Tag Archives: society

At the going down of the sun

Posted on July 31, 2017 by

World War One has been jogged back into the UK’s collective consciousness once more with the Third Battle of Ypres,aka Passchendaele getting its own Royal Command Performance on British TV. Two thoughts; one pretty much universal and the other pretty … Continue reading →

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Have our Romans already departed?

Posted on July 24, 2017 by

Ah, the Dark Ages. That period in British history after the Romans went away where everything just stopped, or seemingly so. It didn’t of course. The record petered out. The accepted wisdom is that because people built in wood, drank … Continue reading →

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To set the whole world ‘a-gadding’

Posted on June 20, 2017 by

You know nothing of progress if you do not know the 19th century. Let us think for a moment about railroads. Before they came, most rural Europeans lived and died within 20 miles of where they were born. Not because … Continue reading →

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Somebody call the hair police

Posted on March 17, 2017 by

What did you do if you’re a young (ish) woman in the French region of Brittany in the 1860s and you needed a new dress or a pair of shoes? Why, you had a haircut, that’s what you did. Here’s … Continue reading →

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Three paragraphs

Posted on March 10, 2017 by

Not as bad as the 1868 earthquake and tsunamis where 25,000 died, but still pretty serious. This is an example of how the God-fearing 19th century took on board a natural disaster without the handwringing cliché-ridden sentimentalism with which 24 hour … Continue reading →

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Donald Trump’s hair peace

Posted on December 8, 2015 by

This may be the way that it was just before Rome fell. With barbarians cradling assault rifles at the gate, the commentariat wile away the time that is left to them by worrying themselves sick about Zwarte Piet-type problems. Zwarte … Continue reading →

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What are zoos for?

Posted on July 27, 2014 by

That page of The Graphic from 1895 just keeps on giving. Looking across from the pheasants shocker is another piece of news that has echoes today. Right now there is a half-hearted debate about what economists might call the moneytisation … Continue reading →

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The Unmet Need

Posted on July 25, 2014 by

Oil is a risky business. It is not surprising to hear a geologist predict that ‘peak oil’ has past. Oil’s future will be inexorable decline. It would not shock you unduly to hear them say oil is now just “a … Continue reading →

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“The pheasant flies a great deal faster than he appears to do”

Posted on July 24, 2014 by

Reading this book review from 1895 will almost certainly anger practitioners of what is now called animal rights. It will cause bird protection societies to tut tut about how unfeelingly cruel were our ancestors. And of course the class warriors … Continue reading →

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Spare the rod

Posted on July 21, 2014 by

You have to hope this gathering worldwide storm of populism is not a glissando towards Nazi-ism. Sure, there is a quickening in the political pulse. The disconnected nomenklatura and all-too-connected social welfarists demand that the people get to eat cake … Continue reading →

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