1. Here’s the UK National Archives (NA) video on the Beveridge Report of 1942 https://youtu.be/e-vGHp4P9LU Sir William Beveridge’s report laid the foundations of the modern British welfare state and the National Health Service (in the middle of the Second World War). It found extraordinary resonance among the population at large, with more than half a million copies sold in the first year after its publication and an extraordinary 95% of the population having heard of it – and by and large approving of it.

And here’s an equally good NA video on a much earlier document, the Domesday Book of 1086 https://youtu.be/72-w8ZhNV8I

2. The National Archives are also offering a free // pay what you can webinar with Alice Hunt from Southampton University, Republic: Britain’s Revolutionary Decade, 1649–1660, at 19:30 UK time on Wednesday 12^th February https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/republic-britains-revolutionary-decade-16491660-tickets-1088578941919

Events moved with giddying speed in the 1650s. After the execution of Charles I, ‘dangerous’ monarchy was abolished and the House of Lords was dismissed, sending shockwaves across the kingdom. These revolutionary acts set in motion a decade of bewildering change and instability, under the leadership of the soldier-statesman Oliver Cromwell. England’s unique republican experiment – imposed on Scotland and Ireland, too – may have been short-lived, but had a lasting impact on British monarchy, politics, religion and culture. Here, in thrilling detail, Alice Hunt brings to life the republic and its extraordinary cast of characters.

3. I’m reasonably confident that the London Review of Books blog is accessible to non-subscribers; I’m completely confident that it often has interesting posts. https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/

Two recent posts:

Ceasefire by Selma Dabbagh about Gaza (and President Trump) https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/january/ceasefire

Everyone has their reasons by Jan-Werner Müller about the recent epidemic of sycophancy in the USA (and President Trump) https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/january/everyone-has-their-reasons

4. And one last posting 🤞 about President Trump until March, a Time magazine piece on what is possibly his most far-reaching ‘Executive Order’, “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing” https://time.com/7210039/what-is-dei-trump-executive-order-companies-diversity-efforts/

DEI = Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: three notions with the promotion of which many of us, I imagine, have no problems whatsoever. (Hope that last sentence worked!) That said, I’ve just listened to the news and heard that Trump is blaming the plane crash in Washington on the DEI policy of the agency responsible for air traffic control …

5. And, finally and perhaps unexpectedly, an interesting piece from Himal magazine on The languages of tea-estate workers in South Asia: Part 1 https://www.himalmag.com/culture/india-tea-estate-workers

The establishment of commercial tea plantations in the region by the British engendered the migration of diverse groups of people to tea-growing areas to work there as labourers. Many of these workers belonged to marginalised communities, and they brought their eclectic languages along to their new homes. Labour migration to the tea gardens of colonial India fostered contact and convergence among diverse languages, prompting the rise of new lingua francas and the erosion of many mother tongues.