On the 7th May 2020, at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK, news broke that this year’s Notting Hill Carnival would be cancelled. Set to take place this August Bank Holiday weekend, the cancellation was a first in the Carnival’s more than fifty-year history. A few weeks […]
Historians’ Watch
Why We Need Black History in UK Schools
Jason Arday on why interweaving Black history into our curriculum paves the way for a more consistent and informed approach towards addressing structural and institutional racism.
James Watt and Slavery in Scotland
How was James Watt – hero of the Industrial Revolution – involved in colonial commerce and slavery in mid-eighteenth-century Scotland?
Beyond the Nuclear: The Caribbean Family
What models of love and support get lost if we cling to a linear model of family life? Leighan Renaud calls for a model of genealogical enquiry rooted in a decolonised, expansive and ‘matrifocal’ understanding of the Caribbean family.
The ‘crisis’ over academic freedom from the 1970s to the 2020s
After the recent release of the Policy Exchange’s controversial report on ‘Academic freedom in the UK’, Evan Smith argues that the ‘crisis’ over free speech is nothing new. Debates over ‘no platforming’ have a much longer history than is commonly perceived.
Covid-19: The End of Homelessness?
What opportunities does COVID-19 present for ending homelessness? David Christie argues that the achievements of New Labour’s Rough Sleepers Unit can provide a starting point for progressive policy building in the wake of the pandemic.
The past is not a statue
What does the gargantuan legacy of public statuary have to do with Britain’s history? Miles Taylor argues that the past is not like a statue.