“we wanted the public to be better informed about the history of empire”

The British Imagination: A History of Ideas from ...

Emily Briffett: Why does the 14th century, which is often dubbed ‘calamitous’, have such a bad reputation? Helen Carr: Some pretty bad things happened during the 14th century – including the greatest

It was a raucous scene, as Jacobean banquets tended to be. Men and women of the court, one observer recalled, “rolled in intoxication”. Even the most temperate had collapsed into “brutish delights”, l

Why there is no effective rationale for free speech

Contempt for democracy and the perversion of classical liberalism

What questions should today’s writers and artists be asking? Responses from authors at the Hay Festival and the TLS