Join us to watch a movie on a big screen and feel free to bring pop corns! At the end we will count with a debate organized by Michael Keaney, the most tortured teacher by our blog, feel free to add as many challenging topics as possible to the debate!

A very British Coup (UK, 1988) Directed by Mick Jackson. Yes, this is the same director as The Bodyguard, starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. However, this is a much more serious piece of work that considers what would have happened if a radical reforming government had been elected to power in Britain.

Event will be held on Thursday 20 December from 14.00 to 16.30 in room A106. Join us for the fun and take part of it! This is your chance to attend the final university event!

It is 1987 and after 8 years of Margaret Thatcher the Labour Party finally wins a convincing election victory, with the new prime minister, Harry Perkins, promising a reversal of all Thatcher’s reforms and major changes to British foreign policy, including closing the US military bases and nuclear disarmament. Slowly but surely the conservative forces working inside the British state recover from the shock and start to plot against the government, with the help of their US allies. Together with powerful media operators, intelligence and military officers together with their contacts in finance and their agents inside the Labour Party and trade unions try to make life difficult. Perkins and his colleagues are prepared for some of the dirty tricks, but the range of enemies they face seems to be growing. How long can a democratically elected government last?

During the 1970s and 80s, it was believed by many that radicals in the Labour Party would be able to win power and make significant changes, contrary to powerful interests. It is well documented that agents of MI5 were working to undermine prime minister Harold Wilson during the 1960s and 70s, and that they were supported by a network of plotters including a CIA agent who was also a cabinet minister (Foreign Secretary Michael Stewart). International finance also played a role, helped by various people working in British banks and even the Treasury. Therefore this is not a pure fantasy, and it shows how powerful forces can work to destroy the results of the democratic process even when claiming to preserve it.