Opinion

H&P encourages historians to comment the issues of the day, either with rapid responses or full opinion pieces. The H&P office can help historians to publish opinion pieces in the national media or on this website.

Rapid responses

Historians provide rapid comment on the issues of the day:

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H&P opinion pieces

Historians write exclusively for the H&P website:

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Opinion pieces in the media

Articles by members of the H&P Network published in the national media:

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'Lest we forget' series, in association with Open Democracy

The Lest we forget series is produced in association with openDemocracy.

  • The forgotten impact of a war that didn't happen
    Holger Nehring, 30 March 2010
    Holger Nehring suggests that the impact of the Cold War arms race on politics and society has been forgotten.
  • Forgotten lessons: Palestine and the British empire
    James Renton, 19 March 2010
    James Renton examines the legacy of British involvement in Palestine, arguing that mandate-era misjudgements are being readily repeated.
  • Iraq and the fig leaf of just war theory
    Bob Brecher, 9 February 2010
    Bob Brecher examines how dissention over the legality of the Iraq war, and the history of Western military interventions since 1945, reveal the paucity of international law's moral underpinnings.
  • The politics of poppy day
    Lucy Noakes, 26 January 2010
    As Wootton Basset pays its respects to soldiers killed in the Afghanistan conflict, Lucy Noakes explores the fraught history of war remembrance.

For information on submissions to the Lest we forget series, please refer to the guidelines on the openSecurity website or contact daniel.macarthur-seal@opendemocracy.net.

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Advice for historians on writing opinion pieces

To be accepted for publication on this website, contributors should observe the following guidelines:

  • Articles should be 700-900 words of text in short, clear paragraphs
  • Use a punchy, accessible style with no wasted words
  • Get to the point in the first sentence and hook your argument firmly into the current issue
  • This is an opportunity to give your opinions, but not to rant
  • Focus on the current issue, with history used sparingly to make your case
  • Deploy brief historical examples and quotations where appropriate
  • Read recent press coverage of the issue at hand and make sure your angle is original
  • The last paragraph should reinforce your point and the relevance of history

The History News Service website provides excellent advice for historians on writing opinion pieces, with samples and style guidelines. If you have an idea for an article and would like to discuss it, or to submit a draft, please contact Ruth Evans (ruth.evans@sas.ac.uk). We can also help you to place articles with newspapers.

Copyright

Users of the website are welcome to download and reproduce its contents consistent with the fair dealing exceptions, in particular fair dealing for the purpose of research or private study. In submitting their papers to this website authors are considered to have granted the editors a licence to reproduce their work in electronic form, but they continue to retain copyright in their work. The editors retain copyright in the website as a compilation or database, as well as in the underlying source code as a computer program.

Disclaimer

The views expressed on this website are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the editors or other staff members of the Centre for Contemporary British History, University of London, the Centre for History in Public Health, University of London or the Faculty of History, University of Cambridge.

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