London's Ours!: Images From The Greater London Council 1981-1986

London's Ours! Images From The Greater London Council 1981–1986

When Labour won control of the Greater London Council in 1981, a party paper celebrated with the headline "London's Ours!" — and that spirit of radical, inclusive ambition would define the next five years of city government. Under the leadership of Ken Livingstone, the GLC became a bold and vocal counterweight to Thatcherism, championing lower transport fares, expanded public services, and the rights of communities long overlooked by mainstream politics: women, ethnic minorities, and gay Londoners.

With unemployment figures displayed provocatively from the roof of County Hall — directly opposite the Houses of Parliament — the GLC made no secret of its confrontational stance, reimagining local government as an instrument of genuine social change.

What made the GLC's politics truly distinctive was its creative energy. The council deployed poster campaigns, public art, billboard takeovers, and large-scale popular events as tools of both communication and activism, taking aim at racism, sexism, nuclear weapons — and eventually, its own abolition. Rooted in cultural historian and artist Hazel Atashroo's extensive archival research, London's Ours! gathers over 250 images that capture this vibrant visual culture: sometimes confrontational, frequently witty, and consistently alive to the aesthetics of dissent that defined early 1980s Britain.

Published by Four Corners Books, London's Ours! is far more than a political history — it is a richly illustrated record of what it looked like when a city dared to imagine itself differently. As Parliament voted to abolish the GLC in 1985, setting a closure date of 1986, the council's creative output took on new urgency, producing some of its most striking work in its final months. This book invites readers to rediscover a remarkable chapter in London's story, and to ask what lessons its democratic, community-driven vision might still hold for the city today.