Category Archives: History

The Political Ambition of Boris Johnson- British Foreign Secretary

Posted on December 20, 2016 by odeboyz

“Why should we not form a secret society with but one object, the furtherance of the British Empire and the bringing of the whole world under British rule, for the recovery of the United States, for making the Anglo Saxon … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Politics | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Workhouses: did Charles Dickens get it wrong?

Posted on December 16, 2016 by odeboyz

Britain was a swaggeringly confident country in 1834 with a firm belief in laissez-faire economics. Yet they created a tightly regulated centralised welfare system which deleted localised authority by imposing national standards. Every aspect of the new system was laid … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Politics | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Adolf Hitler: Man of the Year, 1938: Time Magazine

Posted on December 14, 2016 by odeboyz

Time (1939): Adolf Hitler: Man of the Year, 1938: “What Adolf Hitler & Co. did to Germany in less than six years was applauded wildly and ecstatically by most Germans… …He lifted the nation from post-War defeatism. Under the swastika … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Politics | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

A pen portrait of Lenin

Posted on December 13, 2016 by odeboyz

As an orator, Lenin did not carry the crowd with him; he did not set a crowd on fire, or whip it up into a frenzy. He was not like Kerensky*, who could make a crowd fall in love with … Continue reading →

Posted in History | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Double V Campaign: The struggle for racial equality in the US Armed Forces in the Second World War

Posted on November 17, 2016 by odeboyz

The festering sore that was American segregation became a burning issue after Hitler’s declaration of war (11th December 1941). The world’s worse racist state declared war on a country which enshrined segregation. America’s non-white soldiers were officially second class citizens. … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, History, War | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

The ‘Cat and Mouse’ Act 1913

Posted on October 21, 2016 by odeboyz

The 1913 Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for Ill-Health) Act was an elegant way of nullifying the women prisoners who were using hunger strikes for publicity. The government was irritated by the suffragette movement (the lesser of two constitutional crises* they faced), … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Sound advice from a father during the Warsaw Uprising 1944*

Posted on September 13, 2016 by odeboyz

The Warsaw Uprising museum has numerous videos with survivors recounting their experiences. One video shows a man telling the story of how, when he was fifteen years old, he asked his parents if he could join the uprising. First he … Continue reading →

Posted in Autobiography, History, War | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

General de Gaulle’s war aims, 1941

Posted on August 2, 2016 by odeboyz

“Do you think I am interested in England’s winning the war? I am not- I am interested only in France’s victory,” de Gaulle said provocatively (to General Spears his British liaison officer.) James Barr A Line in the Sand p235 … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Politics, War | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Naval Intelligence*: the Royal Navy, 1940

Posted on July 19, 2016 by odeboyz

At the end of the campaign, the Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet complained that “it is most galling that the enemy should know just where our ships…always are, whereas we generally learn where his major forces are when they sink … Continue reading →

Posted in History, War | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Nigel Farage: A One-Trick Pony?

Posted on July 8, 2016 by odeboyz

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:* Nigel Farage’s political career ended on the 23rd June, 2016 though the finale only came on the 4th July. Unlike David Cameron’s career, his didn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments