In the 1980s the Conservative government tried to rejuvenate the economy by creating, almost from whole cloth, a more entrepreneurial system. The attempt aroused a great many fears, because it threatened the English way of life. As a result, it was only partially successful--leaving the economy still weak. At the same time, that insular way of life was under attack from other forces, including the tabloid press, the anomie caused by long-term unemployment, the increasing demands of foreign-born Britons to be heard, and, in 1994, the completion of the first direct rail link between Britain and the Continent.
