Category Archives: England

The Game of Our Lives: The Meaning And Making Of English Football

Posted on December 10, 2022 by Luke Ford

Here are some highlights from this 2015 book by David Goldblatt: * Sir Richard Turnbull, the penultimate governor of Aden, told Denis Healey, then Britain’s defense secretary, that, “When the British Empire finally sank beneath the waves of history, it … Continue reading →

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Long May He Rule Over Us

Posted on October 27, 2022 by Luke Ford

Once you’ve read a few books on kings and queens, Donald Trump doesn’t seem so strange. For example, let us take King John of Magna Carta fame. Peter Ackroyd notes: “[H]e fined York and Newcastle for not affording him an … Continue reading →

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The Champions Of Chastity

Posted on October 27, 2022 by Luke Ford

I love reading stories about those great souls who put the realm of the spirit first. Peter Ackroyd writes in his 2013 book Foundation: The History of England from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors: At a convent, near Watton … Continue reading →

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The Balfour Declaration

Posted on October 27, 2022 by Luke Ford

Wikipedia says: “The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British government in 1917 during the First World War announcing its support for the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, then an Ottoman … Continue reading →

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British Political Drama Tropes

Posted on September 5, 2022 by Luke Ford

I’m watching the new BBC drama series Shearwood and I’m recognizing some patterns in the genre: * In most British dramatic series about politics, there’s an old character who’s done terrible things who kills himself rather than reveals himself. Characters … Continue reading →

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