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.
Break the taboo on horsemeat – or food fraud will continue
On the evening of 6 February 1868, 150 people arrived at London's Langham Hotel for the Banquet Hippophagique. For one and a half guineas each, equivalent to £120 today, the diners sampled a wide range of horse dishes. Horse jelly was the only dish that the epicures took exception to, considering it 'rather strong'. By […]
Read MoreShould we thank Mr Gove for giving us more history?
It was tempting to view the leaked versions of the new history curriculum for England as 'gruel' for undeserving schools – those not deemed clever or suitable enough to gain for themselves the coveted 'free' or 'academy' status, with its accompanying liberty to write and enjoy their own curricula. However, the national curriculum consultation document […]
Read MoreThe Summer baby who will be King… or Queen
We now know that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are expecting their first baby in July and, under current government plans, the child will be third in line to the British throne irrespective of sex. The government has announced a Bill to give effect to 'strict primogeniture', overturning the 1701 Act of Settlement, which […]
Read More‘Angry white guys’ and the future of the Republican Party
In the aftermath of Mitt Romney's defeat last month, Republicans are talking of change. The Republican National Committee's creation of the 'Growth and Opportunity Project' signalled this thirst for change. 'Any good organization has to be introspective whenever things don't go well,' said Sally Bradshaw, a member of the five-person group launched on 10 December. […]
Read MoreNo more reports, please: Lord Leveson and the uses of history
It is clear that Lord Justice Leveson knows his history; more interesting, in many ways, is the way that he is prepared to use it as a rhetorical weapon against his critics. The Executive Summary of his weighty volume opens with the eye-catching statement that 'For the seventh time in less than 70 years, a […]
Read MoreA British FBI: a tough but not necessarily intelligent approach to organised crime
Prime Minister David Cameron has recently called for a 'tough but intelligent' approach to crime. This included a mention of the proposed National Crime Agency, which he described as 'Britain's version of the FBI', as part of an effective response to harmful organised crime activities. The proposal to establish the NCA was unveiled in the […]
Read More‘One Nation’: policy platform or empty slogan?
It is still unclear whether Ed Miliband will persist in his use of the 'One Nation' slogan. Despite his enthusiastic comments in the aftermath of his speech to the 2012 Labour conference, he might still decide to follow the example of Tony Blair before the 1997 general election, and discard the phrase after a brief […]
Read MoreMiliband’s ‘One Nation’: stealing the emperor’s clothes?
Ed Miliband's well received speech to the 2012 Labour Party conference was most notable for his repeated use of the phrase 'One Nation', for so long associated with the Conservatives. No doubt One Nation was chosen to evoke a sense of political moderation, and of bringing people together with a shared experience, which Miliband accuses […]
Read MoreSuperhumans or scroungers? Disability past and present
Attitudes towards disability are once again in the spotlight ahead of the Paralympics and, following the participation of disabled South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius in the Olympics, official attempts to classify and categorise disability have come under fresh scrutiny. Public opinion responds positively to those who confound expectations and triumph over adversity. Pistorious' experience shows […]
Read MoreQueen Victoria: the heart of a heartless political world
In 1961 Charles de Gaulle informed the young Elizabeth II that she was: 'the person in which your people perceive their own nationhood'. The British monarchy is, in other words, inherent to Britons' national identity: it helps shape how citizens (or should that be subjects?) imagine their own place within the polity. The centrality of […]
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