H&P encourages historians to use their expertise to shed light on issues of the day. If you are interested in submitting an opinion piece for publication, please see our editorial guidelines. We currently have 326 Opinion Articles listed by date and they are all freely searchable by theme, author or keyword.
The British government's scheme to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda has been widely critised. But an element that has attracted surprisingly little attention is the Commonwealth context of the plan. Having only recently urged Rwanda to improve its human rights record in line with the Commonwealth Charter, the Johnson administration is now citing the fact that Rwanda is about to host the 2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting as evidence that the country is a safe destination for deportees.
A much anticipated independent review published on the Windrush scandal last week found that the Home Office was still failing to learn properly from its past mistakes. This article argues that the government needs to overcome its selective amnesia and not only learn from but apologise for its treatment of the victims of the scandal and engage in a genuine process of reconciliation.
Simon Szreter revisits a classic paper from 2005 authored by Professor Ira Katznelson, which set out a history of the public policy that fostered black economic disadvantage in the United States.
Trevor Burnard explores the shift in consciousness around the acceptibility of slavery in the mid-eighteenth century, and suggests how Britain should undertake a serious reckoning with this history.
Nick Draper recounts the inertia and resistance to change that led to the fall of the Colston statue. Historians now have a complex job to do in the new terms of debate.
Evan Smith and Andrekos Varnava trace the roots of today's "hostile environment" to Britain's treatment of Cypriots between the wars - British citizens targeted with access controls a generation before Windrush.
Mike Slaven and Christina Boswell trace the Windrush scandal to institutionalised "symbolic policy-making" at the Home Office and point up the implications for EU citizens in the UK post-Brexit.
Professor Philip Wood looks at early Muslim traditions and the implications for integration of Muslims in Britain today
Prof. Robert Tombs offers an historical explanation of Britain's uneasy relationship with European integration.
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