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.
Inspired by our recent opinion article by Alison McClean, historian and royal biographer Andrew Lownie writes about his own experience of the reclosure of files on the royal family at the National Archives and poses some urgent questions for the Keeper of TNA. We need to know on whose authority these reclosures are being made and why there is not greater transparency and accountability regarding this process.
Since 2012, thousands of previously open documents have been removed from public access under the Reclosure Policy of the National Archives (TNA). The full extent of this withdrawal of previously decalssified material is not apparent from TNA's annual reports on reclosure. The process itself is extremely opaque and appears to involve the application of the exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act in ways that run contrary to the spirit of that legislation. Historians should be concerned by this development.
Professor Paul Cartledge, newly appointed President of the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, reflects on recent protest movements and the need for decolonisation and renewal in the classics – and in the great museum collections.
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.
1942 saw the nadir of the war, but also the publication of the Beveridge Report and a profound national discussion on what postwar society should be like, says Lucy Noakes. What should we change in a post-Covid future?
Human remains were unlawfully gathered from across the world in the age of colonialism - Jeremiah J Garsha argues that museums now need to adopt policies to assist Indigenous attempts to bring their people home.
Daniel Lomas sets the recent loss of historical papers by the government in context - cock-up or conspiracy?
Prof. Jean-Pierre Morin argues historians need to become more proactive in order to overcome the challenges they face when communicating with policymakers.
As debate about controversial political issues such as Europe accelerates, Dr Tom Charlton challenges historians to acknowledge the contestabilty of their interpretations - particularly when used to advocate for political ends.
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