If this was covered on B-BBC at the time, but I can’t find it. Maybe I missed it.
LEFTIES
Wednesday 17 May – Friday 19 May 2006
In this three-part series, Vanessa Engle revisits the turbulent era when the extreme Left was a serious and significant political force that believed it could change the world for the better.Weaving together interviews and archive footage, each film relives a different aspect of the Left in Britain in the 1970s and 80s.
1. PROPERTY IS THEFT
BBC Two: Monday 10 July 7pm-8pm
Fascinating story of a squatted street in the 1970s, where the residents lived by the unconformist ideals of the time.
2. ANGRY WIMMIN
BBC Two: Monday 17 July 7pm-8pm
The rise and fall of an extreme strain of feminism, that called on women to become ‘political lesbians’.
3. A LOT OF BALLS
BBC Two: Monday 24 July 7pm-8pm
The story of the News on Sunday, an attempt by a group from the far left to launch a left-wing, mass-market Sunday tabloid.
There was a similar Radio Four programme in 2004 on “The Revolutionaries”. At the time I pondered the likelihood of the BBC displaying its legendary balance with a matching programme about the far right.
There definitely was a far right in the 70s and 80s – I was involved in demonstrations and other activism against it in various Pennine mill towns. I think we may wait a long time before we see a series of reminiscences by grizzled National Front activists, now tenured professors or running armed compounds in Montana, on those days when “the extreme Right was a serious and significant political force“.
UPDATE – Commenter Will points out this review at the SAU :
One episode in the series, A Lot of Balls, includes a detail that is beyond parody. The programme concerns the ill-fated left-wing newspaper News on Sunday, which appeared briefly in 1987. Alan Hayling, one of the founders, is portrayed as largely blameless for paper’s demise. However, BBC4 leaves it to the final credits to point out that:
Alan Hayling is now head of documentaries for the BBC.
One episode in the series, A Lot of Balls, includes a detail that is beyond parody. The programme concerns the ill-fated left-wing newspaper News on Sunday, which appeared briefly in 1987. Alan Hayling, one of the founders, is portrayed as largely blameless for paper’s demise. However, BBC4 leaves it to the final credits to point out that:
Alan Hayling is now head of documentaries for the BBC.
http://www.socialaffairsunit.org.uk/blog/archives/000816.php
Most Brits are rather partial to a little Socialism, even those who should know better. Many wealthy people use the NHS because “we have paid for it” etc.
Brits of every stripe turn to Government for answers and solutions to whatever ails them, just think of the oft heard cry The Government should DO something!. Not realizising that the very act of turning to Government emboldens politicians and strengthens thier hand.
British people support the BBC in large numbers although it is an Authoritarian Socialist construct because there is an innate desire to be told what to do and preached to simply because complaining about authoity is such great fun (rather like moaning about the weather, the moaning is more fun than a sunny day).
Fighting Socialism in Britain (as Mrs Thatcher was to discover) is a lost cause. The British confuse the warm glow of the Wartime Spirit with the solidarity delivered by Faux Socialism.
As Alexis de Tocqueville said
“Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.”
we have all of the servitude and less and less of the Liberty.
Of the two of these programs I saw, they were both absolute puff pieces except the last few minutes, during which the people were actually asked if they still believed that crap.
Ironically, those who were still “living the life” said no (“I receive a pension, so it would be stupid to bite the hand that feeds me”) and those with nice comfortable middle-class existences said “yes, of course”.
But overall, the programs were both incredibly geared towards the ” wasn’t it so marvellous and noble” line, even when the feminazis were admitting some of the terrible things they had done.
Ahhh…Socialism.
Only a 120,000,000 have been killed in Europe and Asia (USSR included) because of it in the last 100 years or so……..
Maybe this latest Socialist experiment in Europe will finaly get it right….or, kill another Billion in the process of getting it wrong…again.
TORY!TORY!TORY! – Series exploring the history of the people and ideas behind what became known as Thatcherism. BBC2/4 June 2006/Jan 2007.
My favourite of the episodes I saw was the News on Sunday one. From what I recall, in hindsight a lot of the participants put the paper’s failure down to the fact that they were more keen to hire black, lesbian single mothers than qualified and experienced journalists.
I wish I had seen the Wimmin one.
I thought it was a pretty good series! The Wimmin one was about the radical feminist movement which sprang up in Leeds. After living in all women communes for several months, they borrowed porn videos from male relatives and watched them together for research purposes – but never alone, in case they were ‘damaged’ by the experience.
It was a sympathetic series because the senior BBC people who commissioned and produced it were indulging themselves in reminiscences about their youth.
TORY!TORY!TORY! is NOT an equivalent:
1. The Conservatives are a mainstream party. TORY!TORY!TORY! would equate to a programme about the Labour party and the currents within it, not a programme about the extreme left.
2. “TORY” is often used as an insult. The title itself borrows from a war film Tora!Tora!Tora! where the imperialist Japanese stage a surprise attack on American democracy. Gosh! Do you think the documentary the BBC made was celebratory? Did the good guys win?
To be honest I thought the Tory Tory Tory series was good and was shown more or less straight after the Lefties series. If I could buy it on DVD I probably would but it appears to have vanished into the BBC memory hole and is probably sat on a shelf next to “Power of Nightmares” and other shows the beeb wish they had never made. Google can’t even find any BBC pages about the series.
The “Lot of Balls” episode of Lefties was indeed the best. If I remember correctly the paper would only employ deaf people in the post room ! It would be funny of course but sadly it had no affect on the senior peoples careers at all.
Most BBC programmes are not available on DVD or video. This is due to copyright and not wasting LF money on non-profit making exercises rather than a conspiracy. The programme was repeated shortly after original broadcast due to popular demand.
The word ‘Tory’ originated from a derogatory Irish word to describe wealthy English landowners although it no longer carries this meaning, unless all those Conservative Ministers and PMs are referring to their own party in this way!
I think the comparison with Imperialist Japan is stretching it a bit!
Lots on Google about Power of Nightmares, not least BBC webpages dedicated to it.
Mister Minit
“From what I recall, in hindsight a lot of the participants put the paper’s failure down to the fact that they were more keen to hire black, lesbian single mothers than qualified and experienced journalists.”
I’m sure the participant’s analysis of the causes of the failure of the News on Sunday was correct. However, coming back to the BBC: despite the recruitment of “qualified and experienced” but, unfortunately, crap “journalists” (eg Robert Peston, Jeremy Bowen, Roger Harrabin, Gulag Orin etc etc), thanks to the taxpayer the BBC is immunised from market pressure so there is no possibility of its commercial failure.
I saw the first 2 (out of 3) parts of Tory! Tory! Tory! and really quite enjoyed it. I downloaded it but whoever was distributing it forgot to get the third part. Maybe it has turned up now if it was really repeated in Jan 2007.
Every episode was followed by a voiceover saying “tune over to BBC4 now to hear an alternative view of the 80s.” I never get told to change channels to hear an alternative view after some lefty crap.
It is so blatantly named after “Tora! Tora! Tora!” and there’s no point denying it. I didn’t really think of it as a negative thing though, just a fun name.
re: Alan Hayling
If Alan Hayling is a subject in a documentary produced by a BBC department of which he is the head – a major conflict of interest – will there be any action taken against him by his superiors? This is terrible!
Just a quick point but “Tora Tora Tora” is one of this first films that portrays the japanese in a good light.
I watched it recently for the first time expecting a hash job on the Japanese, but the film is basically the complacent US military gets shafted by a determined corps of disciplined fighting men.
Maybe the BBC wanted to show “the enemy” in a good light?
JohnBosworth | 17.02.07 – 9:06 pm
If Alan Hayling is a subject in a documentary produced by a BBC department of which he is the head – a major conflict of interest – will there be any action taken against him by his superiors?
Why should there be? Do you have any evidence that the guidelines about conflict of interest were not followed? Do you have any grounds whatsoever for thinking that Hayling failed to refer this case up to his own line manager? Or that he failed to recuse himself from any editorial decisions?
In any case, Hayling is no longer Head of Docs at the BBC. He resigned last March – two months before this doc had its May screening – and only two years after joining the BBC. Previously he had been head of development at indy, Mentorn. Before that he’d been head of documentary commissioning at Channel 4.
The fact that his interest was declared to the viewer suggests to me that nothing was done on the sly here.
I think the comparison with Imperialist Japan is stretching it a bit!
The point of the BBC deriving their title from “Tora!Tora!Tora!” is surely to invite the reader to draw a comparison. Since each viewer will interpret that phrase in their own way I accept that to many imperialist Japan is an overstatement, although given the frequency of comparisons between Bush and Hitler or now, Blair and Mussolini, not to a certain mindset.
I would suggest that most would associate “Tora!Tora!Tora!” with a successful sneak (or surprise) attack. I actually quite like the title, but I can see that to certain people it has negative conitations.
It must be a generational thing – all “Tora! Tora! Tora!” means to me is the title of a Depeche Mode track from ’81
Martin:
and what do you think that track was named after? 🙂
It may be a myth, but isn’t “Tora! Tora! Tora!” actually what the Japanese pilots said when they began their attack on Pearl Harbor and not just the name of a film? It translates to “Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!” or something?
I have been learning Japanese and as I understand it tora means tiger.
Whether a tiger constitutes a surprise I leave to you to decide.
FTP/Baggie:
I think it is the codename that the Japanese used to signal the end of radio silence.
Cheers
John Reith (above) states that Alan Hayling resigned “only two years after joining the BBC”.
Hayling first joined the BBC after leaving Cambridge in the late 1960’s. He was then a Trotskyite, involved with a newspaper sold at factory-gates called “Big Flame”. He also had an enthusiastic approach towards the IRA, and was shifted sideways inside the BBC when that became overly-apparent during his posting to Northern Ireland in the 1970’s.
The fact that he eventually returned to the BBC as Head of Documentaries indicates something of a homecoming on his part, albeit one that lasted “only two years”.
Tory Look up Tory at Dictionary.com
1566, “an outlaw,” specifically “a robber,” from Ir. toruighe “plunderer,” originally “pursuer, searcher,” from O.Ir. toirighim “I pursue,” related to toracht “pursuit.” About 1646, it emerged as a derogatory term for Irish Catholics dispossessed of their land (some of whom subsequently turned to outlawry); c.1680 applied by Exclusioners to supporters of the Catholic Duke of York (later James II) in his succession to the throne of England. After 1689, Tory was the name of a British political party at first composed of Yorkist Tories of 1680. Superseded c.1830 by Conservative, though it continues to be used colloquially. In American history, Tory was the name given after 1769 to colonists who remained loyal to George III of England.
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Tory