1980

Steel workers stage their first strike in over 50 years

Black film collective Ceddo Film and Video Workshop established

1981

Race riots in Brixton and Toxteth

Women organise Greenham Common protests against decision to site nuclear missiles in the UK

1982

Argentina invade the Falkland Islands leading to the Falklands War

British National Party (BNP) founded

Channel 4 launched

The Black Audio Film Collective formed in Hackney

BBC televise Roger Graef and Charles Stewarts's Police, a fly-on-the-wall documentary about the realities of police work

1983

Margaret Thatcher wins landslide election victory

Over one million people join biggest ever CND march in London

Sankofa Film and Video collective established

1984

Mineworkers begin a national strike that lasts nearly a year. One of the strike's most violent confrontations takes place on June 18 at Orgreave, Yorkshire

Data Protection Act passed

IRA bomb attack on Conservative party conference in Brighton

ACTT (Association of Film and Television Technicians) Workshop Declaration

Isaac Julien directs Territories, produced by the Sankofa Film and Video collective

Tate organises the first Turner Prize

1985

Racial unrest and rioting in many British cities

Anglo-Irish Agreement signed, Britain agrees to confer with the Republic over matters relating to Northern Ireland's nationalist minority

1987

Margaret Thatcher states 'there is no such thing as society' in Woman's Own magazine interview

World stock market crashes

1988

British government imposes broadcasting ban against Sinn Féin and other paramilitary-linked groups

Lockerbie Plane Disaster

20th Century Words records the term 'Dependency Culture'

Autograph ABP, an International non-profit making photographic agency, formed

Damien Hirst organises Freeze exhibition, marking the emergence of Young British Artists (YBAs)

1989

The African and Asian Artists Archive (AAVAA) formed