History
The British invented the Olympics
Is there any chance that you might, at any point in the next three weeks, be talking to anyone? About anything, in any setting, for any length of time? Then… Continue reading
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The delights of sin
Epigram 7 from The letting of humours blood in the head-vaine ‘Speak gentlemen, what shall we do to day? Drink some brave health upon the Dutch carouse? Or shall we… Continue reading
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The paranoid centre and life in the American fever-swamp
Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, told Fox News Sunday last weekend: ‘The fact is, it’s not a question of whether can Mitt Romney win. The statement is,… Continue reading
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Britain does not need more mass immigration
Jonathan has already mentioned yesterday’s Fiscal Sustainability Report from the Office of Budgetary Responsibility. He appears to welcome mass migration both now and as an inevitable part of our future.… Continue reading
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Macmillan’s Night of the Long Knives
One of the great goals of the pioneering Victorian explorers of Africa was to find the source of the Nile. The origins of the grievous miscalculation by Harold Macmillan of… Continue reading
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Interview: Bernard Wasserstein and the Nazi genocide
As 1930s Europe moved towards the catastrophe of the Second World War, much of the greater part of the continent — for Jews — was being turned into a giant… Continue reading
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Raphael’s paintbrush
One of the puns that circulated the cultured elite of Italy during the Renaissance compared the potency of an artist’s paintbrush, his pennello, with his penis, il pene. Raphael, who… Continue reading
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American mythology
Happy Fourth of July America! As you salute that Star-Spangled banner today, however, please remember that the war which spawned your anthem was a farrago wrapped in a fiasco inside… Continue reading
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Racism and real estate
If racism presupposes that different ethnic groups cannot live harmoniously together, then segregation puts that theory into practice. Carl H. Nightingale’s Segregation: A Global History of Divided Cities, teaches us… Continue reading
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Discovering poetry: Charles Cotton’s rebellion
Stanzas from ‘The Retirement’ Farewell thou busy world, and may We never meet again: Here I can eat, and sleep, and pray, And do more good in one short day,… Continue reading
2 CommentsAnother voice: Casablanca state of mind
‘I don’t buy and sell human beings,’ says Rick to the rival club owner hoping to get the pianist Sam. ‘Too bad,’ comes the reply, ‘that’s Casablanca’s leading commodity.’ Desperate… Continue reading
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War of the world
Of the writing of books on the Second World War, and the reading public’s appetite for them, seemingly, there is no end. And the past few months have seen a… Continue reading
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An afternoon in Madrid
The most obvious — but far from the only — author to read when in Madrid must be Ernest Hemingway. For a man so fond of the laconic line, his… Continue reading
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A conversation across the centuries
E-books are going to win. Anyone who’s seen a bus or a train carriage or a café lately knows that: Kindles everywhere, as though they’re breeding. And that’s as it… Continue reading
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Missed history lessons
It’s a slow news day in the political world, as we wait for the Spanish government to take its cap to Brussels. There are, however, some brilliant opinion pieces in… Continue reading
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Sadly, protest music is alive and well
There is plenty of nostalgia around in this Jubilee Weekend. Any look back on 60 years brings temptation to think that the past was better than the present. This is… Continue reading
24 CommentsObama’s Polish Blunder
In Washington, as Andrew Sullivan reminds us, a gaffe is when a politician inadvertently blurts out what they actually believe. It is always occasion for equal measures of embarrassment and… Continue reading
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Gove’s historical conundrum
Is it possible to set schools free while demanding a beefed up teaching of our nation’s history? Both are topics close to the heart of the Education Secretary but eventually,… Continue reading
8 CommentsThe Years of Robert Caro
For political types there’s little doubt about the publishing event of the year: the fourth volume of Robert Caro’s mammoth biography of Lyndon Johnson. The New York Times published a… Continue reading
1 CommentJFK: The Nastiest President of the Twentieth Century?
Who was the most reprehensible US President in the twentieth century? That’s a tough question, though not one related to policy, political preferences or job performances. I mean instead: who… Continue reading
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