History & policy database
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.
Tripoli, the American national anthem and an old drinking song
Libyan rebels are finally taking Tripoli and have reached Gaddafi's own compound, two months after US lawmakers rebuked and filed a lawsuit against President Obama for not seeking congressional authorization for military involvement in Libya. Now comes the 'reflection' phase of the operation. Despite the press coverage and analysis of this conflict, the ironic history […]
Read MoreGet local: riots, youth and community
The disturbances of August 2011 do not easily lend themselves to comparisons with protests in British history. Most obviously, there is no 'overt' cause that can be identified: it is not the death of Mark Duggan that resonates around the urban landscape of Britain, but rather a sense of people taking the opportunity to violently […]
Read MoreFire and fear: rioting in Georgian London and contemporary Britain
'The most common image of the riots, both in witness statements and in pictures of the events, was of fire. London was burning. People could see the fires from far away and this spread fear. The whole of London was scared'. This was how I described the anti-Catholic Gordon Riots of 1780, on 'Voices from […]
Read MorePrivate money, public good? The New College for the Humanities and the history of university fundin
Can the history of the foundation of English universities illuminate the debate about the proposed New College of the Humanities? In the 19th century, civic university colleges were founded in an age when the exclusivity of Oxford and Cambridge, tied to the Anglican Church and open only to men, appeared irrelevant to many in a […]
Read MoreEveryone loves a Lord? Reforming the second chamber is easier said than done
House of Lords reform is unlikely to be as straightforward as the Coalition seemingly believes, both in its implementation and outcome. The Coalition recently published a draft House of Lords Reform Bill and an accompanying White Paper. It sets out a proposal for a three-phase shift to an upper chamber of 300 members, 80 per […]
Read MoreCounting up Down Under: AV and Australia
When I voted in last year's general election I recalled that the previous time I voted in Britain was in 1970 (when Harold Wilson lost unexpectedly). In the interim I had voted dozens of times – but in Australia where I lived and worked from 1973 to 2007 (when Kevin Rudd won rather expectedly). Having […]
Read MoreRoyal pomp and middle class circumstance: monarchy, marriage and mores from Caroline to Kate
The coming Royal Wedding is a useful reminder of how, since 1800, the monarchy has become a public institution. Some historians would have you believe that this was achieved by an astute monarchy, skilfully reforming its own practices – thereby saving itself from the tide of republicanism which reached a dangerously high watermark in the […]
Read MoreRoyal brides: a class act?
Kate Middleton is the first royal bride from outside the aristocracy to marry a man in the direct line of succession. However, three of the Queen's four children have married outside the aristocracy: the Princess Royal and Mark Phillips and then Timothy Laurence; the Duke of York and Sarah Ferguson; the Earl of Wessex and […]
Read MoreWhose truth? Competing narratives in Syria and Libya
After the fall of Saddam Hussein, Syria and Libya became the two strongest mukhabarat or 'secret police' states. The longevity of the Al-Asad and Qaddafi regimes could be attributed to the ability of state security forces to project fear into the populace and quell anti-state protests whenever they emerged. Damascus used force to crush an […]
Read MoreAll at sea with no biscuit? Duchy Originals, female heirs and the British throne
There has been much discussion in recent years of amending the Act of Settlement 1701 so that the first child will succeed to the throne rather than the first son – though at the time it was passed it was a pragmatic piece of legislation, and quite advanced, in that it provided for female succession […]
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