20/04/81: Teachta Dail visit Bobby Sands

On Easter Monday, 20 April, 1981 Three Irish Teachta Dáil (members of  Dáil Éireann, the lower house of Oireachtas, the Irish Parliament) together with Owen Carron, then Bobby Sands’ election agent, paid a visit to Sands at Maze Prison. Following the meeting the Teachta Dáil called for urgent talks with the British government. Sands had been on hunger strike since March 1st, and subsequently elected to the UK Parliament in the Fermanagh / South Tyrone  by-election on 9 April.

Supporters of Fermanagh South Tyrone MP/Hunger Striker Bobby Sands (source: belfasttelegraph.co.uk)

The British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher announced on 21 April that the British government would not meet the Teachta Dáil. "We are not prepared to consider special category status for certain groups of people serving sentences for crime. Crime is crime is crime, it is not political," she stated.



source: CAIN Web Service

18/2/81: Margaret Thatcher gives in to miners

On 17 February 1981 the BBC announced that the Conservative Government led by Mrs Thatcher had withdrawn plans to close 23 coal mining pits in its first major u-turn since coming to power in 1979. The Secretary of State for Energy David Howell made the concessions at two hours of crisis talks in Whitehall involving union leaders and Department of Trade and Industry officials.

pic.: PA / guardian.com

In 2012 The Guardian reported how Thatcher had described the miners in personal papers as "basically reasonable people" and did not fear that they would follow leader Arthur Scargill to cause further disputes. Mr Scargill went on to lead the miners in a year-long strike - the longest ever in the UK - from March 1984, when the Coal Board announced the closure of 20 pits.

sources: BBC, guardian.

20/1/81: Ronald Reagan becomes 40th President of the United States

On January 20 1981 Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) was sworn in as 40th President of the United States of America. It was the first of two terms, meaning that his presidency lasted until the same date in 1989. Aged 69, Reagan was the oldest person to be made President and also the oldest person to hold the office in his final year, aged 77.

pic: inaugural.senate.gov

During his presidency the US would see a return to conservative foreign and domestic politics with a new emphasis on the Cold War and hostilities towards the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact countries in general. Reagan was also an advocate of free markets and laissez-faire economics, believing that the American economy had been hindered by excessive regulations and social programs. His politics found particular empathy with UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who had been elected in 1979.

pic. realclearpolitics

source: wikipedia