Utopia, you are standing in it!

Sinking of the Linda Blanche out of Liverpool by Willy Stöwer

But by August 1916, when the greater part of the High Seas Fleet was ready fix sea again, nothing had occurred on either side that made a decisive battle more likely to take place. This was confirmed when, with a somewhat hollow show of bravado, Scheer ventured to demonstrate to the world that ‘the enemy must be on the watch for attacks by our Fleet’. On 19 August the High Seas Fleet with eighteen dreadnoughts and its only two serviceable battle-cruisers came out with the intention of effecting the aborted pre-Jutland raid on Sunderland in association with U-boat traps.

Again, Room 40 did not let down Jellicoe who was again at sea to meet Scheer before he had left harbour himself, this time well covered by scouting Zeppelins. The two Fleets were never in serious risk of making contact…

To anyone who accepts Britain’s parliamentary sovereignty, Brexit should not make sense. How could a nation committed to parliamentary rule find itself bound by a consultative referendum’s result? And after the majority of Parliament had repeatedly opposed Brexit!  

In “From Earl Grey to Boris Johnson: Brexit and the Anglo-American Constitutional Model,” I reveal that Brexit does not shatter longstanding grand British constitutional traditions and violate parliamentary sovereignty, because Britain has, in fact, been operating under a popular sovereignty model since 1832. This model requires the People’s, and not just Parliament’s, consent as prerequisite for constitutional change. It demonstrates that Brexit is an organic outcome of Britain’s historical commitment to the People’s will.

Before 1832, the Lords indirectly controlled the House of Commons’ composition. They opposed the Great Reform Act’s adoption to preserve this control but lost the battle. From that point on, British constitutional history splits into three…

Corporation tax hikes are apparently back on the agenda for the March Budget, with the Financial Timessuggesting that the Chancellor believes it would be fair to ask businesses for more after taxpayer support during pandemic. This argument might score a few points with focus groups and play well on social media, but it is still poor economics.

For a start, there is no immediate need for tax rises of any kind. The UK economy has held up better than expected over the last few months and the early rollout of the Covid vaccines should contribute to a strong recovery from the third nationwide lockdown. This in turn will do far more good for the public finances than any fiddling with tax rates.

Government borrowing will fall sharply as the economy rebounds. In the meantime, the increase in debt is cheap and easy to finance, and the financial markets…

Among the most charitable observers of English history, Henry VI has been judged a gentle and pious king who was sadly unfit for the kingship of England, however even a cursory reading of history shows Henry to be nothing other than a failure: a feeble-minded simpleton and a weakling who was physically incapable of carrying out even the most elementary duties of his station. He was certainly not a great military leader like his father, Henry V, and his legacy was forever stained by the loss of English imperial lands in France. Henry’s reign was also egregiously marred by widespread popular unrest and growing factionalism at his court, all of which culminated in the destructive civil war later known as “The War of the Roses.”

Henry was a deeply pious man; well-educated, gentle, and infirm. He was tall, slender, and something of a religious scholar -he founded Eton College and…