Author Archives: bernardporter2013

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About bernardporter2013

Retired academic, author, historian.

Burying History

Posted on March 5, 2016 by bernardporter2013

‘On Friday, as part of a speech urging the UK to leave the European Union, Dr Liam Fox MP said that the UK was “one of the few countries in the European Union that does not need to bury its … Continue reading →

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The Swedish Alternative to Austerity

Posted on March 5, 2016 by bernardporter2013

Back in Sweden again. What strikes me this time is the great contrast between the political and economic mood here, and back in my other home in the UK. Britain is gripped by ‘austerity’, and full of gloom and doom … Continue reading →

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Blair, Faith and Terror

Posted on March 4, 2016 by bernardporter2013

The thing that really finished it for me with Tony Blair – more than student fees, over which I resigned from the Labour Party, and the Iraq war, over which I would have resigned if I hadn’t done so already … Continue reading →

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The Decline of the British Media

Posted on March 3, 2016 by bernardporter2013

Apparently the British print media is doomed. The current demise of the Indy is the first major casualty. Soon our only news sources will be the internet, whither the Indy has retreated, but which is hugely unreliable; and radio, TV and … Continue reading →

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THE LAST TRUMP

Posted on March 2, 2016 by bernardporter2013

Contemplating the end of the world, as one is bound to when watching Donald Trump on TV, I fell to musing what single thing I would want to be preserved as a token for the rest of the universe, of … Continue reading →

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Old churches

Posted on March 2, 2016 by bernardporter2013

How can a modern agnostic (like me) love old churches? Well, it’s simple, really. Christianity takes credit for them, but Christianity didn’t build them. They were built by people, as expressions of their own creativity and labour . They were … Continue reading →

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The Snoopers’ Charter

Posted on March 1, 2016 by bernardporter2013

A revised version of the Government’s so-called ‘Snoopers’ Charter’ – allowing interception of all our phone and email traffic, among other things – is to be presented to Parliament today. Here’s a historical piece I wrote for the Independent on … Continue reading →

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Tragedy or farce

Posted on February 29, 2016 by bernardporter2013

To paraphrase Marx: ‘History repeats itself: first as Hitler, then as Trump’ (Eighteenth Brumaire). There’s no doubting that the circumstances behind the rise of ‘the Donald’ and of certain European right-wing mavericks today do bear an uncanny   resemblance to those of … Continue reading →

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First past the post

Posted on February 29, 2016 by bernardporter2013

Our voting system in Britain is a clear disgrace, and will be even more so when the Conservatives have finished – as they have started – gerrymandering it to their advantage even more: boundary changes, ‘reform’ of TU funding, and … Continue reading →

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1956

Posted on February 28, 2016 by bernardporter2013

I’ve just reviewed two books about the year 1956 for the LRB. I hope they publish it (they don’t always); if not I’ll put it up here. The 1950s have a bad reputation in historical retrospect, as a time of … Continue reading →

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