The repeal of The Shops Act 1950 allowing Sunday trading in the UK was also in 1994. Something that seems completely alien when you talk to under 30s about it but clearly a path to a more modern consumption based economy we have moved to.
I'd missed that one, but that's true as well. Plus the Channel Tunnel opening and Michael O'Leary taking over at Ryanair should probably be somewhere on the list, in terms of making European travel much more accessible
I nearly mentioned air travel as there's also the 1995 Open Skies agreement which plays a big part, it meant Heathrow could go bigger on US and paved the way for the likes of EasyJet and Ryanair to pick up the short haul demand at other airports. In fact 1994 was the last year that Paris CDG was Heathrow's busiest route, it has been (bar the pandemic) New York JFK ever since.
I've been reading a few 1990s histories recently such as Accelerate, Alwyn W. Turner and Klosterman and while some are heavily US focused or specific like Faster Than a Cannonball: 1995 and All That, 1999: Best Film Year Ever or When Football Came Home I would absolutely devour a book that went through 1994 and looked at issues big and small, short term and long term.
Nice. Tobias sent a very early email from the York uni compsci block in about 1992; it was to Douglas Adams, and he got a reply. As you say, our own teenage/early 20s years will always feel particularly resonant, whenever they happen to fall. But putting that to one side, I do think the ‘90s in the West are analogous to the Edwardian period: a short passage of time — just before something epochal happened — which, in retrospect, seems hauntingly settled and productive. I know it’s gauche to self-promote in the comments but in this case it’s honestly relevant… (sorry) https://open.substack.com/pub/metropolitan/p/john-peel-has-no-idea-what-e-mail?r=ume3&utm_medium=ios
Self-promotion is fine if it's relevant, I think - and that one definitely is (I remember forwarding it to a few people when I read it before).
And I agree, even leaving aside the fact that it was better when my joints didn't creak so much, it feels plausible that in retrospect the dozen or so years between the Berlin Wall coming down and 9/11 were some kind of UK golden age that we might never get back to - though of course Bosnians and others may disagree!
Ah thank you - and sorry to bludgeon you with it again! There was a book about all of this published a couple of years ago, but it has a very US focus and, as you say, the UK’s story is distinctive. I wish someone would do a British version.
The repeal of The Shops Act 1950 allowing Sunday trading in the UK was also in 1994. Something that seems completely alien when you talk to under 30s about it but clearly a path to a more modern consumption based economy we have moved to.
I'd missed that one, but that's true as well. Plus the Channel Tunnel opening and Michael O'Leary taking over at Ryanair should probably be somewhere on the list, in terms of making European travel much more accessible
I nearly mentioned air travel as there's also the 1995 Open Skies agreement which plays a big part, it meant Heathrow could go bigger on US and paved the way for the likes of EasyJet and Ryanair to pick up the short haul demand at other airports. In fact 1994 was the last year that Paris CDG was Heathrow's busiest route, it has been (bar the pandemic) New York JFK ever since.
I've been reading a few 1990s histories recently such as Accelerate, Alwyn W. Turner and Klosterman and while some are heavily US focused or specific like Faster Than a Cannonball: 1995 and All That, 1999: Best Film Year Ever or When Football Came Home I would absolutely devour a book that went through 1994 and looked at issues big and small, short term and long term.
Sounds like you are offering to write it! (Or maybe we have to wait for Dominic Sandbrook to keep working through the 1980s ...)
Nice. Tobias sent a very early email from the York uni compsci block in about 1992; it was to Douglas Adams, and he got a reply. As you say, our own teenage/early 20s years will always feel particularly resonant, whenever they happen to fall. But putting that to one side, I do think the ‘90s in the West are analogous to the Edwardian period: a short passage of time — just before something epochal happened — which, in retrospect, seems hauntingly settled and productive. I know it’s gauche to self-promote in the comments but in this case it’s honestly relevant… (sorry) https://open.substack.com/pub/metropolitan/p/john-peel-has-no-idea-what-e-mail?r=ume3&utm_medium=ios
Self-promotion is fine if it's relevant, I think - and that one definitely is (I remember forwarding it to a few people when I read it before).
And I agree, even leaving aside the fact that it was better when my joints didn't creak so much, it feels plausible that in retrospect the dozen or so years between the Berlin Wall coming down and 9/11 were some kind of UK golden age that we might never get back to - though of course Bosnians and others may disagree!
Ah thank you - and sorry to bludgeon you with it again! There was a book about all of this published a couple of years ago, but it has a very US focus and, as you say, the UK’s story is distinctive. I wish someone would do a British version.
Lots of very strong points made here, although missing the release of NOW29 (the greatest NOW album of all time) is a major oversight