In Part VII of ‘Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay’, CHRIS ROBINSON examines the magnificent 200,000 strong anti-poll tax demonstration that turned into bloody violence in Trafalgar Square on March 31, 1990 which was used to try and smear the movement that was standing up against the Tory government, the rest of […]

Since 1995 kids and adults alike have enjoyed the interactive pleasure that can be found in owning a PlayStation. I remember, back in the early days, owning a PlayStation one. I had a couple of games I really enjoyed, one of them being Tekan. I used to play the character […]

In Part Five of ‘Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay’ with no political party willing to seriously oppose Thatcher’s poll tax, millions of ordinary people begin to organise themselves at grassroots level, often inspired by the historic revolutionary events in the former Stalinist countries of Eastern Europe. The town of Northwich was typical of […]

Part Five in a series of ten articles on the history of the  ‘Anti-Poll Tax Campaign’. CHRIS ROBINSON looks at how the campaign developed at the local level in his own area of Northwich, Cheshire – reflected up and down the country as millions prepared to fight back against the […]

Part Four of ten articles exploring the history of the grass-roots movement against Thatcher’s infamous poll tax. CHRIS ROBINSON looks at the beginning of the fight back. Thatcher’s Tory government introduced the poll tax a year earlier in Scotland following their rejection of ‘Thatcherism’ in the 1987 elections. An acknowledged ‘Labour stronghold’, yet […]

Continuing with his series on the historic ‘Anti-Poll Tax Campaign’ that brought down Margaret Thatcher, CHRIS ROBINSON looks at how the political left were on the defensive in the face of the 1980s Tory government onslaught to end the post-war social consensus. With the Labour Party moving to the right, only the […]

Every year when the festival of Eid comes around, I am constantly asked what is Eid? To which I reply it’s the Islamic Christmas. Well to be honest it’s not but it’s an easy way to explain to my non-Muslim friends, who are curious to find out about this “Eid” […]

Part Two of a continuing series of articles tracing the history of the anti-poll tax campaign. By 1988, following a third election victory, Thatcher’s government was determined to fund local government contributions with a personal tax. It was to be a massive transference of wealth from the poor to the […]