One of the few benefits of the country’s transformation into a cashless society is that schoolchildren in receipt of free school meals are no longer made to standout from their peers. With senior scho

In his new book, Edmond Smith addresses a question that has occupied generations of historians: why was Britain the first country to industrialise, thus securing its global dominance in the 19th centu

The article on the battle against U-boats in the Second World War in the November issue omitted perhaps the most important episode. That was the part played by the late Joe Baker-Cresswell of Bamburgh

On 30 September 1888, the body of Elizabeth Stride, one of Jack the Ripper’s victims, was discovered in Dutfield’s Yard, off Commercial Road in East London. Situated just over a mile to the east was t

WHAT was the man thinking of when he did his shopping? Jessie thought. Two huge, brown paper parcels spilled food on to the kitchen table. Enough to feed a family for a fortnight at least. Slices of t

WOULD you look at the man!” Maggie said. She wasn’t much to look at herself, being as black as sin from the coal dust. She’d just finished a shift at the colliery screens, picking lumps of coal out of