Listed here are links to Mass Observation Special Reports in the University of Sussex Special Collections catalogue, digitised as part of the Observing the 1980s Project. Users can click on additional links to a PDF of the panel member's report, and to an entry in the catalogue providing more information about them. Special Reports is the term given to spontaneous responses from Mass Observation Project Panel members, writing either outside the range of Directive topics or sending in further comment on a subject already covered at an earlier date. The Special Reports were selected for their relevance to themes addressed in the undergraduate history course ‘1984: Thatcher’s Britain’ at the University of Sussex.

Student politics in France is often dominated by a high degree - and high visibility- of political radicalism. If such radicalism is often the product of a well-organised minority on the extreme left of the political spectrum, it remains a central part of university life. As part of her undergraduate dissertation on 'Toulouse 2008: Ideology, Tactics and Organisation of Student Movements 40 years after May 68' (supervised by Dr Natalya Vince), Rosalind Parkin photographed a series of posters during her year abroad in Toulouse (2007-2008). Students' radicalism is not only aimed at president Sarkozy's reforms of higher education, but also expresses a commitment to feminism, anti-elitism, class-based politics, anti-fascism, and social solidarity. A good level of French is necessary to understand the posters and final year undergraduate and PG students are most likely to benefit from them.