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The city of Great Novgorod in Russia was a mediaeval pioneer of a decidedly rumbustious kind of parliamentary democracy.
In the thirteenth century, England was the westernmost partner of the Hanseatic League, a German-dominated European trade bloc. At the eastern end, in Kievan Rus’, was Novgorod, which shared with London a Viking past and a rebellious public. But even the barons who made John sign Magna Carta (1215) and Henry III the Provisions of Oxford (1258) dreamt of nothing like democracy in Novgorod.
Posted February 26 2021
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Lord Halifax tacks gratefully into the Winds of Liberty, though he trims his sails to avoid being blown into republicanism.
Following the Restoration of King Charles II in 1660, opponents of George Savile, Marquess of Halifax, dubbed him ‘the Trimmer’ for charting a nice course between the King’s claims on power and Parliament’s defence of liberties. Halifax gleefully embraced the label, and privately circulated The Character of a Trimmer (1685) to champion a liberal constitution years ahead of its time.
Posted February 25 2021
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Following the Restoration of King Charles II, the country charted a well-planned course between the extremes of civil licence and Government control.
George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax, won for himself the nickname of ‘the Trimmer’ for his ability to sail a course between political extremes. It was intended as a snub, but he wore the badge with pride, maintaining that we needed both Charles II’s strong government and also Parliament’s vigorous defence of civil liberties in order for our country to prosper.
Posted February 24 2021
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After safely negotiating the alluring Sirens, Odysseus and his crew must now decide which of Scylla and Charybdis would do the least damage.
Before Odysseus and his crew set sail from her island, Circe warned them all of the dangers they would face in returning to Ithaca. Assuming they passed safely by the alluring Sirens, they would then have to navigate a course between a gangly, voracious six-headed monster on one side and a ghastly, throbbing whirlpool on the other — a choice between bad and worse.
Posted February 24 2021
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Armed with a length of stout cord and a large ball of wax, Odysseus and his crew prepare to face the music of the Sirens.
Odysseus and his crew have parted, not without misgivings, from the paradise island of the goddess Circe. Before they set off for home and the island of Ithaca, Circe warned them about the Sirens. The sailor who once listens to their music will be drawn irresistibly into their meadow, there to sit spellbound forever by song among the other little heaps of withered flesh and bleaching bone.
Posted February 23 2021
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After getting lost on a woodland walk and spraining his ankle, Samuel Pepys felt amply compensated when he stumbled across a flock of sheep.
On Sunday 14th July, 1667, Samuel Pepys took his party for a woodland walk in Epsom, near the home of his cousin John. Much to Samuel’s chagrin, he managed to get them lost, so they never found the pleasant woodland paths he had been looking forward to. And indeed, it seemed that things were fated to get worse before they got better.
Posted February 21 2021