History

Within the collective memory of queer Britain, the Wolfenden Report – a 1957 publication that recommended the decriminalisation of private gay sex between men – could be seen to have lost much of its widespread recognition in recent years. Compared to the still-active awareness and discussion of Section 28 – Margaret Thatcher’s regressive clampdown on […]

This rather relatively underperformed Tennessee Williams’ play is set in the Deep South in the 40s. Claustrophobia and prejudice smothers the small town, where the parochial poison of vicious and sadistic hatred of wops, blacks and those that just don’t conform steadily intensifies. This is a deeply unsettling play that discomforts the audience, who can […]

With Malala, the girl shot by the Taliban in Afghanistan, recently hitting the headlines again Vivienne Delliou-Daly shows that girls’ schooling is still a relatively recent phenomenon. Ben Beach visits the People’s History Museum to review their new exhibition celebrating 150 years of the Co-Operative. An overview of the history of gay rights in Britain […]

When people mention pies and pasties, typical modern brands such as Greggs, Ginsters and Pukka Pies spring to mind. However, unless you live in Wigan and are being constantly informed that you are ‘home to the world’s greatest pie’, it’s not often we put much thought into where these foods originated, or how they came […]

Australia Day has been celebrated as an official holiday in Australia since 1818, with its proponents proclaiming it to be a day of national unity and remembrance. Each year on January 26th, the holiday is commemorated with community festivals, concerts, and political addresses, and is seen as symbolic of national identity. However, in recent years, […]

Professor Paul Fouracre’s book Frankish History: Studies in the Construction of Power has recently been published in Ashgate’s Variorum Collected Studies Series. Dr Yangwen Zheng edited The Chinese Chameleon Revisited: From the Jesuits to Zhang Yimou which was also published recently. Dr Pedro Ramos Pinto wrote a chapter entitled ‘Why Inequalities Matter’ published in Reducing […]

On 1st September 2016, 1,000,000 people marched on Caracas in the largest demonstration in Venezuelan history. You might ask why, but the answer depends upon who you ask. The protests started in February 2014 following the attempted rape of a student on a university campus in San Cristóbal. However, the roots of this civil conflict […]

Caster Semenya is a 27-year-old South African middle-distance runner who rose to prominence after winning the 800m at the 2009 World Championships at the age of 18 with consummate ease. The talk after her victory was not about Semenya’s age, or her impressive time of 1.55.45, but instead her sex. At this year’s Commonwealth Games, […]

On the 14th of August 1969, British troops arrived in Northern Ireland in what would come to be their longest deployment in modern history. Though heralded as the day the Troubles began, the origins of this thirty-year conflict are rooted in the conception of Northern Ireland as a state: a tale of British colonialism, sectarian […]

Caster Semenya is a 27-year-old South African middle-distance runner who rose to prominence after winning the 800m at the 2009 World Championships at the age of 18 with consummate ease. The talk after her victory was not about Semenya’s age, or her impressive time of 1.55.45, but instead her sex. At this year’s Commonwealth Games, […]

Arundhati Roy, an Indian Author best known for her novel, The God of Small things, stated in an interview with DW news, that the conflict between Muslims and Hindus in India is ‘approaching genocidal.’ She emphasised the need to raise awareness of this issue, and how ‘it should not be taken lightly.’ From her interview, […]

Colin Campbell Cooper, Wikimedia Commons. Colin Campbell Cooper was an internationally renowned artist most popular for his works that celebrate the wonders of city life. In addition to painting, he was an avid traveller and from his education in Paris to his journeys around Asia, all his travels greatly influenced his work. Born and raised […]

Professor Paul Fouracre’s book Frankish History: Studies in the Construction of Power has recently been published in Ashgate’s Variorum Collected Studies Series. Dr Yangwen Zheng edited The Chinese Chameleon Revisited: From the Jesuits to Zhang Yimou which was also published recently. Dr Pedro Ramos Pinto wrote a chapter entitled ‘Why Inequalities Matter’ published in Reducing […]

Mary Whitehouse was a social conservative campaigner who set her sights on the ‘permissive society’ – the liberalising of social norms – that, she believed, was exposing children to more sex and violence on television. A lot of her work was done throughout the 1960s with her Clean Up TV campaign. She struggled somewhat, however, […]