Uncivil war
In the seven years between 1642 and 1649 astaggering one in ten of the adult male population of the British Isles died.This was more than three times the proportion that…
-
-
The irresistible march of the dragon economy
> The ‘Economics focus’ column in the Economist is not the first thing I turn to when my weekly copy arrives. Nestling at the back of the finance and economics…
-
Millions on the payroll
> A special report on the future of jobs in this week’s Economist included a list of the world’s top ten employers. In 2010 the two largest employers in the…
-
Leading from the front
> 6 June 1944 was D-Day.Operation Neptune saw the Allied forces of the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, NewZealand and Free France cross an unusually calm English Channel and begin theinvasion…
-
The urge to amalgamate
> Amidsta Scottish legislative programme consisting of 15 Bills, a single policy caughtthe media’s attention. Alex Salmond announced plans for the creationof a single Scottish police force and fire…
-
Breaking up is so very hard to do
> On 12 September 2011 the final reportof the Independent Commission on Banking under Sir John Vickers will be issued.It is likely to recommend the ring fencing of the UK’s…
-
Mapping the riots
> The Financial Times and the Guardian have both published original statistical and cartographical work based on the Londonriots. TheFinancial Times has plotted the home addresses of 332 people charged…
-
An island divided dividing islands
The English Civil War pitted fathers against sons,brothers against brothers in the bitter conflict between King and Parliament thatdivided the country. The enmity spread far beyond the borders of England….
-
Gilty secret
> An interesting graph on the front page of the Financial Times shows the turbulent history of Britain’s 20th century finances through the yields of UK Gilts. The graph serves to…
-
The disappointments and prophecy of Généralissime Foch
Ferdinand Foch was undoubtedly the military colossus of the western front in the First World War. He rose through the ranks of command in the French Army, becoming first Chief…
-
A controversial plan for post-war Germany
> At the Second Quebec Conference in the middle ofSeptember 1944, President Roosevelt and the US Secretary of the Treasury HenryMorgenthau tried to persuade Winston Churchill and the British delegation…
-
It really was tough up north
> The ravages of HIV / AIDS have had a catastrophiceffect on life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa. Swaziland has the world’slowest life expectancy at 39.6 years according to the UN’sworld…
-
TP MP – the Irish Nationalist MP for Liverpool
> Thomas Power O’Connor’s election to the House of Commons as an Irish Parliamentary Party MP in 1885 was not unusual. He was one of 86 Irish nationalists elected that…
-
As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted
> The story is irresistible, and, as such, has become part of the BBC’s unofficial history. It is repeated on countless websites, news stories and anecdotes. It is the story…
-
Tripoli – a score and more of invasions
> Footage of fighters perched on jeeps and trucks fills rolling news channels. They are the victors, Kalashnikov feux de joie and a city en fête. The green, black and…
-
Albert Göring – the good brother
> The Göring family name is indelibly associated with Hermann Göring (1893 – 1945). Hermann was one of the leading lights of the National Socialist movement, and, until the regime…
-
A sort of moral Coventry – the first boycott
> Towards the end of the 1870s the Irish Party in the UK and Clan na Gael in the USA agreed on a campaign for land reform and tenant farmer…
-
Bursting the bubble
> Inflation has been a hot topic in the UK since October 2009 when it broke free of the Bank of England’s target of 2% and starting soaring towards 5%….