The country the Pilgrim Fathers left for America from in 1620 was England.   Britain was purely a geographical expression, and not a particularly widely used one.  The United Kingdom of Great Britain came into existence in 1707 when the two states officially united.  Americans have continued to call the result  England to this day.

There is no particular consensus on who was responsible for the current financial crisis.  Credit was definitely involved somewhere along the way.  But was it the people who lent it, borrowed it or regulated it who are culpable?  Nobody seems to know, though some people have some pretty strong opinions.  But there is one group

Well I have just got back from a street party to celebrate the 60th anniversary of our dear Queen’s coronation.  I have had some beer, almost but not quite got up to dance and joined in with singing God Save the Queen.  I always enjoy this kind of shared national experience, though I don’t really

I am afraid I am a bit pressed for time right now, so I have extemporised this week’s episode to save writing a script.   It may not be as lucid as normal, but its better than nothing.  I’ll try and get a transcript up when I have some time.  But quality aside, at least

I don’t think anyone since Shakespeare has contributed quite as many sayings and allusions to the English language as Orwell.   And the most remarkable thing is that most of them come from only two relatively short books.  Orwell was not a prolific writer and he died at a much earlier age than most of

The wide waters of the Rhine separated the rich and peaceful provinces of Gaul from the violent barbarians of Germany.  But it was no barrier.  The warlike tribes were only prevented from helping themselves to the property of the empire’s inhabitants by the Roman army.  The frontier was tough to defend and during the reign