Once, coal was the future. In The Road to Wigan Pier, his famous depiction of poor living conditions in industrial areas in northern England, George Orwell began chapter two with the statement ‘Our civilisation…is founded
Matthew Kerry
As a historian of Spain's republican past, I watched with fascination as, last night, following news of Juan Carlos I’s abdication, thousands took to the streets in Spain and abroad to demand a referendum on
Eighty years ago, on 31 March 1934, anarchist and socialist representatives met in a bar in Gijón in the northern Spanish region of Asturias to sign the Workers’ Alliance, a coalition of the trade unions
Last week the Supreme Court of Madrid ruled that the monument to the International Brigades, the foreign volunteers who travelled to Spain to fight the Francoist forces during the Spanish Civil War, should be removed
Introduction, by Matthew Kerry Historians are often uncomfortable with dealing with the recent past. They are perhaps even more wary about using the past to look towards the future. In a recent talk (full video
Introduction, by Abdel Razzaq Takriti As part of his current visit to Palestine and Israel, President Obama has stated that there "must be a strong and secure Jewish state". Viewed through a longue durée prism,