Opinion Articles
H&P encourages historians to use their expertise to shed light on issues of the day. If you are interested in submitting an opinion piece for publication, please see our editorial guidelines. We currently have 342 Opinion Articles listed by date and they are all freely searchable by theme, author or keyword.
Bob Crow: effective industrial leader, naive politician?
The puzzling aspect of Bob Crow's astute union leadership was his far less effective political career, argues Dr Jim Moher, of H&P's Trade Union Forum. In the wake of the RMT leader's premature death, Dr Moher examines his early political influences, the history of the union he led, and the missed opportunities of alienation from the Labour Party.
Read MoreVisiting the Pope the monarchs private visit
It would be easy to mistake the Queen’s forthcoming visit to the Pope as an event no more significant that the many other state visits that Elizabeth II undertakes as part of her duty. However, this could not be further from the truth: in many ways this is one of the most difficult visits for […]
Read MoreWar commemorations and politics: Lessons from the nineteenth century
Following comments made by Education Secretary Michael Gove, Dr Karine Varley looks at the differing ways in which historians and politicians treat war history.
Read MoreThe Conservatives and Europe: the long view
The Prime Minister's long awaited speech on Britain's relationship with the European Union acknowledges the importance of strategic cooperation with our continental neighbours and of the single market to the security and welfare of this country. Yet it implies that within five years the UK will have slid into a position whereby departure from the […]
Read More‘Children’ and the nanny state: shifting the boundaries of adolescence
Political parties on both the Left and Right are developing policies on jobs and benefits that would remove certain adult rights from the under 25s, building on a trend that has existed since adolescence was first defined in the nineteenth century. When Prime Minister David Cameron announced his plans to strip jobseekers' allowance and housing […]
Read MoreEdward VII: a role model for Charles?
Prince Charles turned 65 last week. Some are asking the increasingly pressing question, is Charles too old to be King? He is the eldest Prince of Wales in history and if he ascends the throne he shall be the eldest British monarch to be crowned thus far. With the longevity of the female Saxe-Coburg Gotha […]
Read MoreThe Commonwealth Heads of Government: a question of leadership
The disastrous decision for Sri Lanka to host the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which takes place 10-17 November, has come back to bite the Commonwealth on the backside. The Canadian and Indian heads of government have refused to attend, marking the first public boycott by heads at a CHOGM and implicitly snubbing Prince […]
Read MoreBritain and the formation of modern Yemen
Half a century ago today a tribal revolt began in the mountainous Radfan region of South Arabia (now Yemen), which was to have far-reaching repercussions for Aden, Britain’s only Middle Eastern colony and its military headquarters in the region. Most South Arabian tribes were Sunni Muslims, divided up into hundreds of different groupings, each part […]
Read MoreHistorical method and international crises: weapons of mass destruction in Syria
The methods, tools and approaches offered by the historian to analyse policy options are often neglected during debates on international crises. But they can be usefully applied to the debate about the prevention of further use of weapons of mass destruction in Syria. Following a US-Russia agreement, the five permanent members of the UN Security […]
Read MoreEverything is History
In the surveillance of private communication almost everything is history. Edward Snowden’s revelations exposed the obsolescence of current legal safeguards. The key legal safeguards in Britain, the 1994 Intelligence Services Act and the 2000 Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), have been overtaken new digital systems and software. The late twentieth century is a far […]
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