Badge - Hands Off Telephones!
Object
Badge
Production date
c. 1982-1984
Object number
2024.373
Physical Description
Circular badge, yellow background with red text. A black illustration of a pair of scissors cutting a telephone handset.
Object history
This badge belonged to Hackney activists Nik Wood and Mary Pimm.
In 1982 it was announced that the government intended to privatise British Telecom. The resulting bill (Telecommunications Act 1984) spent more time being debated in the House of Commons than any measure since the Second World War, with 320 hours in total.
The majority of BT shares were sold privately in 1984. It would later be described as the moment "privatisation as we know it was invented...paving the way for what became a torrent of mass-market sell-offs, in the UK and around the world." (Professor James Foreman-Peck writing for the BBC, 2004)
In 1982 it was announced that the government intended to privatise British Telecom. The resulting bill (Telecommunications Act 1984) spent more time being debated in the House of Commons than any measure since the Second World War, with 320 hours in total.
The majority of BT shares were sold privately in 1984. It would later be described as the moment "privatisation as we know it was invented...paving the way for what became a torrent of mass-market sell-offs, in the UK and around the world." (Professor James Foreman-Peck writing for the BBC, 2004)
Associated Organisation
Associated Person
Material
Metal
Plastic
Dimension
Circumference: 45mm
On display?
No
Inscription
HANDS
OFF
TELEPHONES!
OFF
TELEPHONES!
