I feel like I want to write something about this, because not only was it a pretty big deal in the big picture of British media and politics, it felt like a pretty big deal for me and my engagement shifting from interested and theoretical to faintly active (I mean, it’s not like twittering uses up many calories but it *is* still participating in a discourse). It was also a little sobering, because although I would normally count myself as pretty engaged in current affairs, I hadn’t heard anything about the incident in the Ivory Coast or about Trafigura (I mean, I might have seen a Trafigura logo on a board at a rugby match, but I hadn’t heard of them). Time to read more papers and watch more Newsnight, clearly.
Tag: News, Politics & History
I was trying to frame some thoughts about the recently emerged situation with the Speaker of the House of Commons and the police raid. And then I realised, I don’t really have any coherent thoughts about this. I know so very little about the emergence of British Parliamentary Democracy, and what I do know is all in bits and pieces. I know I’m interested in it, but I don’t really know anything about it.
So now I know I’m pretty horrified at the teaching of history and civics in British schools – and indeed at university. The survey courses I took before specialising at honours completely skipped the English Civil War, skimmed over the Restoration, featured a bit part by the Glorious Revolution before mostly ignoring the arrival of the Hannoverian monarchs in favour of dealing with the international wars of the eighteenth century. And nineteenth century history was mostly social history – but yet not really featuring the Reform Laws at all.
However, that doesn’t really help me improve my knowledge. So if someone could recommend me a good book or two on the subject for starters I’d be grateful.
