Two of our three subjects were lords as well as tycoons. Beaverbrook and Northcliffe. That was because though one was Canadian and the other Irish, their press empires…
Democracy: what it should be and what (in practice) it is
In today’s world, where nothing is as it appears to be, and everything is found wrong by the masses and right by the few, democracy is associated with…
Declarations (of Independence and Indulgence)
The Declaration of Independence is the founding document of the United States of America, which unilaterally declared a separation from Britain, and was adopted by the Continental Congress…
Father & Son: Two Prime Ministers
William PItt, 1st Earl of Chatham, sometimes known as Pitt the Elder, was born in 1708, narrowly avoiding the tumultuous seventeenth century in Europe. He joins the brief…
Snakes and Ladders in the English ‘ruling classes’
Before anything else the careful writer must define the phrase ‘ruling classes’. In these peculiar days of forced equality, where the American rule of political correctitude insists on…
The (Iron) Duke of Wellington
History embraces an Iron Chancellor (von Bismarck) and an Iron Duke (Wellington). Their descendents are still around, in the luscious form of Gunilla, and rotund form of the…
Catherine (the Great), Empress of Russia
Despite being Empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796, Catherine was not Russian. She was a German princess, Sophia of Anhalt-Zerbst. She made a royal marriage of convenience…
Three medieval Richards
Though they were called Richard(s) I, II, and III none was father or son to another. If you like dates, remember these: Richard I, 1157 – 99: Richard…
The myth of the rustic yokel
Smart city-dwellers fear their deluded vision of the countryside. Safe in the penthouse, their remembrance (if they have any) of staying in the country is of cold and…
The Importance of an Apple
Some quotations: ‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away’; ‘Adam was but human – this explains it all. He did not want the apple for the apple’s…