The Modern British History Podcast Harry White

"In stage one, we say nothing is going to happen.  Stage two, we say something may be about to happen, but we should do nothing about it. In stage three, we say that maybe we should do something about it, but there’s nothing we can do.
.....Stage four, we say maybe there was something we could have done, but it’s too late now.”
I'm joined by 'my right honourable member' Gareth Allen from the British Sitcom History Podcast constituency to dissect the interminable obfuscations and myriad machinations of this early 1980s gem of political satire: 'Yes Minister'. 

We hope you enjoy the podcast! 

What are the common myths about the conflict in Northern Ireland? Is understanding history a barrier to peace building in the country, or a vital part of it? And finally, what are the prospects for Irish unification in future?

I was joined by Dr Thomas Leahy, Dr Eleanor Leah Williams and Dr Jonathan Kirkup for a full roundtable conversation on all these questions and many more. We hope you enjoy the discussion. 

John Major was prime minister for longer than the last five we've had in the UK. What were his politics? Were they little more than Thatcherism with some of the hard edges taken off; or did he represent a more significant shift of the political dial. 

Thanks to Dr Ben Williams for joining me on this one to unpick these questions (and a few more besides!) Ben co-wrote the  edited book John Major: An Unsuccessful Prime Minister? Reappraising John Major with Dr Kevin Hickson.

Both Smith and Gaitskell died suddenly and never gained political office. What do they tell us about how the Labour party remembers its lost leaders? What might have happened if they had both lived? And finally, where are they best placed on the spectrum of political opinion in the Labour Party?

In this episode I'm joined by Dr Martin Farr, Senior Lecturer in Contemporary British History at Newcastle University, to take on all these questions and many more. 

We hope you enjoy the podcast. 

What is the often overlooked role that the EU played in Northern Ireland peacebuilding? What were the challenges of the EU getting buy-in from the Northern Irish community and how were these tackled? What lessons can be learnt from this for other peacebuilding initiatives?
For this episode I was very grateful to be joined by Dr Giada Lagana, lecturer in politics at Cardiff university, to discuss all the above and more! 

Sources highlighted in the episode for those interested to learn more:
https://www.iaces.iehttps://peaceplatform.seupb.eu/en/https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/wales-governance-centre/publications

Why are by-elections called; what myths and misconceptions surround them; and how much do they shed light on the national political picture?

I was grateful to be joined by Marc Collinson for this episode - lecturer in contemporary politics and history at Bangor University - to tackle these questions and many more.

Hope you enjoy the discussion! 

Recommendations:
Chris (Lord) Rennard, Winning Here: My Campaigning Life: Memoirs Volume 1 (2018).David Butler, 'By-Elections and their Interpretation', Chris Cook and John Ramsden (eds), By-Elections in British Politics (1973): 1-13.Peter Sloman, '"Take Power - Vote Liberal": Jeremy Thorpe, the 1974 Liberal revival, and the politics of 1970s Britain', English Historical Review, 137 (2022): 1462–1492.T.G. Otte and Paul Readman (eds), By-elections in British Politics, 1832-1914 (2013).