Political

In January 1848, in the Sicilian city of Palermo, the streets began to fill with crowds. From here, revolutionary sparks flew to almost all of Europe’s cities.

Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Enquiry and Hope is a Whiggish history of humanism from the Renaissance to the present.

Witch-hunting happened when and where states were weak. What does a newly discovered witch-hunt in 1582 reveal about France and its ‘enlightened’ officials? 

Making the case for historical literacy in government.

The ‘pragmatic and principled’ Harold Wilson.

The sacking of a young worker on 20 August 1976 escalated into a defining industrial conflict of the late 1970s.

What relevance do the Norman Conquest and the events of 1066 have to contemporary British politics? Everything and nothing.

Before the secret ballot, voting in Britain was a theatrical, violent and public affair. The Act that made democracy private turns 150 this year.

Three generations of the cursed House of Dudley stained the executioner’s block in 16th-century England. Were its members murderous villains working to overthrow the monarchy, or shrewd political agents struggling to survive? 

There is value in a leader who lies – but only if it is done for the greater good.