{"id":3577,"date":"2013-04-09T08:36:38","date_gmt":"2013-04-09T07:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=3577"},"modified":"2013-04-09T08:36:38","modified_gmt":"2013-04-09T07:36:38","slug":"i-bet-thatchers-got-a-hand-in-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2013\/04\/09\/i-bet-thatchers-got-a-hand-in-this\/","title":{"rendered":"I bet Thatcher's got a hand in this ..."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In 2006, BBC \u00a0Radio 2 broadcast a series of radio ballads that were based on the original and iconic late\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/radio2\/radioballads\/original\/orig_history.shtml\">1950s<\/a> stories and songs about industrial life that involved Ewan McColl, Peggy Seager, and many others. \u00a0The 2006 versions reflected the realities of heavy industrial decline, and the impacts these had had on communities. \u00a0I thought of these last night as I watched the classy, and very Briish, Channel 4 programme by Jon Snow about the late Margaret Thatcher \u2013 and Jon Snow.<\/p>\n<p>This 2006 ballad, by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.johntams.co.uk\">John Tams<\/a>, is about the decline of the steel industry around Sheffield and\u00a0the Don valley. \u00a0It is a back-handed, but significant, tribute to Mrs Thatcher, whom I once met in another life.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Vulcan sez to Lucifer, \"Tha's fallen into t'neet<br \/>\nIt's me as meks this valley ring and keeps these flames aleet\".<br \/>\nLucifer to Vulcan sez, \"I'm still the gaffa here<br \/>\nI've signed up another demon and it's 'im you'll come to fear<br \/>\nSo it's nowt to do wi' me owd lad.\" Vulcan sez \"I know thee game<br \/>\nI bet Thatcher's got a hand in this.\" Sez Lucifer \"For shame!\"<br \/>\n\"Come on Luci, what's the beggar called?\" He answered wi a grin<br \/>\n\"Maggie sez his name's MacGregor. It won't be t'last you'll hear of 'im.\"<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Click\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/radio2\/realmedia\/radioballads\/vulcan.ram\">here<\/a> for some background, and to hear it sung by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.coopeboyesandsimpson.co.uk\">Barry Coope<\/a>. \u00a0And go <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=AhqS-vvmsH4&amp;feature=youtube_gdata_player\">here<\/a> if you'd like to hear it sung by John Tams himself, and to hear the song <em>Steelos<\/em>. \u00a0The two are often sung together. \u00a0These songs usually make me wonder about the realities of (sustainable) development and the inevitable winners and losers in all such processes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 2006, BBC \u00a0Radio 2 broadcast a series of radio ballads that were based on the original and iconic late\u00a01950s stories and songs about industrial life that involved Ewan McColl, Peggy Seager, and many others. \u00a0The 2006 versions reflected the...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3577\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}