Seventeenth-Century Problems!

Just because they happen to people in woodcuts, doesn’t mean they’re not real. Stay safe, people. 1. When everyone starts dancing to ‘Saturday Night Fever’, but you can’t join in. — 2. When the local witch won’t let you borrow her paddling pool.  — 3. When you can’t quite remember if you turned the oven…

Orange is the New Jacobite

The Glorious Revolution, 1688. James II should have been one of Britain’s best kings. His brother Charles had brought stability after the Civil Wars. Christmas was back, soldiers had gone. Puritans had shut the hell up and were allowing everyone to play football again. A trade boom had left the Crown with more money than…

History, Democracy, and the Vote

I’ve recently been pioneering a new sport, it’s called ‘Middle Class Chicken’. Here’s how it works. Next time you are in a normal, middle-class social scenario – a dinner party, perhaps, or hanging out at the elderflower pressé stall at your local farmers’ market – you simply wait for the subject to flow naturally onto…