What are Bobby Sands legacies for the British society?
None, really. I remember him as I was 15 at the time of his hunger strike, death, and election to Parliament, but that is all. Anyone younger will only know of him if it is covered in history lessons or if they’re Northern Irish. The Anglo-Irish Agreement that led to the end of Irish terrorism happened many years later and he had no effect on it at all. The only lasting legacy is the Representation of the People Act 1981, which prevents people serving prison terms of over one year from standing in Parliamentary elections. This was passed rapidly so that when Sands died, causing another by-election, no other prisoner could stand as a candidate in it.
