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How The 70s Completely Destroyed Britain's Economy | EP 4

The Rest Is History

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Our whole series on the 70s can be found here: Britain In The 70s
EP 1: How Economic Calamity Led To Thatcher's Ri...
EP 2: Why Did Britain Originally Join the EU? | ...
EP 3: The Most Mysterious Resignation in British...

How did the new British Prime Minister, Jim Callaghan, intend to keep Britain from bankruptcy in 1976? What extreme new step might have seen riots in the streets? And, would labour survive the greatest financial scandal in British history?

Join Tom and Dominic as they reach the epic conclusion of their dramatic series on the most uproarious years of the 1970s in Britain, including the high point of the crisis, and the rise of punk.

0:00 Sex Pistols shock Britain on live TV
4:36 Jim Callaghan: Britain’s old-school Labour PM
11:07 Why Callaghan was compared to Stanley Baldwin
13:12 Callaghan’s cabinet: Healey, Foot, and Benn
16:25 Britain’s economic crisis
20:15 Sterling collapses
22:24 Britain’s summer of crisis
24:07 Tony Benn’s Alternative Economic Strategy (AES)
27:02 Healey’s interrupted holiday
29:54 The Labour conference from hell
31:42 Callaghan’s “borrowed time” speech
34:36 Healey turns back at Heathrow
36:55 Sex Pistols, Bill Grundy, and the IMF drama
38:06 Healey faces Labour conference fury
41:56 Interest rates hit 15%
43:28 Punk captures Britain’s “no future” mood
46:51 IMF inspectors arrive in London
48:08 The ghost of Ramsay MacDonald
50:14 The crisis meetings...
57:48 The Sex Pistols step in
1:01:29 Callaghan wins the cabinet battle
1:04:46 Did Callaghan prepare the way for Thatcher?
1:07:48 Thatcherism ahead...

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20 Comments

@mookie2637 5 months ago (edited)

Tom's Johnny Rotten is probably my favorite RiH impression to date. By a considerable margin. It's the sheer glee of it - perhaps partly motivated by the point that, at least from the relevant chapter in Seasons in the Sun, Dominic is very much not a punk fan. He's more of a classic public school Genesis type.....

@tonyB1467 2 months ago

Please do a continuation of this series. It was incredible!

@carrolld.1066 4 months ago

The discussion of Britain's economic plight and, in particular, the weakness of the pound reminds me of a cartoon published in (I believe) Private Eye around this time: It depicts Robin Hood and his band (Little John, Friar Tuck and others) confronting a well-dressed toff who is trembling and has his arms in the air. Robin Hood has taken the man's wallet and is flinging bank notes in the air as he snarls, "Pounds! Pounds! Pounds! Haven't you got any Deutsche Marks?!"

@Tom_Skelton 5 months ago

I'm not with Chairman Mao. He made war on birds!

@MrGoneTroppo 5 months ago

My mother used to say to me "I tell you in all candour that that option no longer exists"

@bullholder 5 months ago

Can't get over the constant Tony Benn impressions

@aidanbarrett9313 5 months ago

Imagine if Mao-praising Tony Benn in the 1970s was told that a US president from the Republican Party in the 2020s preached the need for be more mercantilist against a China that had gone capitalist and became home to most of the world's industry!

@ALNinotothemoon 4 months ago

I know the RIH loves the Beatles and the Stones but I would respectfully suggest that The Who would warrant a RIH series too. Highly influential, incredibly gifted quartet with plenty of stories to tell... Keith Moon would probably warrant an episode by himself.

@vinista256 3 months ago

Wow--this is fascinating. I never fully appreciated how the big-picture trends in Britain and the U.S. mirrored one another in the late '70's. Jimmy Carter was our Callaghan. He was a good man who did the best he could in a time of stagflation and wounded national pride (in our case, not because of the IMF, but because of the aftermath of Vietnam, "losing" the Panama Canal and our puppet in Nicaragua, and the Iran hostage crisis). But, in the end, the economic problems were beyond his ability to solve, and the compromises he made alienated the left flank of his party, too. It's remarkable that two countries with governments structured so differently could run on tracks that so closely paralleled one another.

@WestminsterSnark 2 months ago

It's not that it's not good idea to spend when things are bad. What's important is to not spend when things are great. That's when you stop spending. You spend when you're down

@montyshield8876 2 months ago

Labour Party: “We don’t really do anything to actively educate our membership on key political issues or the key economic debates.”

Also the Labour Party: “I hate how low-level the economic understanding of our membership is.”

@kelleyfrench9663 5 months ago

The fact that both of you like Siouxsie just makes me love you that much more. :)

@jameshogan6142 5 months ago

The one bright prospect on the horizon that memorable summer was James Hunt winning the F1 world title from reigning champion Niki Lauda.

@TheMaumonta 5 months ago

An Italian fan here, finally you gave me a true historical context to my love for rhe Sex and Siouxsie. As a backpacker in England in 1979 I truly loved this episode (and I bought three of Your books). Great pod

@judahcartier8281 4 months ago

What a joy it is to listen to these guys weave a story while injecting their humor. They’ve gotten me through many a workout at the gym and chore about the house. My eternal gratitude to you gentlemen. Thank you so much for the work you put in!

@citizenpmd565 4 months ago

And fifty years later, nothing has changed and we're having the same arguments about the economy, industry and benefits.

@bradshawvincent 4 months ago

For an insight into the effects of unemployment during the 1980s i recommend watching Alan Bleasdales TV series Boys From the Blackstuff. In particular the disintegration of Yosser Hughes who's catchphrase was 'Gis a job' . Brilliant and heart renching played by the late Bernard Hill.

@jojonesjojo8919 5 months ago

You forgot the rest of the Sex Pistols interview, where they called the presenter a “fucking rotter” - a phrase I try to use at least once a month.

@IanCross-xj2gj 1 month ago (edited)

31:00 Labour party at its loony best 😂 Wedgewood Benn impersonation was spot on ❤

@jdg_overthinking 4 months ago

I love how British people say weekend (11:41). I have learned so many fun British expressions watching Tom and Dominic - my new favorite one is "wittering on" - although I am one of those horrible tax-dodgers (Americans), as Dominic would say.