Doing History in Public

Tag: current affairs

  • Empty Shops and the Housing Crisis: a Perspective from the Second World War

    Empty Shops and the Housing Crisis: a Perspective from the Second World War

    By David Cowan Britain lacks enough affordable housing. The problem is clear: too few houses are being built to meet the needs of an ageing population. One estimate suggests that about 300,000 new houses are needed each year, whilst about half of that are actually constructed. With the demand for new housing exceeding availability, renting…

  • England’s First Double Agents?

    England’s First Double Agents?

    By Fred Smith | @Fred_E_Smith The disturbing events which have recently unfolded in the small English town of Salisbury appear to belong more to the set of a Hollywood spy thriller or the pages of an Ian Fleming novel than to reality. From a historical perspective, the role of spies and informants on all sides during both the…

  • Expressions of “Russian exceptionalism”: a historical continuity?

    Expressions of “Russian exceptionalism”: a historical continuity?

    By Mobeen Hussain (@amhuss27) Vladimir Putin was unsurprisingly victorious in this month’s presidential elections on the 18th of March. As with all political campaigns, candidates routinely utilise powerful self-branding images. In Putin’s case, historic forms of Russian exceptionalism were re-imagined to run on a distinct platform based on anti-Americanism, similar to his previous campaigns. Michael Bohm, in…

  • World at their Feet: The World Cup and History

    World at their Feet: The World Cup and History

    By Tom Smith  (@TomEtesonSmith) For any football fan, and even for many who don’t usually indulge in the ‘beautiful game’, the arrival of the World Cup every four years provides pure escapism. Even in England, the disappointment of a predictable penalty shoot-out defeat is assuaged by the tournament’s association with long hot summer days, the colours…