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I'm happy with modern Britain, but if I'd gone another way it wd have been Reformation history.I've always been fascinated by religious history & by intellectual revolutions, when big ideas come into collision & reshape the world. And I had amazing lectures by Diarmaid MacCulloch
In some ways, my next book returns to these themes, exploring the rise of democracy as a religious revolution. It asks how an idea once viewed as a heresy achieved the mass conversion of British politics, before splintering into rival sects, each claiming to be the one true faith
But history has exploded in so many new & exciting directions since I was a student. If I were studying now, I'd love to explore African history, Islam, black political thought & so much more that wasn't on our curriculum.For students of history, there's no time like the present.
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Robert Saunders
@redhistorian
This is a terrible decision - & it should not be in the power of govt simply to decree when or how Parliament sits. Switching off the virtual Parlt, & restricting access to the 50 MPs who can fit in the Chamber, will reduce not enhance democratic scrutiny. thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/c…
Apparently "there have been heated exchanges in Tory WhatsApp groups". Not good enough. If Tory MPs do not believe our democracy can work properly under Rees-Mogg's plan, they have a duty to their constituents to speak out. They are not empty vessels for the will of Number 10.
It's hard to think of another serious democracy where the Executive has so much power over the institution that's supposed to hold it to account. MPs have an obligation to Parlt & to those who elected them to be more than merely cup-bearers for their liege lords on the frontbench
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Robert Saunders
@redhistorian
With all respect to @YouGov, this is very shoddy polling. It sets up a choice between 170 MPs attending online/in person & all 650 returning to Parlt. No one is proposing the latter, which wd be impossible with social distancing. The question is whether to shut out the 120 online
Even Jacob Rees-Mogg, who wants to end the virtual Parliament, acknowledged that only 50 MPs can be in the Chamber at any time. So the effect would not a return to 650 MPs in Parliament, but a *reduction* in the numbers who can participate, by switching off those joining online.
It's striking, nonetheless, that 60% of those polled opposed Rees-Mogg's demand. If may suggest either that they understand the problem rather more clearly or that the more serious tone of the current set-up is proving popular.
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Robert Saunders
@redhistorian
Paul McCartney once signed my copy of Abbey Road. When I told him I studied History, his face lit up. "History was my favourite subject at school", he said. "Shall I tell you what the great thing about History is?" Then Linda called him away, so I never found out.
A year or two later, I was out running and overtook someone chatting with the college president. As I lumbered past, I realised it was Paul McCartney again. "You see, the way I write songs is like this", he was saying. Then my momentum took me out of earshot.
Basically, Paul McCartney owes me the second half of two very promising anecdotes.
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