You may have noticed recently that the papers and the pundits have been saying that Britain is heading back to the seventies. Although many today possess a mythologised view of the 1970s – a decade of political division and social…
What is it about the English character that idealises the remnants of a medieval system which symbolises supine submission to aristocratic authority? The monarchy may appear as a quaint link to our past, an institution which binds the living to…
In 1599, a group of 218 merchants in London led by Sir Thomas Smythe, put their investments together to form a joint stock company. Raising over £3 million, the corporation was set up to obtain spices from the East Indies…
Why do we have statues? Remembrance of great human beings? The celebration of people who were largely good? Surely not to remember slave traders. Since the removal of slave trader and philanthropist Edward Colston, a debate has been reignited around…
Anti-racism protests, the result of the murder of George Floyd and others, have been met with a cool, even hostile response from some governments who seem unwilling to go beyond the usual platitudes. Over the last ten years or so…
Late this past June, the Princeton University Board of Trustees voted to remove Woodrow Wilson’s name from its Public Policy school. The decision makers cited this “searing moment in American History” (i.e. the fallout from the George Floyd shooting) as a wakeup call for…
The task of defending Britain’s history is a tall order, particularly when Britain’s record of slavery and colonialism gets scarce mentioning at schools. There is a vague understanding of the basics. People know the name of William Wilberforce, the man…
David Starkey is one of the most prominent historians and academics in Britain today. Specialising in Tudor history, he has published many books and hosted multiple television programmes for the BBC and Channel 4 since 1977. Recently, he has caused…
Blood, death, violence, risk: revolutions are rarely synonymous with peace. They are seen to be a matter of sharpening your pitchforks rather than sharpening your pencil. Yet non-violent political revolutions are very much a part of shaping global politics. Although…