PHM is the national museum of democracy, telling the story of its development in Britain: past, present, and future.
On this blog we share posts from the PHM team and other experts, with behind the scenes stories, coverage of PHM's exhibitions and events, and highlights from the museum's unique collection.
The LGBTQI+ community has created their own language of colours and symbols. In this guest blog Gillian Murphy, Curator for Equality, Rights and Citizenship at LSE Library, explores the symbols created through activism, logo competitions, resistance, and community. LGBT+ History Month is celebrated each February in the UK.
In this third of a series of three blogs exploring miners’ strikes, Dr Bob Dinn, Visitor Experience Supervisor at PHM, writes about the events of the 1984 to 1985 Miners’ Strike.
Dr Shirin Hirsch takes us back to the 1974 Miners’ Strike, and explains what took place and the legacy that this would create for the years that followed. Part of a series of three blogs, we’ll also hear about the events of the 1984 to 1985 Miners’ Strike with Dr Bob Dinn, Visitor Experience Supervisor for PHM and also from Amy Todd, a PhD student working for PHM, who will be writing about the women’s movement against pit closures during this year long strike.
On 5 July 2023, the National Health Service (NHS) celebrated its 75th birthday. Launched by Minister of Health Aneurin Bevan in 1948, the NHS aimed to bring free and reliable healthcare to all. The establishment of the NHS as a universal healthcare system was a key moment in health equality and in socialist policy. However, it is not without its difficulties.
Sarah Thompson-Cook is a Mental Health Nurse and Lecturer in Mental Health Nursing at Manchester Metropolitan University. In this blog, she explores the history of mental health services in the NHS, and the ongoing crisis recognised by organisations such as the Socialist Health Association.
Mark Ashton was an activist and campaigner in the 1980s, perhaps most known for co-founding Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners during the miners’ strike of 1984-85. He was a member the Communist Party of Great Britain and joined Red Wedge, a collective of musicians aiming to engage young people with the Labour movement. Mark died of AIDS related illness in 1987. The Mark Ashton Trust was set up by a group of friends to respond to the ongoing crisis.