DOCSLIB.ORG

The Owen Powell Memorial Lecture "Britain in the World"

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Owen Powell Memorial Lecture The Owen Powell Memorial Lecture "Britain in the World" Lord Peter Hennessy, Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History, Queen Mary University of London Before joining the Queen Mary School of History in 1992, Peter was a journalist for 20 years with spells on The Times as a leader writer and Whitehall correspondent, for the Financial Times as its lobby correspondent at Westminster, and as a columnist on The Independent. Understanding the hidden wiring of the constitution and the power of the machinery of government in Britain remained at the heart of his research and teaching at Queen Mary when he moved from journalism to academia in 1992. He co- founded the Institute of Contemporary British History in 1986; and later the Mile End Group, a postgraduate research hub and forum at Queen Mary. He won the Times Higher Education Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008. His books include Never Again: Britain 1945-51, The Secret State, The Hidden Wiring: Unearthing the British Constitution, Cabinet and Whitehall, and Distilling the Frenzy: Writing the History of One's Own Times. He won the Orwell Prize for political writing in 2007 for Having It So Good: Britain in the Fifties. He was appointed to the House of Lords in November 2010, sitting as a non-political crossbench peer. "Economic Inequality and Our Grandchildren’s Future" Professor Danny Dorling, Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography, University of Oxford Danny Dorling joined the School of Geography and the Environment in September 2013 and was previously a professor of Geography at the University of Sheffield. He has also worked in Newcastle, Bristol, Leeds and New Zealand. With a group of colleagues he helped create the website www.worldmapper.org which shows who has most and least in the world. His work concerns issues of housing, health, employment, education, wealth and poverty. Co-authored texts include The Atlas of the Real World: Mapping the Way We Live and Bankrupt Britain: An Atlas of Social Change. His recent books are, Inequality and the 1%; Injustice: Why Social Inequalities Persist; So You Think You Know About Britain; Fair Play; The Visualization of Social Spatial Structure; The Population of the UK; Unequal Health: The Scandal of Our Times; The 32 Stops; Population Ten Billion; All That is Solid. He is Honorary President of the Society of Cartographers and a patron of Roadpeace, the national charity for road crash victims. "Small Countries, Big Issues: The Caribbean in the 21st Century" Professor Victor Bulmer-Thomas CMG, OBE, Hon. Prof. Univ of London, Associate Fellow Chatham House Victor Bulmer-Thomas is an associate fellow in the Americas programme, honorary professor at the Institute of the Americas, University College London, and an emeritus professor of economics at London University. From 2001 to 2006 he was the director of Chatham House and from 1992 to 1998 he was the director of the Institute of Latin American Studies at London University. He edited the Journal of Latin American Studies from 1986 to 1997 and has authored or edited more than 20 books on Latin America and the Caribbean including, The Economic History of Latin America since Independence (Third Edition, 2014) and The Economic History of the Caribbean since the Napoleonic Wars (2012). He is a non-executive director of the New India Investment Trust and the JP Morgan Brazil Investment Trust. He has received honours from the governments of Brazil, Colombia and the United Kingdom. "Talking to Terrorists" Jonathan Powell, CEO/Founder, Inter Mediate, diplomat and negotiator, former Chief of Staff (Blair government) Jonathan was a British diplomat from 1979 to 1996 working on the negotiations to return Hong Kong to China in the early 1980s, the CSCE human rights talks, CDE arms control talks with the Soviet Union in the mid 1980s, and the ‘Two plus Four’’ talks on German reunification in the late 1980s. Jonathan was Chief of Staff to Tony Blair from 1995 to 2007 and the chief British government negotiator on Northern Ireland from 1997-2007. Since leaving government Jonathan has written, Great Hatred Little Room: Negotiating Peace in Northern Ireland, The New Machiavelli: How to Wield Power in the Modern World and Talking to Terrorists: How to End Armed Conflicts. "International Longevity in the 21st Century" Baroness Sally Greengross OBE, President/Chief Executive ILC-UK Baroness Sally Greengross has been a crossbench (independent) member of the House of Lords since 2000 and co-chairs five All-Party Parliamentary Groups: Dementia, Corporate Social Responsibility, Intergenerational Futures, Continence Care and Ageing and Older People. She is the Vice Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Choice at the End of Life, and is Treasurer of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Equalities. Sally is Chief Executive of the International Longevity Centre – UK; Co-President of the ILC Global Alliance; and was a Commissioner for the Equality and Human Rights Commission from 2006-12. Baroness Greengross was Director General of Age Concern England from 1987 until 2000. Until 2000, she was joint Chair of the Age Concern Institute of Gerontology at Kings College London, and Secretary General of Eurolink Age. Baroness Greengross is Chair of the Advisory Groups for the English Longitudinal Study on Ageing (ELSA) and the New Dynamics of Ageing (NDA). She is President of the Pensions Policy Institute and Honorary Vice President of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health. Baroness Greengross is Patron of the National Association of Care Caterers (NACC) and Patron of Care & Repair England. She holds honorary doctorates from eight UK universities. "On Liberty" Shami Chakrabati, Director, Liberty Shami Chakrabarti has been Director of Liberty (The National Council for Civil Liberties) since September 2003. She was called to the Bar in 1994 and worked as a lawyer in the Home Office from 1996 until 2001 for Governments of both persuasions, before joining Liberty as In-House Counsel. She became heavily involved in its engagement with the 'War on Terror' and with the defence and promotion of human rights values in Parliament, the Courts and wider society. Since becoming Liberty’s Director she has written, spoken and broadcast widely on the importance of the post-WW2 human rights framework as an essential component of democratic society. She is Chancellor of Essex University, a Master of the Bench of Middle Temple, and Honorary Professor of Law at the University of Manchester. In 2011, Shami was invited to be one of six independent assessors advising Lord Justice Leveson in his Public Inquiry into the Culture, Practice and Ethics of the UK Press. She was also chosen as one of eight Olympic Flag carriers at the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony. Shami's first book, On Liberty, was published in 2014. "That Spatchcocked Federation? The Political Economy of the EU and the UK’s Membership of it" Bill Emmott, Former Editor, The Economist, and executive producer, "The Great European Disaster Movie" Bill Emmott is an independent writer and consultant on international affairs, based in London and Somerset. After studying politics, philosophy and economics at Magdalen College, Oxford. In1980 he joined The Economist, the world's leading weekly magazine on current affairs and business, in Brussels and rose to become Editor from 1993 until 2006. When he left in March 2006, The Economist's circulation was almost 1.1m worldwide, having more than doubled in the previous 13 years. Now, he is involved with books, documentary films and the work of The Wake Up Foundation, a charity dedicated to education and communication about the decline of western societies which he co-founded in 2013 with an Italian film-maker, Annalisa Piras. Their latest film, "The Great European Disaster Movie", aired on BBC4 on March 1st and Arte on April 21st, and is now the centrepiece of an educational roadshow around Europe. Bill writes regular columns on international affairs for La Stampa in Italy and has written frequently for The Times and Financial Times in Britain. He has won journalism awards in Italy and Britain and "lifetime achievement" awards from the Work Foundation and the Anderson School of Management at UCLA. "The New Confrontation with Russia: Is the EU the Continuation of Germany by Other Means?" Peter Hitchens, Journalist, author, and broadcaster Mail on Sunday Born in Malta, educated at the University of York, Peter Hitchens is an English journalist and author. He has published six books, including The Abolition of Britain, The Broken Compass (How British Politics Lost its Way) (reissued as The Cameron Delusion in March 2010), The Rage Against God, and The War We Never Fought. Hitchens writes for Britain's The Mail on Sunday newspaper and is a former foreign correspondent in Moscow and Washington. His recent e-book, ‘Short Breaks in Mordor’, is a compilation of the reports from abroad that won him the Orwell prize for political writing in 2010. Hitchens describes himself as a Burkean conservative, and he is a frequent critic of political correctness. "The Extreme Centre" Tariq Ali, Writer, journalist and film maker Tariq Ali has been a leading figure of the international left since the 60s and is a writer, journalist and film-maker. Born in Lahore in 1943, he was educated at Oxford University, where he became involved in student politics, in particular with the movement against the war in Vietnam. On graduating he led the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign. He owned his own independent television production company, Bandung, which produced programmes for Channel 4 in the UK during the 1980s. He is a regular broadcaster on BBC Radio and contributes articles and journalism to magazines and newspapers. He has been writing for the Guardian since the 70s, is editor of the New Left Review and is a political commentator published on every continent.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Andy Higgins, BA
    Andy Higgins, B.A. (Hons), M.A. (Hons) Music, Politics and Liquid Modernity How Rock-Stars became politicians and why Politicians became Rock-Stars Thesis submitted for the degree of Ph.D. in Politics and International Relations The Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion University of Lancaster September 2010 Declaration I certify that this thesis is my own work and has not been submitted in substantially the same form for the award of a higher degree elsewhere 1 ProQuest Number: 11003507 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 11003507 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Abstract As popular music eclipsed Hollywood as the most powerful mode of seduction of Western youth, rock-stars erupted through the counter-culture as potent political figures. Following its sensational arrival, the politics of popular musical culture has however moved from the shared experience of protest movements and picket lines and to an individualised and celebrified consumerist experience. As a consequence what emerged, as a controversial and subversive phenomenon, has been de-fanged and transformed into a mechanism of establishment support.
    [Show full text]
  • Losing an Empire, Losing a Role?: the Commonwealth Vision, British Identity, and African Decolonization, 1959-1963
    LOSING AN EMPIRE, LOSING A ROLE?: THE COMMONWEALTH VISION, BRITISH IDENTITY, AND AFRICAN DECOLONIZATION, 1959-1963 By Emily Lowrance-Floyd Submitted to the graduate degree program in History and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Chairperson Dr. Victor Bailey . Dr. Katherine Clark . Dr. Dorice Williams Elliott . Dr. Elizabeth MacGonagle . Dr. Leslie Tuttle Date Defended: April 6, 2012 ii The Dissertation Committee for Emily Lowrance-Floyd certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: LOSING AN EMPIRE, LOSING A ROLE?: THE COMMONWEALTH VISION, BRITISH IDENTITY, AND AFRICAN DECOLONIZATION, 1959-1963 . Chairperson Dr. Victor Bailey Date approved: April 6, 2012 iii ABSTRACT Many observers of British national identity assume that decolonization presaged a crisis in the meaning of Britishness. The rise of the new imperial history, which contends Empire was central to Britishness, has only strengthened faith in this assumption, yet few historians have explored the actual connections between end of empire and British national identity. This project examines just this assumption by studying the final moments of decolonization in Africa between 1959 and 1963. Debates in the popular political culture and media demonstrate the extent to which British identity and meanings of Britishness on the world stage intertwined with the process of decolonization. A discursive tradition characterized as the “Whiggish vision,” in the words of historian Wm. Roger Louis, emerged most pronounced in this era. This vision, developed over the centuries of Britain imagining its Empire, posited that the British Empire was a benign, liberalizing force in the world and forecasted a teleology in which Empire would peacefully transform into a free, associative Commonwealth of Nations.
    [Show full text]
  • The Violences of Men: David Peace's 1974
    The violences of men: David Peace’s 1974 The violences of men: David Peace’s 1974 THE VIOLENCES OF MEN: DAVID PEACE’S 1974 Ian Cummins: Salford University [email protected] Dr Martin King: Manchester Metropolitan University [email protected] A revised version of this paper was published CULTURE, SOCIETY & MASCULINITIES, VOLUME 6 ISSUE 1, SPRING 2014, PP. 91–108 1 | P a g e The violences of men: David Peace’s 1974 This article examines representations of hegemonic masculinity and the resultant “violences of men” in the context of literature on representations of men and masculinities and representations of policing in TV and films. Using bricolage as a theoretical hub, an analysis is made of hegemonic masculinity at work in the film 1974 (produced by Channel Four and Screen Yorkshire in 2005) based on the first of the novels from David Peace’s Red Riding quartet. An ex- amination of three of the film’s characters—a “young turk” journalist, an old- school Detective Inspector, and a criminal entrepreneur—and the ways in which they are drawn together in a plot which centres on violence and corruption, provides examples of the adaptive nature of hegemonic masculinity and the centrality of power and violence to this concept. The value of examin- ing the past in relation to the present is also addressed. Keywords: hegemonic masculinity, David Peace, bricolage, Red Riding Quartet (1999-2002) O’Sullivan (2005) has argued that it is difficult to tell what the real life impact of screen portrayals of policing have.
    [Show full text]
  • Answering the New Atheists: How Science Points to God and to the Benefits of Christianity
    Answering the New Atheists: How Science Points to God and to the Benefits of Christianity Anthony Walsh Boise State University Series in Philosophy of Religion Copyright © 2018 Vernon Press, an imprint of Vernon Art and Science Inc, on behalf of the author. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Vernon Art and Science Inc. www.vernonpress.com In the Americas: In the rest of the world: Vernon Press Vernon Press 1000 N West Street, C/Sancti Espiritu 17, Suite 1200, Wilmington, Malaga, 29006 Delaware 19801 Spain United States Series in Philosophy of Religion Library of Congress Control Number: 2018904925 ISBN: 978-1-62273-390-3 Cover design by Vernon Press using elements by Kjpargeter - Kotkoa - Freepik.com, geralt – pixabay.com Product and company names mentioned in this work are the trademarks of their re- spective owners. While every care has been taken in preparing this work, neither the authors nor Vernon Art and Science Inc. may be held responsible for any loss or dam- age caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in it. Table of Contents Acknowledgements v Preface vii Chapter 1 Science Points the Way to God 1 Chapter 2 Christianity, Rationality, and Militant New Atheism 15 Chapter 3 Christianity, Atheism, and Morality 29 Chapter 4 Christianity, Western Democracy, and Cultural Marxism 43 Chapter 5 The Big Bang and Fine Tuning of the Universe 59 Chapter 6 Earth: The Privileged Planet 75 Chapter 7 Cosmological Fine-Tuning and the Multiverse 91 Chapter 8 Abiogenesis: The Search for the Origin of Life 107 Chapter 9 Cracks in Neo-Darwinism: Micro is not Macro 125 Chapter 10 Answering the Tough Questions: God of the Gaps, Free Will, and the Problem of Evil 141 Chapter Footnotes 157 References 171 Index 187 Acknowledgements I would first of all like to thank commissioning editor, Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • October 2019 PAPER 6: BRITISH POLITICAL HISTORY SINCE 1880
    1 October 2019 PAPER 6: BRITISH POLITICAL HISTORY SINCE 1880 Sources clockwise from top left: United Ireland, The British Library, Jeff Johnston, Tony Withers, Imperial War Museum. FACULTY READING LIST AND LIST OF CORE AND SURVEY LECTURES Between 1880 and the beginning of the twenty-first century, the United Kingdom became a full political democracy based on universal suffrage, and witnessed major party-political realignments as well as the rise of social rights, identity politics and new non-governmental movements. The UK also experienced civil war (in Ireland, 1916-1923 and in Northern Ireland from 1972 to 1998), total war (in 1914-18 and 1939-45), and the loss of a global empire. Throughout the period there was a vigorous debate on the role of the state and the freedom of the markets in a globalized and deeply unequal economic system. This 1 2 was accompanied by struggles over what it meant to be a citizen of the United Kingdom and who had the right to belong. All had profound political consequences, although these have not always been immediately obvious. The party system and much of the constitution remains in place, parliamentary democracy has survived the challenges of Fascism and Communism apparently unscathed, and politicians have spent much of the past hundred years congratulating themselves on the country’s remarkable capacity to ‘return to normal’ in the aftermath of major crises. Many recent or on-going political controversies, such as devolution, the future of the House of Lords, or Britain’s relationship with Europe have obvious parallels with late Victorian debates.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rage Against God Pdf Free Download
    THE RAGE AGAINST GOD PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Peter Hitchens | 256 pages | 21 Jul 2011 | Continuum Publishing Corporation | 9781441195074 | English | New York, United States The Rage Against God PDF Book This is the work of the sculptor, Charles Sargeant Jagger, who also executed the astonishing Royal Artillery Memorial in the heart of London. The engines that took me home from school in those days had resounding patriotic names — called after Royal Air Force squadrons that had fought in the Battle of Britain, or famous ships of the enormous Merchant Navy we then had. He also briefly touches on Dawkins's writings, like The God Delusion. However, events like the Crusades were not exclusively foisted upon humanity out of just "religious" motivations. But eventually finding atheism barren, he came by a logical process to his current affiliation to an unmodernised belief in Christianity. If you welcome them, they have an astonishing power to reassure and comfort. Are Atheist states not actually Atheist? See larger image. So I was hoping for some more background on the excellent podcast I heard earlier. It is very much so today. The second half of the book examines Soviet Russia as the fulfillment of every atheist's utopian dream. Hitchens provides hope for all believers whose friends or family members have left Christianity or who are enchanted by the arguments of the anti-religious intellects of our age. But they knew, and everyone knew, that they had been fooled and that whatever they had fought for had been lost during the squalor of war. Who Created God? We had won the war.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction
    Notes Introduction 1. Tribune, December 3, 1943, in Paul Anderson ed. Orwell in Tribune (London: Politico’s, 2006), 57. 2. Margaret Tapster, WW2 People’s War, an online archive of wartime memories con- tributed by members of the public and gathered by the BBC. The archive can be found at bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/ 65/a5827665.shtml Accessed May 30, 2013. 3. Paul Addison, No Turning Back: The Peacetime Revolutions of Post-War Britain (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2010); Peter Hennessy, Having It So Good: Britain in the Fifties (London: Allen Lane, 2006); David Kynaston Aus- terity Britain, 1945–51 (London, Berlin and New York: Bloomsbury, 2007); David Kynaston, Family Britain, 1951–1957 (London, Berlin, New York: Bloomsbury, 2009); Mark Donnelly, Sixties Britain: Culture, Society and Politics (Harlow: Pearson, 2005); Alwyn W. Turner, Crisis? What Crisis? Britain in the 1970s (London: Aurum Press, 2008); Andy Beckett, When the Lights Went Out: Britain in the Seventies (London: Faber and Faber, 2009); Dominic Sandbrook, Seasons in the Sun: The Battle for Britain, 1974–1979 (London: Allen Lane, 2012); Alwyn W. Turner, Rejoice! Rejoice! Britain in the 1980s (London: Aurum, 2010) and Andy McSmith, No Such Thing as Society: A History of Britain in the 1980s (London: Constable, 2011). 4. British and European resistance to American culture is expounded by Dick Hebdige, Subculture: The Meaning of Style (London and New York: Routledge, 1979); Rob Kroes et al. Cultural Transmissions and Receptions: American Mass Culture in Europe (Amsterdam: VU University Press, 1993) and Rob Kroes, If You’ve Seen One, You’ve Seen the Mall: Europeans and American Mass Culture (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1996).
    [Show full text]
  • Natural Selection
    Book Reviews the new and exciting developments which emerge virtually every week, Natural selection— the book should be regularly revised every couple of years to keep the issue evolution’s phantom at the forefront in the hotly contested fields of intelligent design and creation science. This is particularly important mechanism given the fraudulent rhetoric actively promulgated by theistic evolutionists and popular science authors. A review of What Darwin Got Wrong References by Jerry Fodor and Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini 1. Williams, A., Astonishing DNA complexity demolishes neo­Darwinism, J. Creation Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 21(3):111–117, 2007; creation.com/images/ New York, 2010 pdfs/tj/j21_3/j21_3_111­117.pdf. 2. Wells, J., Icons of Evolution, Regnery Publishing, Washington, DC, 2004; www. iconsofevolution.com/. Jean K. Lightner 3. Clamp et al., 2007, Distinguishing protein­coding and noncoding genes in the human genome, his book is not a creationist or Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 104:19428–19433; Tintelligent design book. In fact, it see also review: Truman, R., What biology was written by two men who consider textbooks never told you about evolution, J. themselves atheists, have no problem Creation 15(2):17–24, 2001; creation.com/ what­biology­textbooks­never­told­you­about­ with the idea of common descent, and evolution. assume “that evolution is a mechanical 4. Probst, A.V. and Almouzni, G., Pericentric process through and through” (p. xiii). heterochromatin: dynamic organization during So what is it that the authors believe early development, Differentiation 76:15–23, Darwin got wrong? The mechanism 2007. for evolution; namely, the theory of 5.
    [Show full text]
  • Box Office 0870 343 1001 the Radcliffe Camera, the Bodleian Library
    Sunday 29 March – Sunday 5 April 2009 at Christ Church, Oxford Featuring Mario Vargas Llosa Ian McEwan Vince Cable Simon Schama P D James John Sentamu Robert Harris Joan Bakewell David Starkey Richard Holmes A S Byatt John Humphrys Philip Pullman Michael Holroyd Joanne Harris Jeremy Paxman Box Office 0870 343 1001 www.sundaytimes-oxfordliteraryfestival.co.uk The Radcliffe Camera, The Bodleian Library. The Library is a major new partner of the Festival. WELCOME Welcome We are delighted to welcome you to the 2009 Sunday Particular thanks this year to our partners at Times Oxford Literary Festival - our biggest yet, The Sunday Times for their tremendous coverage spread over eight days with more than 430 speakers. and support of the Festival, and to all our very We have an unprecedented and stimulating series generous sponsors, donors and supporters, of prestige events in the magnificent surroundings especially our friends at Cox and Kings Travel. of Christ Church, the Sheldonian Theatre and We have enlarged and enhanced public facilities Bodleian Library. But much also to amuse and divert. in the marquees at Christ Church Meadow and in the Master’s Garden, which we hope you will Ticket prices have been held to 2008 levels, offering enjoy. We are very grateful to the Dean, the outstanding value for money, so that everyone Governing Body and the staff at Christ Church for can enjoy a host of national and international their help and support. speakers, talking, conversing and debating throughout the week on every conceivable topic. Hitherto, the Festival has been a ‘Not for Profit’ Company, but during 2009 we will move to establish The Sunday Times Oxford Festival is dedicated a new Charitable Trust.
    [Show full text]
  • Disssertation May 16 2016 FINAL SUBMIT
    Over-Medicated Boys and Girls Down the Well: The Politically Awkward ‘Imaginaries’ of Education Liaisons in the U.S. and Pakistan A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduated Schools of the University of Minnesota In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty Co-Advisors: Peter Demerath & Gerald Fry by Suzanne Miric March 21, 2016 Suzanne Miric, 2016, copyright ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This study would not have been possible without the generous support and encouragement of many people over the years. I am particularly grateful to the many liaisons who shared their stories, thoughts, and time with me so generously, along with their courage, warmth and friendship. I would also like to acknowledge my committee members, Francis Vavrus, Michael Goh, and my co-advisors Gerald Fry and Peter Demerath, who each in their own way contributed immensely to this study. I am particularly grateful to Peter, who took me under his wing as I moved into the dissertation process and showed unfailing patience, encouragement, just the right amount of genuine ethnographic interest to inspire me to challenge myself to do better during a long and often winding journey. I would also like to acknowledge my former committee member Richard Nunneley, who told me before he passed away in 2010 that if I thought anthropology was hard, I should try philosophy – and then encouraged me to do so. I am also deeply gratitude to Carole Gupton, whose thoughtful guidance at the University of Minnesota led me to the topic of urban schools and race, Elizabeth Watkins at the Minnesota Department of Education, who in her quiet way guided my understanding of a complex political landscape, Helen Kirby and her colleagues, who made my study in Pakistan possible in the first place, and my many wonderful colleagues at the University of Minnesota, who encouraged me to pursue my studies.
    [Show full text]
  • Debate on 19Th June: Britishness
    Debate on 19th June: Britishness This Library Note aims to provide background information for the debate to be held on Thursday 19th June: “To call attention to the concept of Britishness in the context of the cultural, historical, constitutional and ethical tradition of the peoples of these islands” This Note provides an overview of the various debates that have taken place on the concept of Britishness. These include historical accounts, current commentaries and research into public attitudes. The Note also considers various Government proposals regarding British citizenship, shared values and rights and responsibilities, along with reaction to these proposals. Ian Cruse 16th June 2008 LLN 2008/015 House of Lords Library Notes are compiled for the benefit of Members of Parliament and their personal staff. Authors are available to discuss the contents of the Notes with the Members and their staff but cannot advise members of the general public. Any comments on Library Notes should be sent to the Head of Research Services, House of Lords Library, London SW1A 0PW or emailed to [email protected]. Table of Contents 1. The Backdrop to Debates on Britishness, National Identity and Citizenship ................ 1 1.1 The Concept of National Identity ............................................................................. 1 1.2 Britishness as a Historical Phenomenon ................................................................. 1 1.3 Britishness as a Social and Legal Construct—British Citizenship ........................... 2 1.4
    [Show full text]
  • Review: the Rage Against God
    Review: The Rage Against God Here’s a lesson in “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.” My expectation of this book by Peter Hitchens, the Christian brother of prominent atheist polemicist, Christopher Hitchens, was guided by blurbs and dust-cover pieces that could be pronounced by the voice-over of a Bruce Willis movie trailer: “Two brothers. Two beliefs. Two revolted. One returned.” From the subtitle (“How atheism led me to faith”) I was expecting something autobiographical mixed together with some apologetics and philosophical defense of the Christian worldview against today’s myriad attacks by the neo-atheists. I was expecting an armourer handing out rhetorical ammunition. There is a very small amount of that, and you can tell that a Zondervan editor has done his or her best to shoehorn the book into that very sellable category. Which is a shame – because that is not where the heart of this book lies, and the attempt to dress it in sensationalist clothes is simply annoying. What we do have in this book is not a broad-ranging apologetic. Rather we have an excellent analysis of 20th Century sociology, particularly with reference to the impact of socialism and communism and the associated decline in the influence of the church in Western society. In the notes I jot down as a I read I included this observation: “a commentary on being British more than a commentary on being atheist.” There is some autobiography which borders on nostalgia for its own sake at times. Its value lies in his identification with a generation that “was too clever to believe” (title of Chapter 1, page 17) and allows him to use the first person as an abstractive tool both in the singular: For instance: I had spotted the dry, disillusioned, and apparently disinterested atheism of so many intellectuals, artists, and leaders of our age.
    [Show full text]