Written by Candice Maharaj Image: Melton Prior, Carnival in Port of Spain Trinidad, 1888, Illustrated London News. Carnival is a festival that is celebrated annually during the weeks leading up to Lent. It is a period of celebration that involves music, costumes, processions, feasting and a lot of alcohol. Traditionally, during Lent people had to abstain from…
Written by Candice Maharaj Friday 9 November 2018 marked the 20th anniversary of the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA). The Act incorporates the content of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) into UK law. Additionally, the Act makes it unlawful for public bodies to act in a way that is incompatible with the ECHR; it requires courts…
Written by Luke Neill Much has been written about the daily routine of Donald Trump. In particular, after the recent release of various White House documents regarding his lists of meetings and appointments, this has revolved largely around the several hours of ‘executive time’ that Trump has each day. What is ‘executive time’? If you…
Written by Carissa Chew On 17 October, the Global and Transnational Group and Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies jointly welcomed Dr. Julia McClure from the University of Glasgow to present her latest research on ‘Poverty on the Move in the Spanish Empire’, a project that McClure framed as part of a broader challenge to the…
Written by Chris Spencer Image: Photograph of the 2018 Labour Conference, https://www.rt.com/op-ed/439492-uk-labour-party-conference-corbyn/, accessed 21 October 2018. Keynote speeches at this year’s Labour Party conference were especially notable for their use of history. Speeches were littered with anniversaries that, supposedly, socialists should celebrate. The centenary of female suffrage in Britain was an unsurprisingly consistent feature, but then…
Written by Martha Stutchbury Image: Rita Willaert’s 2008 photograph of the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan. https://www.flickr.com/photos/rietje/2903021240/, accessed 21 October 2018. On 10 October 2018, French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged and condemned the Armenian Genocide during a speech delivered at the Yerevan Memorial, continuing France’s longstanding policy of officially recognising the disaster. However, global acknowledgement of…
Written by Laila Ghaffar Image: Still from Jodhaa-Akbar (2008), https://www.timeout.com/london/film/jodhaa-akbar, accessed 21 October 2018 While browsing Netflix the other day, I noticed a new addition to my ‘suggested’ list. The thumbnail displayed two well defined side profiles of two of Bollywood’s biggest stars: Hrithik Roshan clad in silver armour, and Aishwariya Rai in an ornate gown. Above their…
Written by Lisa Doyle Image: Bust of Euripides. Marble, Roman copy after a Greek original from c. 330 BC. There are many manifestations of divinity in the work of Euripides, the fifth century BC Athenian tragedian. For example, in his plays we see numerous depictions of the Olympian gods, the appearance of other minor deities, and…
Written by Carissa Chew Editorial note: The first part of this article appeared in our printed edition named ‘Individuals and Communities’ (Issue No. 21) and is available through the journal archive on this website. Unfortunately we were unable to publish the rest of the article in the printed journal and it slipped through the…
Written by Bella Howard-Vyse South Africa is a country particularly rich in fascinating historical events. One such is the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879, caused when the British Empire came into conflict with the Zulu Kingdom. This war became famous on account of the unusual nature of the outcome of the battles within it. There…
Written by Daniel Sharp Everyone knows of Alexander the Great and whilst some idolize him as a great leader, others regard him as a brutal conqueror. This debate is common to all such figures in history, from Alexander through Napoleon and Stalin. Such debates are not likely to be settled anytime soon, but…
Written by Mia Partridge In December 2016, my family and I finally went on a trip that we had been planning for years. We visited Sri Lanka, the beautiful country where my father was born and spent the first years of his life. His father had moved from England to Sri Lanka to manage…
