britain

UK Historian David Starkey Quits Cambridge After Slavery Remarks

The British historian caused outrage by saying 'slavery was not genocide' in a recent interview.

David Starkey Criticised over Slavery Comments

A popular British historian faces criticism for saying that the slave trade was not genocidal because "so many damn blacks" survived.

A Surprising Role Model Emerges for Boris Johnson: F.D.R.

The British prime minister, trying to regroup in the coronavirus pandemic, wants to bury Thatcherism and embark on a program of ambitious public works.

The Secret British Campaign to Persuade the U.S. to Enter WWII

Henry Hemming writes that British intelligence services planted made-up episodes of heroic military raids on Nazi-occupied Europe and fabricated Nazi plans to invade South America to try to overcome prevailing isolationist sentiments among Americans. 

‘Get Rid of Them’: A Statue Falls as Britain Confronts Its Racist History

When demonstrators dumped the monument to a slave trader into Bristol Harbor, they galvanized a debate that echoes conversations happening in the American South about statues of Confederate generals.

Felling of Slave Trader Statue Prompts Fresh Look at British History

Protesters took direct action to remove a monument to slave trader Edward Colston after officially sanctioned discussions failed to yield action. 

How to Survive the Blitz

Five lessons from 1940s Britain about national resilience and social solidarity during a crisis.

Did Britain meddle in a US presidential election?

When US President George HW Bush craved "a smoking gun" in 1992 to politically kneecap his White House challenger Bill Clinton, the British government delved into its files for damaging information. 

William Dalrymple’s Case Study: “The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire”

by Ian Morris

Every M.B.A. program includes classes on business ethics. William Dalrymple’s superb account of Britain’s East India Company shows why: “The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire” is a case study in what can go wrong when corporate leaders lack a sense of decency.

British Design for D-Day Stamp Gets Address Wrong by 8,000 Miles

An error in a design for a stamp to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day — it showed American troops on the wrong beach, in Asia instead of Europe — has spurred an apology to veterans and their families.

Were the Russians Behind Fake News that Helped Bring Down a Labour Government in 1924?

by Gill Bennett

Maybe yes, maybe no. But either way there are lessons to be learned from this story.

10,000 Years of British History to Be Unearthed in Excavations in Advance of Planned Rail Line

Initial finds include hunter-gatherer site on outskirts of London, Wars of the Roses battlefield, Industrial Revolution burial guard.

200 Years On, U.K. Hunts for Grave of Man Called World’s 1st Black Sports Star

One of London’s main rail stations is being redeveloped, prompting the excavation of a burial ground containing the remains of an estimated 45,000 Londoners, including the boxer Bill Richmond, a freed American slave.

The Roman ‘Brexit’: how life in Britain changed after 409AD

by Will Bowden

One of the remarkable things about the first decades of the 5th century was the apparent speed with which the things we associate with Roman life disappeared.

Stanley Baldwin asked Britain’s rich to help pay off the national debt after World War I – but it didn’t work

by Kevin Stagg

The issue is in the news as the government decides what to do about a donation made in 1927 to pay off the national debt.

Historian: Why destroying archives is never a good idea

by Dora Vargha

Case in point: What Britain did with files showing records from Caribbean immigrants.

The shame of antisemitism on the left has a long, malign history

by Philip Spencer

The origins of today’s crisis in Labour date back to the 19th century, and ever since Jews have been seen as a problem by a strain of socialist thought.

The UK Treasury’s tweet shows slavery is still misunderstood

by David Olusoga

The modern equivalent of £17bn was paid out to compensate slave owners for the loss of their human property. Some people believe the British should be proud.

What 100 Years of British Women’s Suffrage Says About Women’s Rights Today

The U.K. marks the 100th anniversary of British women gaining the right to vote. While it may seem like distant history, the centenary is a cause for both celebration and reflection on the parallels between international women’s movements of the past and of the present.

DNA Tests on an Ancient Skeleton Reveal the First Briton Was Black, Not White

"It really shows up that these imaginary racial categories we have... are not applicable to the past at all," said one project worker.