Appropriately on St Andrew's Day, the government have published the new Scotland bill which will devolve further powers. The bill follows the Calman Commission of 2009 which put forward a series of recommendations about further devolution. These include the power to set new income tax rates from 2015, new borrowing powers and control over issues such as the speed limit and drink-driving. Agreed by the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats, the SNP unsurprisingly do not think it goes far enough and view it as a 'missed opportunity'. With Scottish elections next year, the three national parties will be hoping that it will appease those in Scotland wanting more power without encouraging further such demands from the SNP. What do you think?
Julian Assange'sWikileaks (blocked at school) have gained access to over 250,000 diplomatic documents sent from the USA's embassies back to the State Department. They haven't published them in full on the internet this time, as they have often done in the past. Instead, they have given access to selected newspapers including The Guardian and The New York Times. Highly confidential information is therefore now out in the open, such as reports that the Saudi government urged the US to invade Iran, and that the Chinese government officially approved a cyber-attack on Google. It will take some time to process these reports and analyse their importance. Hillary Clinton had begun apologising over the weekend even before the reports were published.
There are differing reactions to how helpful Wikileaks' activities are. Michael White in The Guardian believes they can help to prevent abuses of power and keep governments in check. Historian Guy Walters (whose blog has been added to our list) thinks that the release of information like this will ultimately make politicians and civil servants more cautious about what they write down in their records, making it much more difficult for the historians of the future to assess their motivations for their actions. The impact of Wikileaks and similar websites will be felt for many years to come...
PS: Here is further comment on the subject from the historian Timothy Garton-Ash, a chance to download the data, and a video discussion (shown below) with The Guardian's editor of the significance of the leaks
PS: Here is further comment on the impact of Wikileaks for historians - from an American perspective.
A watercolour of Nonsuch Palace has been put up for sale by Christies, the auction house. It is one of the most realistic pictures of the palace available (it was only ever painted four times) and has rarely been seen in public. Sadly we can't afford it in the history department as it is expected to reach £1.2 million when it goes on sale...
Work began on the palace in 1538, with Henry VIII keen to copy some of his French rival Francis I's palaces. It wasn't completed in his lifetime, and his successors did not have the funds to maintain it properly. The London Historian's Blog describes it as a "white elephant which nonetheless must have been magnificent to behold."
There is little to see of the palace in Nonsuch Park today, but marker posts show where it stood, and you can see the "dip" in the path where its entrance once was. Not far away is the site of the banqueting house, a small building where Elizabeth and others would have been entertained after a busy day's hunting, perhaps even by Shakespeare himself...
The video shown above provides some historical perspective, interviewing a Chinese soldier, Wang Xinshan, who explains why he and his country felt so threatened at the time of the Korean War, and why China chose to intervene. A historian, Barbara Demick, meanwhile explains how ever since North Korean life has been completely dominated by the legacy of the war, with all of its citizens trained to believe that South Korea and its allies were fully responsible and might invade again with the smallest provocation.
Today is Thanksgiving in the USA, and President Obama has marked it by traditionally "pardoning" a turkey (called Apple) and handing out food supplies at a local Washington charity. The day's origins come from 1621, when the surviving pilgrims from the Mayflower, half of whom had died during the winter from exposure or disease, shared a celebratory feast with the local Wampanoag tribe to acknowledge the successful harvest of their corn. The pilgrims had survived partly due to the help of Squanto, a Native American who had been kidnapped and sold into slavery before escaping to London and then back to America. He spoke perfect English and advised the pilgrims how to cultivate their crops and find food in the local environment.
The thanksgiving story caught the imagination of other settlers, and by the time of the Revolution most states held a day of thanksgiving, albeit on different dates. In 1827, Sarah Josepha Hale (also author of the Nursery Rhyme "Mary had a little lamb" organised a campaign for a national holiday, and in 1863 Abraham Lincoln granted her request at the height of the Civil War, scheduling it for the last Thursday in November.
Thanksgiving remains the most traditional and family-orientated of America's holidays, one separated from any religious affiliations so that it can be enjoyed by all...except the turkeys.
Today is the 20th anniversary of Margaret Thatcher's resignation as Prime Minister. A controversial figure still today, she was nevertheless Britain's first and only woman Prime Minister, one of the longest serving prime ministers of the twentieth century and an important leader of political change. For those for whom this seems a long time ago, here are a few reminders of her resignation and her premiership as a whole: here is the BBC's On This Day article with some clips, the Telegraph's view and the New Stateman's selection of different views. Do you have any views on Margaret Thatcher? Is she an inspiration to budding female politicians or an example of how not to be a woman in politics?
Andrew Marr has written an article and will be presenting a programme on Sunday to mark the 50th anniversary of John F Kennedy's successful presidential campaign. Kennedy has become iconic because of his youth, great speeches and tragic early death. Marr argues that if you study his campaign closely, the truth is rather more murky. Kennedy's political team (which included Ted Sorensen, who died recently) pulled every trick they could in order to secure victory. "It is a tale of soaring and risk-taking rhetoric..." writes Marr, "but also big money, smears, bribes, wire-pulling and bottomless cynicism." Marr believes this set the template for the modern political campaign, linked very clearly to the rapidly- developing world of advertising and PR as seen in "Mad Men". The most well known aspect of the campaign was the television debates (which we have blogged about before). One interesting fact was that Kennedy asked for a "comfort break" with a minute to go before transmission, and only reappeared with seconds to go. This clearly unsettled his opponent, Richard Nixon, who went on to deliver a rather flustered and unsteady performance. Let us know what you think of the programme.
A rather belated post about Nobel prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi's release by the military junta last Saturday. Under house arrest for seven years, Suu Kyi is the leader of the pro-democracy party in Burma, the National League for Democracy. The party overwhelmingly won elections in 1990 but was prevented from taking power by the junta who continued its military dictatorship. Following the recent elections in Burma, widely criticised for not being free or fair, the NLD leader is now free but for how much longer and will her release really change Burma? Here is her interview with John Simpson and here some more information about the elections and the situation in Burma. For some more discussion on Burma's history, see Laurence Rees's blog.
Nonsuch HP is of course delighted by the news that Prince William and Kate Middleton will get married next year. It has been noted that Kate is the first woman of a non-aristocratic background (or, as The Guardian put it, a "commoner") since Anne Hyde, who married James II in 1660. Her story is certainly very interesting. Anne's father was an adviser to James' brother Charles while the family was in exile during the protectorate. Anne was maid of honour to James' sister, Mary and it is said that James seduced her and was then forced to marry her (possibly in a secret ceremony in 1659, a year earlier than the official marriage). She was described as "plain" by Samuel Pepys, but the French ambassador considered her to have the "courage, cleverness and energy almost worthy of a King's blood." She had 8 children, but only 2 daughters survived past infancy - Mary and Anne, and she died 7 weeks after Anne's birth, aged 33, in 1671. She converted to Catholicism before her death, and probably influenced her husband to eventually do the same. His conversion led to the Glorious Revolution of 1688, when he was replaced by William of Orange, ruling jointly with his wife Mary, Charles and Anne's daughter.
Kate Rea will be speaking at the Nonsuch HP society today (1.15 in the Library). She is a historical researcher and has also been involved in the production of documentaries such as "World War 2: Behind Closed Doors" (more details here). She has been closely involved in the creation of WW2History.com, recording much of the eye-witness testimony for the site. She read Russian and Russian History at Cambridge and will be speaking in particular about her interest in that subject today. Everyone is welcome to attend.
