feeling grateful that I grew up in the 80s when all we had was news bulletins at set times throughout the day on the TV and radio, plus conventional printed newspapers that didn't rely so heavily on sensationalism and dumbing down, unlike today of course.
But on the other hand, there were some pretty ghastly things that happened during that particular decade, both within our own shores and internationally such as;
The height of the Cold War and the Able Archer incident in November 83, which allegedly brought us pretty damn close to a third world war/nuclear war.
Various (IRA) terrorist attacks (80-89).
Various inner-city riots. (80-89).
High unemployment rates (80-89)
Rising crime rates (80-89)
The miners' strike (84-early 85).
The onset of the AIDS pandemic from around 84 onwards.
The height of UK football hooliganism (80-89) and stadium fires in 85.
The Wapping dispute (86)
Chernobyl nuclear tragedy (86)
Zeebrugge ferry tragedy (87)
Hungerford massacre (87)
Onset of rave culture (late 87-88)
Lockerbie tragedy (88)
Hillsborough stadium tragedy (89)
And various others.
I really dread to think what it would have been like had the Internet, social media and even 24/7 rolling news channels been around back then, but then again VCRs were often the source of moral panics back then, especially the 'video nasties' phenomenon.
You are so right Lenso! I was out the other day with two of my brothers just for a little BS session along the river. People had to walk between us as we talked...we don't wear masks BTW. They sat on a bench while I stood across the walking path between us (yes it was 6 feet for you covid Nazis). Some people just walked between us and said hello. But others had the look of abject terror. I mean they're insane. We would chuckle. To me the most frightening thing in this whole affair is the stunning willingness for the masses to drop their knickers and bend over for the so called government authority. It's mind boggling. Millions of people have lost their livelihoods because of these loons. And to your point Lenco... it's all been done by using fear as a weapon by the government/media complex to cull the herd.
You are so right Lenso! I was out the other day with two of my brothers just for a little BS session along the river. People had to walk between us as we talked...we don't wear masks BTW. They sat on a bench while I stood across the walking path between us (yes it was 6 feet for you covid Nazis). Some people just walked between us and said hello. But others had the look of abject terror. I mean they're insane. We would chuckle. To me the most frightening thing in this whole affair is the stunning willingness for the masses to drop their knickers and bend over for the so called government authority. It's mind boggling. Millions of people have lost their livelihoods because of these loons. And to your point Lenco... it's all been done by using fear as a weapon by the government/media complex to cull the herd.
I do very much think that the media (both conventional and social) have now essentially become 'the govt' in virtually every Western country and the politicians have inadvertently lost control, no matter how good or bad they might be. The Labour and Lib Dem parties in the UK both seem to have been damaged beyond repair by the media over recent years.
Ironically both parties still fail to stick their heels in and seem to let the media get away with their BS and fake news-mongering all in the name of free expression and democracy.
As far as Covid is concerned, it's just the latest in a long line of issues causing people to turn against each other. The underlying trends of division and polarisation in societies around the world were already apparent long before the start of this year. Over the past 20 years we have had fuel protests, Foot and Mouth, 9/11, second Iraq war, Islamophobia, 'chav' culture, Global Financial Crisis, various natural disasters, racial tensions (especially in the USA), Brexit and the election of dubious politicians worldwide, you name it.
Today whilst out walking the dog I was having flashbacks to March 2018 when we were in the grip of the 'Beast from the East', plus the Skipral poisoning incident in Salisbury and all the frenzied hysteria and constant talk of imminent Armageddon that ensued in the media.
Although pretty damn scary and unsettling at the time, the consequential lockdowns of the affected areas of Salisbury following said incident turned out to be a mere walk in the park compared to the whole of this country going into full-on lockdown just over two years later, let alone the 'whole' of Salisbury this time!
Though not necessarily a 'panic' as such, I never forget that loudmouth bloke who was forever yelling 'STOP BREXIT!' outside Parliament during the last few months of that same year (2018), who seemed to had disappeared by the time of last December's GE. Why the hell did the BBC, ITN, etc have to interview MPs and the like in the street outside the HOP with all that constant wretched background racket infiltrating said interviews, which I personally found extremely distracting. Surely there must be special private rooms inside the Commons and Lords for interviewing MPs. Also it poses a security hazard, especially in this current climate of terrorism paranoia!
I've just remembered another couple of panics from a few years ago.
The Creepy Clown thing during the autumn of 2016, which had mostly petered out already by the December of that year, almost as quickly as it first kicked off.
Acid attacks and robbers on mopeds were a big deal around 2016-18. Also seem to have received less media attention post-2018.
KFC running out of chicken at the start of 2018. I remember people almost crying etc at this..... Sados!
The Creepy Clown thing during the autumn of 2016, which had mostly petered out already by the December of that year, almost as quickly as it first kicked off.
If that clown thing kicks off again, I'm getting myself a massive hound and a clown squeaker toy. Clowns aint so scary when they're running off clutching their crown jewels. :roflmao:
If that clown thing kicks off again, I'm getting myself a massive hound and a clown squeaker toy. Clowns aint so scary when they're running off clutching their crown jewels. :roflmao:
Personally I don't think it would have quite the same impact as before, it would just be another bore-fest.
Unless it became something like creepy/killer cats where nutjobs go around dressed in Pink Panther outfits, or creepy/killer bears dressed in Bungle outfits threatening and putting the boot into random strangers, which I hope I won't unwittingly be responsible for planting such a seed, especially as I don't want those much-loved characters from childhood to be tarnished, let alone all the associated madness involved!
Talking of childhood TV favourites, I'm relieved that so far Geoffrey Hayes (Rainbow, who sadly passed away in 2018), Matt Corbett (Sooty Show), plus the main hosts of the BBC's schools series 'Look And Read' (and each series' respective cast members) all seem to be off the Operation Yewtree radar.
It would really pain me to see all those great childhood treasures suddenly being banned.
Talking of childhood TV favourites, I'm relieved that so far Geoffrey Hayes (Rainbow, who sadly passed away in 2018), Matt Corbett (Sooty Show), plus the main hosts of the BBC's schools series 'Look And Read' (and each series' respective cast members) all seem to be off the Operation Yewtree radar.
It would really pain me to see all those great childhood treasures suddenly being banned.
My seven year old got into the Sooty Show a couple of years ago.
I'ts now done by a guy called Richard Cadell, he's pretty good at it.
He went to see him live a couple of times and still has a signed poster up in his bedroom, bless him.
Anyway, it involved watching old (Matthew Corbett) and new episodes over again and brought back great memories.
Unless it became something like creepy/killer cats where nutjobs go around dressed in Pink Panther outfits, or creepy/killer bears dressed in Bungle outfits threatening and putting the boot into random strangers
I could never take someone dressed up as Bungle seriously Len. :huh:
Zippy has potential though because there was always something sinister about that dude, and I reckon George - with his mesmerising eyelashes and dozy outlook on life- was harbouring thoughts about beating the crap out of Zippy. I felt that way, and I was only 5. :zipit:
which I hope I won't unwittingly be responsible for planting such a seed, especially as I don't want those much-loved characters from childhood to be tarnished, let alone all the associated madness involved!
*off to buy a Grotbags outfit to put the shits up the local brats* :yesyes:
Talking of childhood TV favourites, I'm relieved that so far Geoffrey Hayes (Rainbow, who sadly passed away in 2018), Matt Corbett (Sooty Show), plus the main hosts of the BBC's schools series 'Look And Read' (and each series' respective cast members) all seem to be off the Operation Yewtree radar.
Geoffrey had a very kind face and was very aggregable while I was eating my spaghetti hoops, whereas 'Uncle' Jimmy Jangles (Savile) made my tummy lurch. If 'pervert' has a 'look' - it was him.
MyNameIsTerry
04-02-21, 06:30
Geoffrey had a very kind face and was very aggregable while I was eating my spaghetti hoops, whereas 'Uncle' Jimmy Jangles (Savile) made my tummy lurch. If 'pervert' has a 'look' - it was him.
Have you seen the naughty Rainbow episode online? :roflmao:
MyNameIsTerry
04-02-21, 06:34
I could never take someone dressed up as Bungle seriously Len. :huh:
Zippy has potential though because there was always something sinister about that dude, and I reckon George - with his mesmerising eyelashes and dozy outlook on life- was harbouring thoughts about beating the crap out of Zippy. I felt that way, and I was only 5. :zipit:
*off to buy a Grotbags outfit to put the shits up the local brats* :yesyes:
I always thought George was female from the voice.
Zippy was like Chuckles, a bit iffy. But nothing tops Emu in touching you up, consent or not :ohmy::blush: Rod Hull got away with it in plain sight :winks:
And Rod, Jane and Freddy. Swinging.
Sorry Lenco :doh:
Wasn't Grotbags quite talented in other ways as a singer and entertainer?
MyNameIsTerry
04-02-21, 06:37
If that clown thing kicks off again, I'm getting myself a massive hound and a clown squeaker toy. Clowns aint so scary when they're running off clutching their crown jewels. :roflmao:
Did you see the vid of the bloke who was a bit startled by one but then chased him off? :roflmao:
I used to be walking late at night back then around places you came across few people. I so wanted to run into one of these plonkers and chase his brown trousered ar5e. :yesyes:
I always thought George was female from the voice.
Zippy was like Chuckles, a bit iffy. But nothing tops Emu in touching you up, consent or not :ohmy::blush: Rod Hull got away with it in plain sight :winks:
Ah yes! Forgot about Emu - and I was talking about Grotbags who came from Rod Hull and his Pink Windmill!
It was HILARIOUS when Emu took Parky down. :roflmao:
Wasn't Grotbags quite talented in other ways as a singer and entertainer?
Yes, she was a cabaret singer. I thought she was hilarious.
Another hilarious witch - Fenella the Kettle Witch (Chorlton & the Wheelies) 'Ello little old lady'. :yesyes:
Did you see the vid of the bloke who was a bit startled by one but then chased him off? :roflmao:
It's like that video of a bloke who was hiding in a bin? And he jumped out on a bloke who was so startled he punched him hard in the face lol
I always thought George was female from the voice.
Zippy was like Chuckles, a bit iffy. But nothing tops Emu in touching you up, consent or not :ohmy::blush: Rod Hull got away with it in plain sight :winks:
And Rod, Jane and Freddy. Swinging.
Sorry Lenco :doh:
Wasn't Grotbags quite talented in other ways as a singer and entertainer?
I thought the Rod in Rainbow as part of the 'Rod, Jane and Freddie' trio was Rod Burton.
Remember 'Home Taping Is Killing Music', with the cassette and cross-bones logo on the rear of vinyl LP covers back in the early 80s, most notably on releases from the CBS Records Group (now Sony Music).
That slogan/logo started to disappear from around 1984.
Then some 15 years later panics about music piracy started rearing their ugly head once again when CD-Rs and burning devices started becoming more widespread in the consumer domain, followed by online piracy, in particular the infamous Kazaa site (whose logo was stylised as KaZaA IIRC).
Strangely, hardly anyone seems to make such a big deal over piracy these days to the extent that they did back in the 2000s.
The effing Clown is back roaming through the public dunnies in the old Queens park.
I heard at Centrelink someone kicked him in the nuts :yesyes:
If I see him I would do the same.
There were also the scares about juvenile 'super-predators' back in the early-mid 90s that eventually never materialised. Mainly in the USA but also in the UK to a certain extent, especially following the JB incident in Feb 1993.
Remember the big hoo-ha over 5G masts this time last year?
Hardly even talked about now.
fizzymoon86
04-04-21, 14:46
Does anyone remember when the Large Hadron Collider was switched on and the world was going to be swallowed up into a black hole? I honestly thought the world was going to end and I didn’t sleep that night.
Also I clearly remember when Harold Camping predicting the end of the world in 2011 and people were actually flocking to hill tops so they would be saved in the rapture.
Swine flu pandemic was a big one for my health anxiety!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Does anyone remember when the Large Hadron Collider was switched on and the world was going to be swallowed up into a black hole? I honestly thought the world was going to end and I didn’t sleep that night.
Also I clearly remember when Harold Camping predicting the end of the world in 2011 and people were actually flocking to hill tops so they would be saved in the rapture.
Swine flu pandemic was a big one for my health anxiety!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Strangely enough I don't remember the original Hadron Collider events back in 2008 as they happened, though of course I do vividly remember the news headlines at the same time being full of hysterical forecasts of economic Armageddon, obviously due to the GFC at the time.
Swine Flu I definitely remember, and the accompanying forecasts of Armageddon yet again, but as it happened, it turned out to be a mere walk in the park, especially compared to obvious events since the start of 2020. Ditto for the GFC.
I vaguely recall some kind of EOTW scare around May 2011 (I think) of which no such things actually happened, and likewise the big one at the end of 2012, which again, proved to be a load of old pony!
The late 2000s and the whole of the 2010s was most certainly a vintage period for conspiracy theories and moral panics, and such phenomena seems to be showing little signs of slowing down so far into the early 2020s!
We barely seem to hear about Operation Yewtree these days. Back in 2013-16 people were coming out en masse over instances of historical abuse as children (particularly in the wake of the JS scandal back in late 2012), but the big panic stations over it all mostly appear to have died down now.
I may have already covered this earlier in this thread, but we don't seem to hear as much about crimes committed by persons on mini-mopeds and acid attacks lately, both of which were a big thing back around 2016-17.
Does anyone remember when the Large Hadron Collider was switched on and the world was going to be swallowed up into a black hole?
The way things are going, it would have probably been for the best. :yesyes:
I watched the Panorama artificial intelligence programme the other night and I wished I hadn't...
The way things are going, it would have probably been for the best. :yesyes:
I watched the Panorama artificial intelligence programme the other night and I wished I hadn't...
Blimey Nora, you sound a bit on the morbid side there!
Blimey Nora, you sound a bit on the morbid side there!
Well, we are doing a great job of buggering the planet up aren't we? As for those prats who continually deny global warming, don't start me!
Did you see the Panorama programme? I'm already semi-paranoid about Alexa listening to me talking to myself (I have her on mute most of the time which annoys Hubs as he says it defeats the object :roflmao:)
Well, we are doing a great job of buggering the planet up aren't we? As for those prats who continually deny global warming, don't start me!
Did you see the Panorama programme? I'm already semi-paranoid about Alexa listening to me talking to myself (I have her on mute most of the time which annoys Hubs as he says it defeats the object :roflmao:)
I think we're all to blame for buggering up the planet, Nora, as most of us have been blasé about it all for far too long now
Far too many self-centred barstewards who are blatant non-believers in climate change/global warming who think it's all a big con and also assume that it's the govt out to 'control' us and turn us into a 'fascist' state!
In fact, I've even heard of such people literally emigrating to Spain to circumvent the tax rises on petrol and diesel here in the UK, and playing the 'hard done by' card, especially back when Blair and Brown were in power, simply because they have a 'god-given right' to drive just around the corner to the Co-op or to drop the kids off at school without being unjustly penalised by rising fuel duties.
They also have the nerve to bellyache endlessly about our poor summer weather but they're very much part of the problem jetting to and from countries like Spain several times per year (at least pre-pandemic), thus causing a vicious circle of climate change-fuelled poor weather in this country vs escaping to warmer climes and inadvertantly rubbishing this country all the more. A real self-inflicted, self-fulfilling prophecy in the extreme! (really makes me so cross)!!
Having said that, going back to the excessive road traffic situation in this country, my dad told me yesterday that he has noticed more electric vehicles on the road than ever before over recent months, in which there was previously much hesitancy over.
That certainly can't be a bad thing.
Having said that, going back to the excessive road traffic situation in this country, my dad told me yesterday that he has noticed more electric vehicles on the road than ever before over recent months,
Yeah, I've noticed that too...
I haven't heard of any May Day riots in this country for donkeys years now, which were a big thing back in the early 2000s.
They still remain very much an annual ritual in much of mainland Europe though.
Music piracy was a big thing back in the 2000s, with file-sharing and CD-Rs being the 'pariahs' of the major labels back then.
Back in the early 80s it was blank cassette tapes and the 'Home Taping Is Killing Music' blurb on the rear sleeve of some LPs.
Strangely by the mid-80s, when double cassette decks had become more commonplace, which easily facilitated copying of pre-recorded cassette albums even in portable boomboxes, the scare mostly seemed to had died down.
Added to that, CDs became the norm from about 1986 onwards, which of course facilitated near-perfect cassette copies of material of sound quality equivalent to the original studio master tapes.
There was also the Alcopops panic back in the mid-late 90s (a la Hooch).
Back in the early 80s it was blank cassette tapes and the 'Home Taping Is Killing Music' blurb on the rear sleeve of some LPs.
I used to record the top 40 using a cassette player and a portable radio. You'll do well to find a version of Kate Bush's 'Wuthering Heights' with the sound of the loo being flushed and my mother bellowing up the stairs that our tea's ready!
Heathcliiiiifffee, it's me, I'm Cathy, I've come (OI, YOU PAIR, GET DOWN THESE STAIRS, NOW!) home, I'm so cold, let me in at your window..
Happy days. :yesyes:
I used to record the top 40 using a cassette player and a portable radio. You'll do well to find a version of Kate Bush's 'Wuthering Heights' with the sound of the loo being flushed and my mother bellowing up the stairs that our tea's ready!
Heathcliiiiifffee, it's me, I'm Cathy, I've come (OI, YOU PAIR, GET DOWN THESE STAIRS, NOW!) home, I'm so cold, let me in at your window..
Happy days. :yesyes:
That would have been back in early 1978 when that single was as #1 in the charts. Although it was slightly before my time (I was 1 on my birthday in July that year), I have a copy of that single in the original 7'' vinyl 45 format that was part of a mass cast-off of vinyl singles and LPs back in late 1994 from someone I knew who wanted shut of their old vinyl collection as the format was considered old-fashioned and uncool by then. There were also a few original records thrown in by the likes of 'biggies' such as ABBA and Queen, a real gold mine!
Pretty ironic that those original vinyls that hardly anyone wanted and people even struggling to give away for free back in the 90s, are much sought after and worth an absolute fortune today!
Same for the record player decks themselves, now people can't get enough of them!
I have my Grandads old 78 records and an original 1920 Gramophone
I have loads of old 33 vinyl punk, new wave and classics - Damned, Specials, Altered Images, Stranglers, Smiths, Echo and Bunnymen etc - Deutsche Grammophon classical box sets from old record library sales completely untouched since no-one ever borrowed them and they were selling them off for a quid! Not going to sell any of mine despite the recent enthusiasm on the markets.
Kept my record player, cassette deck etc - not that many of my old cassettes play well any more having been worn out over the years.
Like NoraB - I used to try and tape the Sunday John Peel top 20 output from the radio onto a tape recorder - pity that most of the tracks I taped were cut short by commentary - but you couldn't fault JP. Still miss him on the airwaves.
What times we had before modern technology and streaming...
I have loads of old 33 vinyl punk, new wave and classics - Damned, Specials, Altered Images, Stranglers, Smiths, Echo and Bunnymen etc - Deutsche Grammophon classical box sets from old record library sales completely untouched since no-one ever borrowed them and they were selling them off for a quid! Not going to sell any of mine despite the recent enthusiasm on the markets.
Kept my record player, cassette deck etc - not that many of my old cassettes play well any more having been worn out over the years.
Like NoraB - I used to try and tape the Sunday John Peel top 20 output from the radio onto a tape recorder - pity that most of the tracks I taped were cut short by commentary - but you couldn't fault JP. Still miss him on the airwaves.
What times we had before modern technology and streaming...
Absolutely. Many of us these days don't seem to know we're born!
And I don't blame you for hanging on to your vinyl record collection and player through the CD era, you just can't beat them!
I used to record the top 40 using a cassette player and a portable radio. You'll do well to find a version of Kate Bush's 'Wuthering Heights' with the sound of the loo being flushed and my mother bellowing up the stairs that our tea's ready!
Heathcliiiiifffee, it's me, I'm Cathy, I've come (OI, YOU PAIR, GET DOWN THESE STAIRS, NOW!) home, I'm so cold, let me in at your window..
Happy days. :yesyes:
Out of interest, do you still have that same cassette tape containing the off-air recording of 'Wuthering Heights', infiltrated by the sound of the toilet flushing and your mom yelling up the stairs for you and your sibling to come down for your dinner?
It would probably make for great comedy!
Out of interest, do you still have that same cassette tape containing the off-air recording of 'Wuthering Heights', infiltrated by the sound of the toilet flushing and your mom yelling up the stairs for you and your sibling to come down for your dinner?
It would probably make for great comedy!
Alas, no.
In those days it was a case of owning one cassette tape (donated by Mum or Dad) and recording over it time and time again..
I think it was in 1983 when I got my first 5 pack of TDK as a Christmas present and I was over the moon! Can you imagine a teenager getting excited over that these days? :roflmao:
Like NoraB - I used to try and tape the Sunday John Peel top 20 output from the radio onto a tape recorder - pity that most of the tracks I taped were cut short by commentary - but you couldn't fault JP. Still miss him on the airwaves.
Sundays in the 70s were about the Top 40 and then in the 80s it was the Top 40 and then Annie ('Hi') Nightingale's request show..
I loved John Peel. Great music. Dry sense of humour. He's like Marmite was JP - you either loved or hated him lol
Alas, no.
In those days it was a case of owning one cassette tape (donated by Mum or Dad) and recording over it time and time again..
I think it was in 1983 when I got my first 5 pack of TDK as a Christmas present and I was over the moon! Can you imagine a teenager getting excited over that these days? :roflmao:
Blank cassettes themselves were still fairly expensive back then, so home taping borrowed LPs was technically a false economy, as not only were the background noises and general imperfections typical of the vinyl disc format also transferred to the cassette, but apart from ultra high-end decks with Type IV tape capabilities, Dolby C and ultimately, tape calibration facilities (auto or manual), most common-or-garden domestic cassette machines often produced recordings of sub-standard sound quality, plus an increasing number of decks in all-in-one home audio systems by the mid-80s had auto recording level control, and by the 90s, flip-up permanent magnet devices in lieu of proper electronic erase heads which usually tend to cause a lower-mid frequency background hiss on the tape, similar to white noise.
As for teenagers getting excited over a 5-pack of blank cassettes for Xmas or their birthdays, of course it would have been a bigger deal back then in the mid-80s, because it was all most kids knew at the time, coupled with the fact that the main hi-fi system in living rooms was mainly the preserve of dads, and usually out of bounds to the kids.
Even Walkmans were much derided by older generations at the time and just like video games, then smartphones some years later, were scapegoated for corrupting kids.
As for teenagers getting excited over a 5-pack of blank cassettes for Xmas or their birthdays, of course it would have been a bigger deal back then in the mid-80s, because it was all most kids knew at the time, coupled with the fact that the main hi-fi system in living rooms was mainly the preserve of dads, and usually out of bounds to the kids.
Our dad had the hi-fi and it was all separate tuners, tape and record decks etc and with speakers the size of tower blocks. My old man used to place them for the 'ultimate stereo sound' - which was hilarious seeing as he was deaf in one ear! :roflmao:
When you think that we went from these systems that took up half the living room to walking around with a gadget the size of a large stamp with the iPod Shuffle?
Even Walkmans were much derided by older generations at the time and just like video games, then smartphones some years later, were scapegoated for corrupting kids.
I wouldn't be without my music and ear buds. :shades:
Crikey - I remember those 5-packs of TDKs ... long since used every one up taping over again and again.
My hi-fi stack is still turntable, cassette deck, CD deck and tuner. Have replaced all components over the years, but thankfully each unit has got a little smaller and compact - especially the speakers!
Mixture of Sony, Technics and Yamaha ... costs a fortune to replace these days if you want pristine and not second hand. Wouldn't be without my stack which I have had for last 15 years.
Crikey - I remember those 5-packs of TDKs ... long since used every one up taping over again and again.
My hi-fi stack is still turntable, cassette deck, CD deck and tuner. Have replaced all components over the years, but thankfully each unit has got a little smaller and compact - especially the speakers!
Mixture of Sony, Technics and Yamaha ... costs a fortune to replace these days if you want pristine and not second hand. Wouldn't be without my stack which I have had for last 15 years.
I have amplifiers connected to the internet and my Amazon playlists. We don't have room for anything else.. I also have a small record player for when I want to hear those vinyl crackles and hisses. :shades:
One of the staff at my day centre the other day told me that they remember animal rights protesters being quite a big thing back in the 80s, with fur traders and butcher's shops often being on the receiving end of attacks and threats, with the slogan 'Meat Is Murder' often being daubed on the front window panes of the latter.
Bank robberies and 'smash-and-grab' attacks on jeweller's shops were also quite big things back then, that we don't tend to hear so much about nowadays.
Even the petrol panic-buying thing about a month ago already seems like water under the bridge and barely mentioned anymore.
However, at the time there was a bit of a sense of 'deja vu', like it was September 2000 all over again, 21 years later!
Nevertheless, both then and now, it blatantly demonstrates the 'mug' and sheep/bandwagon-jumping mentality of much of the Great British Public!
Anyone remember all the epidemics of food poisoning incidents and their resulting big panics back in the late 80s-mid-90s era (Salmonella, BSE, etc)?
Hardly ever discussed these days.
Sparkle1984
12-12-21, 12:35
Anyone remember all the epidemics of food poisoning incidents and their resulting big panics back in the late 80s-mid-90s era (Salmonella, BSE, etc)?
Hardly ever discussed these days.
Yes, I remember that well. I was 12 years old when the BSE/CJD scare was in the news in 1996. I remember seeing catastrophic headlines saying that one scientist predicted a third of the UK population would end up dying of CJD! Thankfully that didn't happen of course, but I was so scared at the time that I gave up eating beef for several months (even though any damage would have already been done, as some of the infected meat was sold in the 80s).
I also remember another food scare in the mid 90s in which a man threatened to infect food at the main Big 4 supermarket chains with HIV unless he was paid a ransom. This also made me anxious at the time.
Richard1960
12-12-21, 14:55
Growing up in the 70s I can remember bread shortages yes bread ! people were literally stripping shelves ,and a panic over sugar you at one time were lucky to get a bag after the panic buying .
Growing up in the 70s I can remember bread shortages yes bread ! people were literally stripping shelves ,and a panic over sugar you at one time were lucky to get a bag after the panic buying .
Some things don't change then.
But the 'Internet' of the 70s didn't really go any further than telexes, and the TV, radio, conventional printed newspapers/magazines, etc were the 'social media' of the day.
Yes, I remember that well. I was 12 years old when the BSE/CJD scare was in the news in 1996. I remember seeing catastrophic headlines saying that one scientist predicted a third of the UK population would end up dying of CJD! Thankfully that didn't happen of course, but I was so scared at the time that I gave up eating beef for several months (even though any damage would have already been done, as some of the infected meat was sold in the 80s).
I also remember another food scare in the mid 90s in which a man threatened to infect food at the main Big 4 supermarket chains with HIV unless he was paid a ransom. This also made me anxious at the time.
Just imagine how we would have coped with a global CJD 'pandemic' back in 1996, what with national lockdowns when the Internet as we know it today was still very much in 'niche'/'elitest' territory before starting to enter the mainstream around 1998-99? The economy would have been totally shafted, probably even worse than in 2020 and early 2021!
As for the HIV food infecting threats at the 'Big 4' supermarket chains back then, wasn't Bournemouth one of the main affected areas? Also that would have no doubt been declared an act of terrorism had it happened today.
Whilst I don't remember the threatened HIV poisoning events first-hand, I'm sure I read about them online years later, possibly last year or even earlier this year. I don't actually recall the mega CJD scare of 1996 first-hand either.
Sometimes ignorance is bliss, and the 90s, in spite of its respective crises, did seem like a more innocent and carefree decade at the time, though in reality, all isn't always quite what it seems, or seemed at the time.
Twas ever thus, and all that.
MyNameIsTerry
12-12-21, 17:13
I don't know what you’re worried about. I’ve been eating British beef all my life.
https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article3028182.ece/ALTERNATES/s1200c/Roger-Lloyd-Pack.jpg
:roflmao:
https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article3028182.ece/ALTERNATES/s1200c/Roger-Lloyd-Pack.jpg
:roflmao:
Me too, and I'm still alive and well!
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions Inc. All rights reserved.