Opinion Articles

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 342 Opinion Articles listed by date and they are all freely searchable by theme, author or keyword.


The Next judgment: a landmark in the history of equal pay?

Despite the approach of the 55th anniversary of the 1970 Equal Pay Act and the 15th of the 2010 Equality Act, the recent employment tribunal ruling in favour of female workers at Next points to the continuing difficulty workers face in proving unfair treatment, particularly those in the commercial sectors. And more broadly, argues Susan Milner, society still needs properly to address the question of why women's work has been devalued for so long.

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An Unlikely Ally? Advocating for Board Representation

The 2024 general election campaign has seen Labour revive the idea of worker representation as a means of making business more productive and responsive. Sophia Friedel notes that a similar agenda was advanced by Theresa May in 2016 in the wake of the Brexit referendum. The debate over May's proposals, and her subsequent partial retreat from them, points to the continued sensitivities around ideas of democracy in the workplace.

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Are employment rates of disabled people “at the highest level since records began”?

Lucy Delap shows that the history of disabled employment may not be the steady upward progression the government would like to suggest

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Too long ago? Orgreave and the challenge of understanding the past

Lucy Delap argues that inquiries into recent historical events are vital for full understanding, lesson learning and public trust.

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“The City of Steel”: Port Talbot’s Steel Industry, from ‘Treasure Island’ to Crisis

As the Tata Steel controversy continues, Bleddyn Penny looks at the historic role the steel industry has played in shaping Port Talbot's community. 

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When do Doctors Strikes end? A perspective from 1975

As the junior doctors’ strike continues, Jack Saunders takes a historical look at how the current industrial dispute may be resolved.  

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The Health and Safety at Work Act, 40 years on

History shows that hackneyed rhetoric about 'health and safety gone mad' fails to understand the benefits of the 1974 Act, which has saved untold numbers of lives since it was passed 40 years ago this week. Dr Mike Esbester of Portsmouth University investigates. 

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Bob Crow: effective industrial leader, naive politician?

The puzzling aspect of Bob Crow's astute union leadership was his far less effective political career, argues Dr Jim Moher, of H&P's Trade Union Forum. In the wake of the RMT leader's premature death, Dr Moher examines his early political influences, the history of the union he led, and the missed opportunities of alienation from the Labour Party.

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Is Ed Miliband taking political funding back to 1927?

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BA cabin crew: the new London dockers?

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H&P is based at the Institute of Historical Research, Senate House, University of London.

We are the only project in the UK providing access to an international network of more than 500 historians with a broad range of expertise. H&P offers a range of resources for historians, policy makers and journalists.

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