(no subject)

[vyvyanx]

It seems that Jim Callaghan has just died:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4385047.stm

I'm afraid I don't remember anything about his time as PM, although I was alive at the time; my political memories only start around 1980. (The only things I remember from the late 70s are learning to walk, learning to read and write, the Long Hot Summer, and being bullied at nursery school!) So, do any of my older readers remember anything particular about Callaghan? Did you think he was a good chap? (Or, indeed, any of my younger but politically well-informed readers who might have formed an opinion on him.) It sounds like he had his work cut out, in the economic climate of the time.

Comments

[zotz]

Sunny Jim, it is generally thought, was a good bloke who coped as well as could be expected with a) the aftermath of the oil shocks, and b) a complete lack of co-operation from people who ought to have been . . . well, if not friends then at least allies rather than enemies. AFAICT, anyway. Unlike a lot of political leaders since, he was good enough not to undermine his successors, and in fact moved out of the limelight with tact and grace. Even though I was too young to remember much of his political career, I'll be sorry not to know that he's still around.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid the first British PM I remember is Thatcher with the first major international news event being the Falklands War.

I do remember Willy Brandt as Bundeskanzler (until '74), though. More just the name rather than actual news, of course. I was four.

[vyvyan.livejournal.com]

Do you have political memories from the late 70s, then? What was happening in Germany at that time?

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Vague ones. More memories of names than actual events.
Things like terrorist actions, e.g. the kidnapping and later murder of Hanns-Martin Schleyer, the bad stuff.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

I remember Mr “Callahand” as my much younger self interpreted it at the time from the 1979 election, with Thatcher winning and Callaghan resigning shortly afterwards. That's my earliest political memory.