Essays Archive

Chinese soldiers march for the 70th anniversary of victory in World War Two

essays

China rethinking its role

With China positioning itself as a leader on the world stage, its government is drawing on memories of the role the country played in shaping the post-War order. This raises tough..

Rana Mitter December 4, 2020

Lisbon: The Age of Discoveries Monument celebrates the Golden Age of Portuguese maritime history

essays

The world that Vasco da Gama built

Portugal’s commercial dominance of large swathes of the world lasted little more than a century but the images, transmissions, and trades that it engendered left a significant and ..

Roger Crowley November 27, 2020

ITALY - CIRCA 2003: National pathology, satirical cartoon with Francesco Crispi, Giovanni Giolitti and Giuseppe Zanardelli, from Pasquino magazine, 21 January, 1894. Italy, 19th century.

essays

Covid-19 and the moral case for personal judgement

The tension between independence and compliance is everywhere in society – but in medicine, reason must come before rules.

David Seedhouse November 25, 2020

British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher's political career of 11 years ends emotionally on the steps of 10 Downing Street after being deposed in a leadership challenge, on 28th November 1990 in London, England.

essays

Margaret Thatcher – the fall, thirty years on

On 22 November 1990 the Tory leader resigned. What forces brought about the end of her extraordinary premiership?

Bruce Anderson November 20, 2020

essays

Late Beauties of the British Empire

From the Archive - first published in Empire and the Future World Order (2005) after the Engelsberg Seminar. The late beauties of empire represented all that was best in the Britis..

Jan Morris November 20, 2020

essays

Parallel visionaries – Hilla Rebay and Hilma af Klint

Rebay and af Klint, both strong-willed artists, were dedicated to their beliefs in the potential of art to hold spiritual value.

Tracey Bashkoff November 20, 2020

Cicero Denounces Catiline, an 1888 painting by Italian artist Cesare Maccari.

essays

Machiavelli and the benefits of civil strife

Niccolo Machiavelli, Renaissance statesman and political theorist, saw factional politics as essential to the prosperity of the Roman Empire and his native Florence. Are today's pa..

Alexander Lee November 10, 2020

essays

A government of laws

The constitutional order is changing as citizens become alienated and demand more say. Americans must take care that their habits of law – the ethos that makes the US exceptional –..

Philip Bobbitt November 7, 2020

essays

How the British made the NHS their religion

Britain's reverence for its National Health Service was developing long before the post-war promise of a New Jerusalem.

Bruce Anderson October 30, 2020