History & Policy papers are written by expert historians, based on peer-reviewed research. They offer historical insights into current policy issues ranging from Afghanistan and Iraq, climate change and internet surveillance to family dynamics, alcohol consumption and health reforms. For historians interested in submitting a paper, please see the editorial guidelines.
Currently, 252 papers are freely searchable by theme, author or keyword, with new papers published regularly. Where possible, we publish papers to coincide with relevant policy developments. If you are a policy maker, civil society practitioner or journalist and would like to contact one of our historians, please contact historyandpolicy@london.ac.uk.
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The government of Keir Starmer wants to enhance public access to the countryside. Previous Labour administrations have passed significant leglislation on this subject, and ministers and officials need to be aware of the lessons of these earlier initiatives. Glen O'Hara argues that these lessons from history include the importance of patience, story-telling, a sense of the local, an emphasis of positive rather than negative rights and the mobilisation of civic society.
The Labour Government's plans for breakfast clubs are just the latest stage in a history of the state feeding children at school which stretches back for over a century. Policy in this area has been prompted by a far wider range of motivations than simply an altruistic concern for children's health, and debates about state-intervention have inevitably become politicised. John Stewart points to the importance of viewing new initiatives within the context of broader policies designed to tackle the structural problem of child problem, one that has proved depressingly persistent.
The pollution of the Thames is not a new phenomenon. For much of the twenieth century it was tolerated so long as London's tap water was adequate. Privatisation clearly did not provide the solution. But John Davis argues that Thames Water's current financial difficulties may offer an opportunity for the government to take decisive action.
As we approach the bicentenary of slavery’s abolition and African emancipation (2033-2038), crucial questions are surfacing concerning how the emergence of archival evidence and new research findings can be incorporated effectively into national and local memorialisation. Dr Michael D. Bennet and Dr James S. Dawkins argue for the creation of an independent historical advisory panel to help ensure that memorialisation across Britain avoids repeating the shortfalls of previous efforts at remembrance and facilitates a more linked-up programme of memorialisation between Britain and Caribbean nations.
As part of the Home Office policy of housing asylum-seekers on barges, the first 15 refugees boarded the Bibby Stockholm on 7 August 2023. The initiative invites a number of comparisons with the use of prison hulks in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These historical echoes suggest that the current policy may be less cheap, popular and temporary than the government seems to assume.
It has become an accepted view that popular attitudes to tax became more negative in the 1970s and have remained so ever since. However, this is not supported by a recent study of the relevant evidence. There has been little overall change since the late 1940s. The public have consistently prioritised fairness in taxation and have also been concerned to maintain public services.
The idea of economic growth has been central to British political debate since the 1950s. Professor Jim Tomlinson explores why this is increasingly problematic, and calls for altenative measures of economic welfare.
The Women’s Health Strategy for England (WHS), published in July 2022 by the Department of Health and Social Care, acknowledged that women’s health has been long neglected.The evidence highlighted gender health inequalities across the country, the need to improve women’s access to medical services for female-specific illnesses and to address the intersectional disparities that affect women: age, ethnicity, disability and socioeconomic background. The importance of women’s voices being heard and responded to in determining future policies was also strongly emphasised throughout the WHS. This paper is focussed on maternity care, highlighted by the WHS as falling short in terms of provision and responses to individual women’s needs. The authors also highlight the crucial role of women themselves in drawing attention to the poor quality of care and provision in maternity services and the strategies they used to amplify their voices.
The British government’s response to the memorialisation of mass death in the twentieth century was fraught with challenges which have parallels with the debates surrounding the remembrance of Covid-19. Here, the First World War and its aftermath are used as a case study to show how the exclusion of certain groups from memorial activities in the past have had substantial long-term implications for their cultural inclusion in memorial events in the present. Through an examination of memorial items sent by the government directly to families of people who were killed at war, this paper recommends a careful approach to mass memorialisation which is empathetic to the individually bereaved and inclusive of the diverse experiences of grief.
Creative repurposing has been presented as a cornerstone of the government’s agenda for regional development and the regeneration of towns and small cities across the UK. Yet there remains some uncertainty about what it really means, both in theory and practice. This paper presents case studies of three English locations (Barking & Dagenham, Coventry, Sunderland) which explore that meaning and point to the opportunities and challenges involved. It argues that the practice of ‘creative repurposing’ should be understood to incorporate intangible heritage such as local histories, traditions, and sense of place, as well as the built environment, and has greater potential when these aspects are combined.
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H&P is based at the Institute of Historical Research, Senate House, University of London.
We are the only project in the UK providing access to an international network of more than 500 historians with a broad range of expertise. H&P offers a range of resources for historians, policy makers and journalists.