We should soon have the answer to the question of who murdered the Princes in the Tower. A YouTube channel says it will be posting the Second Verdict programme from 1976 in which Barlow and Watt from Softly, Softly investigate the mystery. Let's see Richard III go head to head with Barlow in the interview room and see if he still looks so innocent. In the mean time, we can listen to an episode of The History of England podcast which looks at Ladybird Books and in particular at their books on British history and the author of many of ...
Embed from Getty ImagesIf you are interested in 20th-century British art then one of the best places in London to visit is, perhaps unexpectedly, the Imperial War Museum. An old book review in the Washington Post explains why this is the case: Yet, amid the carnage, civilization survived. The Liberal politician Charles Masterman, who headed the British government's propaganda arm, recruited artists to record their impressions of war. Masterman did not want paintings that would inspire in the short term but rather works that would educate 100 years hence. "Paint anything you like," he told his artists. What resulted was ...
Despite the Warner Studios and Harry Potter World being a leading local attraction, Watford itself has not often featured as a setting for major motion pictures and the like. But maybe that is about to change! I see that in a recent book review in The Times, Robert Crampton commented: If John Preston hasn't already sold the film rights to this book, he surely will soon. Watford Forever is the heartwarming story of the collaboration and friendship between English football's oddest couple, Elton John and Graham Taylor: rock'n'roll flamboyance meets suburban sobriety in the bad old days of the 1970s. ...
As the world's nations gather for COP28, we need no reminding that climate change is the biggest threat to humanity. It is directly contributing to humanitarian emergencies from heatwaves, wildfires, floods, tropical storms and hurricanes and they are increasing in scale, frequency and intensity. How should the UK - and politicians vying for office - respond? Polling by More in Common consistently shows that British voters see "climate change and the environment" as one of the top three issues facing the country. This is a remarkable increase from just a few years ago. But the UK is doing nowhere near ...
As recently as December 1999 (which doesn't seem all that long ago to those of us in our 80s) fewer than 5% of the British electorate chose Immigration as one of the top five issues the government should deal with. This compared with 30% who chose the NHS as one of their top worries. However, once the century turned and the Eurosceptics became more effective at influencing British political debate, immigration began to increase in importance as an issue. As early as 2002 Theresa May warned the Tories that in trying to accommodate the right-wing nationalists they were in danger ...
The BFI has put together a great selection of political films, available to watch for free on their website.
I'm sorry to hear of the death of Alistair Darling. We owe him our gratitude as, together with Gordon Brown, he did much to stabilise the world financial system after the global crisis of 2007-8. He is being written of as an outwardly dull politician who was funny and charming in private life. While such figures today seem to belong to a more civilised but vanished order, it's fair to say that Darling's politics were not always dull. So let me, in a spirit of affection, repeat the George Galloway's reminiscences from the Daily Record in March 2008: When I ...
Sometimes, I wonder why the powers that be even pretend to care about the environment when their own actions blatantly fail to live up to the rhetoric. The Independent reports that Rishi Sunak is facing fresh outrage from climate campaigners after it emerged that the prime minister, the King, and foreign secretary David Cameron are taking separate jets to the Cop28 conference in Dubai. The paper says that Downing Street has confirmed that all three of the leading British representatives at the crucial summit - aimed at cutting global emissions - will each get their own private plane: No 10 ...
Michael's surgeries take place today and every Thursday during school term time. They are as follows : Thursdays at 5.45pm prompt - West End Campus (come to reception area of St Joseph's RC and Victoria Park Primary Schools) Thursdays at 6.30pm prompt - Harris Academy reception area All welcome - no appointment necessary!
