Britain and the USA support the “right” of people to re-occupy an Eastern Mediterranean land lost to the Romans over TWO THOUSAND years ago. Yet meanwhile, The Great Orange Buffoon pledged during his disastrous term in office to build a wall to stop Mexicans entering a land which was MEXICAN much less than TWO […]
In 1969, I started first grade in one school, moved house for the fifth time in two years, got pneumonia, and finished first grade in another school. I think my love of books began with that severe bout of pneumonia aged 5, which kept me bedbound for some time. Color TV was for families […]
It starts when we are children. Adults lead by example, paying attention to certain things, and ignoring others. By the time we grow up, we have an almost completely subconscious, in-built hierarchy of what should be seen as “important”. The rest becomes invisible. On their first day in the history classes I used to […]
I must confess, as someone who hasn’t lived as a person of color in America, I am often a little unsure about how to support or celebrate Black History Month. It seems almost odd to even need to point out the innumerable achievements of people of color, when such things should be obvious to […]
Finally got around to watching “Better Call Saul“. Loved every minute of it. When you do what I do, it’s impossible to watch credits without noticing surnames, and going “Ah! I know something about that person’s family history”. The lead character Jimmy McGill is played by Bob Odenkirk, whose German and Irish background comes […]
Use discretion: mentions of graphic violence It has become more and more common for people to accept the idea of trangenerational trauma. This is a step in the right direction. Studies published over the past decade have shown how poverty, for example, causes our limbic systems to feed a constant stream of stress […]
For the Boomer generation and earlier, barber shops in heartland America used to be male-only refuges. Unisex “hair stylists” were not yet a thing – men and boys went to barber shops, and women went to “the beauty salon”. As a 10-year-old going to the barber shop for the first time (our hair was […]
One of the most interesting insights I’ve had during my many years studying history is the realisation of the central role played by pirates and piracy. The Vikings played a huge part in the formation of numerous countries from Western Europe to Russia, and for a large chunk of their heyday, they were essentially […]
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At the root of every desire to “Make America Great Again” is a misplaced belief in some golden, halcyon age, in which everyone was hard-working, decent, and God-fearing. A belief that there was ORDER. We mythologise the past, precisely because “golden ages” are such ephemeral, fleeting snapshots in time, and these gilded folk memories […]
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