The mixed legacy of Zbigniew Brzezinski, strategist of the Cold War
Successful initiatives during the Carter presidency regarding the USSR, China and Afghanistan were counterbalanced by a serious misreading of the situation in Iran
Tony Benn, bogeyman to some, beacon of hope and light to many
A collection of speeches and articles reminds us that ‘the most dangerous man in Britain’ was thoughtful, kind, entertaining and one of the most appealing politicians of the postwar period – writes a Conservative MP
Is the future of democracy in the balance?
Economic insecurity, intolerance and fear, combined with public expectations that the state will fix everything, are seriously endangering western democracy, warns Jonathan Sumption
Was Graham Brady really the awesome power-broker he imagines?
His kiss-and-tell memoir implies that the past five Tory prime ministers all feared him. But the longtime Chair of the 1922 Committee was in reality no ‘kingmaker’
The trauma of conquest
By any yardstick, the Norman Conquest was a ghastly business. Within two decades, the English aristocracy had been more than…
A nation of chancers
Alex Burghart describes England’s fitful development from a collection of warring kingdoms into a highly centralised state
Oswald of Northumbria – an Anglo-Saxon saint-king of the north for our time
In Hamlet a gravedigger asks the riddle: ‘What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the shipwright, or…
What did the Romans ever do for London?
When Bishop Guy of Amiens looked across the Channel in the 11th century he saw ‘teeming London [which] shines bright.…
For some soldiers, the VC was easier to win than to wear
‘The Victoria Cross,’ gushed a mid-19th-century contributor to the Art Journal, ‘is thoroughly English in every particular. Given alike to…
