Forty years ago, in March 1984, the National Coal Board, backed by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, announced the closure of 20 coal mines in Britain. The National Union of Miners responded with a nationwide strike that would last almost a year.

On this audio edition of Moments in History, we will be discussing the 40th anniversary of the miners’ strike with three eminent historians, exploring the causes, the socio-political ramifications, and the wider reverberations left in the wake of the miners’ strike.

We welcome Jörg Arnold, author of "The British Miner in the Age of De-industrialisation: A Political and Cultural History," Natalie Thomlinson, co-author of "Women and the Miner’s Strike, 1984-1985" with Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite, and Stephen Brooke, author of "London 1984: Conflict and Change in the Radical City," to discuss the strike and contextualize Britain in the 1980s.

You may have access to the full books on Oxford Academic through your institution. Sign in and start reading today.

The British Miner in the Age of De-industrialisation: A Political and Cultural History by Jörg Arnold: https://academic.oup.com/book/51718 

Women and the Miner’s Strike, 1984-1985 by Natalie Thomlinson and Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite: https://academic.oup.com/book/47096 

London 1984: Conflict and Change in the Radical City by Stephen Brooke: https://academic.oup.com/book/55815 

Follow OUP History on X for more #MomentsInHistory content: https://twitter.com/OUPHistory 

This episode was produced by Steven Filippi and Jack Dugan. You may also watch it on YouTube at Oxford Academic: 

© Oxford University Press

Moments in History: The UK Miners' Strike 1984-1985

On this episode of The Side Comment, T.V. Paul discusses five essential questions about India's economic, military, and soft power rise in the past 30 years, and how it will shape the outcome of this spring's election.

T.V. Paul is James McGill Professor of International Relations in the Department of Political Science at McGill University, Montreal and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He served as the President of the International Studies Association (ISA) for 2016-17. He is also the Founding Director of the Global Research Network on Peaceful Change (GRENPEC). His books include "The Warrior State: Pakistan in the Contemporary World" (2013) and "Globalization and the National Security State" (with Norrin M. Ripsman, 2010), and he is the lead editor of "The Oxford Handbook of Peaceful Change in International Relations" (2021).

Learn more about "The Unfinished Quest: India's Search for Major Power Status from Nehru to Modi" here: https://oxford.ly/3IS2AEf

Listen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkVMgwJ4oe4

The Side Comment Crew:
Executive Producer: Steven Filippi
Host: Sarah Butcher

Music: Filaments by Podington Bear is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Podington_Bear/Inspiring/Filaments

© Oxford University Press

T.V. Paul on India's 2024 General Election - Episode 42 - The Side Comment

Come Back Like the Sea sets words from Sara Teasdale's poem 'Ebb Tide', in which the author uses the metaphor of the ocean's tide to symbolize life's inevitable ups and downs. The music captures the text's sea imagery and strong sense of yearning with a captivating opening soundscape that includes improvised sea sounds from the Basses, melodic lines that ebb and flow like the tide, and an expressive piano accompaniment that weaves throughout the work.

More on the OUP site

Come Back Like the Sea - Katerina Gimon

This short work by Marques L. A. Garrett sets a beautiful and poignant text by Paul Laurence Dunbar that tells of the healing effects of music and how our own music-making can spread joy to those around us. The warm chordal texture and stirring harmonies bring to life the beautiful narrative of the poem.

The Lesson - Marques L. A. Garrett

Hazzard's enchanting Sanctus, setting text from the Latin Mass, captures the feeling of a rushing current throughout. Though the energy often pulsates below the surface, it bursts through at the zestful exclamations of 'Hosanna!' where Hazzard introduces complex metres, body percussion, and a balance of slow-building swells and sudden dynamic changes. Suitable for concert use, this piece features imaginative text-setting and driving rhythms that create an engaging experience for singers and listeners alike.

Sanctus - Matthew Lyon Hazzard

A Birthday sets a poem of the same title by Christina Rossetti. Chydenius reflects the vivid imagery in the text of the verses through beautiful vocal lines with swirling countermelodies. The choruses set the words 'my love is come to me' in a powerful antiphonal texture.

A Birthday - Jussi Chydenius

Written in an a cappella style with scat accompaniment, A Tree is a Song is a joyful celebration of the connections and affinity found in nature and how wisdom and knowledge can be passed on 'as a melody from tree to tree'. McDowall's setting of Heather Lane's text embodies the theme of connection as the parts imitate and respond to each other, sharing in the heartwood's song.

A Tree is a Song - Cecilia McDowall

This is a compelling setting of words by American writer and civil rights activist James Weldon Johnson that speaks to the way the power of song can help to overcome dark times. Garrett brings the powerful text to life through dynamic and textural contrasts, a passionate melody, and imaginative harmonies.

The Gift to Sing - Marques L. A. Garrett

Dhire-dhire sets a 'dohe' (couplet) by the fifteenth-century Indian mystic poet Kabir on the topic of patience. Esmail explores the soundworld of the Hindustani classical tradition, with characteristic vocal ornamentation in the solo lines, and the score includes both devanagari script and a transliteration, for ease of reading.

Dhīre-dhīre - Reena Esmail

Kate O'Regan, founding director of the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, discusses media freedom and free speech in South Africa, where she served as a judge of the Constitutional Court from 1994-2009. 

O'Regan begins by looking at the history of South Africa and the oppression of speech in the apartheid era. After putting the country's present media environment into its historical context, she goes on to outline key provisions of the constitutional framework and examine three subject areas that have been brought up before the courts, namely the issue of media in the courts, law of defamation and libel, and hate speech. O'Regan concludes by noting that speech will always be contested in democracies. The fact that it is in South Africa is a good thing given the country's strong tradition of free speech and press freedom and the court's continuous effort to uphold those freedoms.

DPIR

Media freedom and free speech in South Africa

Podcasts produced by the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford.

Media freedom and free speech in South Africa

DPIR Oxford

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