MacSweeney and Randell separated in 1979. Inspired by punk, MacSweeney began work on a series of "State of the Nation" Bulletins, including "Colonel B", "Jury Vet", "Liz Hard", and "Wild Knitting". These often violent and obscene works remain divisive. For Peter Riley, they are "the central disaster in Barry's career". Other critics, including John Wilkinson, Marianne Morris, William Rowe, and Luke Roberts, have argued for the political significance of this writing, as an attack on Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government and a response to the ABC Trial and forms of state violence such as the Falklands War and the Troubles. MacSweeney married for a second time in 1983, but was divorced soon after. He moved to Bradford in 1983, and was present as a reporter at the Bradford City stadium fire in 1985.