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Tag Archives: British History
Post 16: Uninteresting rates.
Gordon Richardson, Governor of the Bank of England 1973-1983. History is not only, or even mainly, concerned to create a narrative of events. One of the key challenges for the historian is to recreate and communicate the internal world of … Continue reading
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Tagged 1973, British History, credit crunch, interest rates, sleaze
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Not all boom, but some free market bust.
In my previous post (It’s the economy…) I outlined how Dominic was wrong to blame the boom and bust in the housing market on the “Barber boom” under the Heath government. (And sorry it’s been so long since that post, … Continue reading
Not the truth, not the whole truth, not nothing but the the truth.
Having given us the sketch of Britain on the day Wilson was returned to power, chapter 1, offers us a quick history of that return to power. This is well written, and it reads like a novelisation of events. The … Continue reading
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Tagged 1970s, British History, Dominic Sandbrook, General Election, Harold Wilson, Seaons in the Sun, The Seventies
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Just not cricket.
Chapter 1 of Seasons in the Sun starts with a stroll through the media on the day that the Labour government was formed on Monday March 4th 1974 after a period of uncertainty following the indecisive result of the general … Continue reading
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Tagged 1970s, British History, cricket, Dominic Sandbrook, Geoff Boycott, MCC, Seasons in the Sun, The Seventies, Viv Richards, West Indies
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The divine revelation of St Dominic the Gnostic.
It is the central thesis of Seasons in the Sun that the 1970s were just dreadful Dominic tells us, “…there is no getting away from the fact that this [the period 1974-1979] is generally regarded as the lowest point in … Continue reading
You don’t get me, I’m in The Daily Mail.
In his preface Dominic tells us “Partisan books are boring, and I have done my best to be even handed” (Seasons, pxvii). I know what he means, diatribes that pay no attention to the facts are terrible and people who … Continue reading
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Tagged 1970s, British History, Dominic Sandbrook, Seasons in the Sun, Star Wars, The Seventies, trade unions
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In a bad metaphor, far from reality…..
The preface of Dominic’s book is based on the idea that the decline of Britain, manifest in the 1970s, can be seen through the prism of the success of the 1976 film Star Wars. Star Wars is set, like the … Continue reading
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Tagged 1970s, British Film, British History, Dominic Sandbrook, Elstree, Star Wars
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Tired and emotional
Was Harold Wilson drunk for much of his second premiership 1974-1976? It has become a commonplace that Wilson’s “rapid decline, and growing paranoia, in his second stint as premier were fuelled by his excessive fondness for brandy” (Harry Reid, http://www.heraldscotland.com/comment/columnists/let-us-make-westminster-a-drink-free-zone-for-mps.16871394). … Continue reading
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Tagged Alcoholism, Bernard Donoughue, British History, Dominic Sandbrook, Harold Wilson, Labour Party
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