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.
Royal 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 […]
Read MoreIf you liked it then you should’ve put a ring on it
In a speech launching the Labour Yes to AV campaign, Ed Miliband welcomed the proposed reform as something that 'will help us build a fairer and better politics'. It was also, he said, consistent with 'Labour's history of campaigning for change'. Miliband even implied Ramsay MacDonald's ill-fated second administration, the one elected in 1929, had […]
Read MoreA new Home Front? Anthropogenic climate change and the limits of historical example
Does the organization of the Home Front during the Second World War offer an example of how to anthropogenic climate change? The launch of the 'New Home Front' initiative by Green Party leader Caroline Lucas certainly suggests as much. But there are dangers, as well as opportunities, in attempts to apply the lessons of history […]
Read MoreTruths of the ‘Lotus Revolution’
As the angry slogans, joyous roars and festive dances of Tahrir square give way to the possible birth of a civilian, liberal representational democracy, Egypt enters a transitional moment underlain by massive uncertainty and rapidly shifting political allegiances. Responding to a sudden outburst of collective thirst for truth, public figures pour their hearts out on […]
Read MoreThe Arab world’s leadership deficit
There were underlying reasons for the Egyptian Revolution that created a perfect storm for Hosni Mubarak's overthrow: corruption, unemployment, frustration, humiliation and restive youth. However one factor not stated for the revolt is a leadership deficit. President Hosni Mubarak was not a leader with the inherent charisma to galvanise the population. It is a problem […]
Read MoreBack to the future? Austerity in 1931 and 2011
How similar is the current economic crisis to the one that hit the UK and the rest of the world before 1939? There have certainly been many comparisons between our own times and the interwar depression. At the very least, journalists and experts agree, ours is the worst recession since the 1930s. How we now […]
Read MoreWhy Labour is the people’s party
The 'people power' rhetoric of Ed Miliband's recent Fabian speech surprised some commentators. Had they read Labour's 2010 manifesto, co-written by the younger Miliband and heavily influenced by the 'people power' ideas of the Co-operative Party, of which he is a member, they might have been forewarned. Ironically, the Tory vision of 'people power' by […]
Read MoreCancun Summit: why are we not taking action on global warming?
As the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun continues, various recent polls show that public concern about global warming has been declining in most of the western world in the past two years (those who think the world's climate is changing are down from 91% in 2005 to 78% today in the UK; similar […]
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