1
Britain and Berlin in the 1970’s and Declinism
The Britain of the mid-1970's found itself saturated in both domestic and international
economic and political issues. The rise in inflation from the 1960’s, rise in unemployment and
industrial tension had ultimately lead to a long period of social, economic and political friction.
The global oil crisis of 1973 only served to intensify the existing issues, and the economy
inevitably fell into recession. This, combined with the miner's disputes, were major catalysts in
the collapse of Edward Heath's Conservative government in early 1974. There was a brief
period of regrowth in 1974 however, this period of poor economic performance was but the
surface of Britain's deeper sense of post-imperial dejection. It is often easy, particularly in
music and in culture as a whole to look back at the past through rose-tinted lenses – perhaps
we do it by default, in an attempt to attach a more affectionate, personal narrative to an era that
we feel that we were a part of. This is extremely characteristic of Bow