Maggie's Millions

In 1972 unemployment in the UK hit 1 million people for the first time since The Great Depression and there was concern that it would cause some sort of social breakdown in the country. By 1980 Maggie Thatcher was Prime Minister and the number had grown to 2 million, and only three years later it was a whopping 3 million. During those 11 years punk had been and gone and we'd had strikes, power cuts, economic crisis, a 3-day work week, riots and a Winter of Discontent - society might not have broken down but it was definitely feeling a bit stressed out and in need of a holiday. But Maggie told us there was no alternative to her tough love and the only advice her Employment Secretary Norman Tebbit had for the unemployed was to get on their bikes if they wanted to find a job. What a lovely man he was.

I was one of "Maggie's Millions" on a couple of occasions myself in the 80s and though I was only out of work for a few months at the most, being on the dole was a depressing experience. With nothing to do all day and little money to keep yourself occupied, just getting out of bed in the morning can be hard as you wonder what the point of getting up is. But I was lucky, I didn't live in a town that had its factory or coal mine shut down (or to be in profession that had factories) but up North you couldn't swing a cat without hitting someone who'd lost their job and their future when England's manufacturing and industrial base collapsed and died. I didn't have to choose to cut down on beer or the kid's new gear either, but there were days when I had to choose between cigarettes and food – I nearly always chose cigarettes, ten Marlboro lasted a lot longer than a meal did.

It says something about how unemployment dominated the landscape that one of the most popular and relevant bands at the time took their name from a form given to people on the dole. When you sign on in England you are given Unemployment Benefit Form No.40 which you have to bring to the dole office every time you claim benefit, this is more commonly known as a UB40. There can't be that many other bands named after government paperwork and their debut album "Signing Off" had a replica of a UB40 card on the cover.


I had one of these tan coloured ones when I was first on the dole but it was changed to a minty green at some point, they were probably thinking the brighter colour would make the whole unemployment experience a bit more cheerful.

Younger readers might only think of UB40 as purveyors of light, singalong pop-reggae, but before "Red Red Wine" made them stinking rich and ruined them they were a serious, overtly-political band who had more in common with The Clash than Musical Youth, singing heavy songs about being on the dole, poverty and social injustice. Bloody good they were too, "Tyler" is from the debut album and these two 12" single mixes show them stretching out in a more Dub-wise direction, I don't know if these are available anywhere but they should be.

Download: Tyler - UB40 (mp3)
Download: I Think It's Going To Rain Today (12" version) - UB40 (mp3)
Download: The Earth Dies Screaming (12" version) - UB40 (mp3)