Category Archives: England

Off His Royal Tits

Posted on April 28, 2023 by Luke Ford

Andrew O’Hagen writes: Penguins​ are super-parents. When the female provides dinner she doesn’t just reach for the pesto but launches herself into the treacherous, icy depths, returning with a stomach full of half-digested fish to be spewed down the gullet … Continue reading →

Posted in England | Comments Off on Off His Royal Tits

Hobbes: A Biography

Posted on April 8, 2023 by Luke Ford

A.P. Martinich writes in this 1999 book: * no matter how stupid and weak a person may be, he still has enough wit and strength to kill another person, no matter how smart and strong. “If we consider…with how great … Continue reading →

Posted in England | Comments Off on Hobbes: A Biography

Remembering Journalist Paul Johnson

Posted on March 31, 2023 by Luke Ford

Conrad Black writes: * Paul Johnson: “What sustained the English during the Reformation and Counter-Reformation years, what enabled them to preserve heterodoxy in England and uphold it on the continent, what enabled them to defeat the Armada and rip open … Continue reading →

Posted in England | Comments Off on Remembering Journalist Paul Johnson

Britain at Bay: The Epic Story of the Second World War, 1938-1941

Posted on January 16, 2023 by Luke Ford

Here are some highlights of this 2020 book by professor Alan Allport: * A war fought in defence of Poland or Romania would be ‘devastating’; the independence of neither state was of any inherent vital interest to Britain, or possible … Continue reading →

Posted in England | Comments Off on Britain at Bay: The Epic Story of the Second World War, 1938-1941

The Ball is Round: A Global History of Soccer

Posted on December 10, 2022 by Luke Ford

Here are some highlights from this 2008 book by David Goldblatt: * The British historian Eric Hobsbawm encapsulated this oddity when he wrote ‘The twentieth century was the American century in every way but one: sport.’ This is not exactly … Continue reading →

Posted in America, Australia, England, Soccer | Comments Off on The Ball is Round: A Global History of Soccer