The inability to recognise the significance of the Liberal capture of the Conservative heartlands is one of the strangest features of political journalism

Still over the moon by the positive two-page review in The Oldie by Roger Lewis. "Essential reading..." When the Carry On Stopped White Owl Books Pen & Sword Books P&S History #WhenTheCarryOnStopped #FilmHistory #FilmComedy #TheOldie #NewBook #CarryOnFilms

"Even if it does work as a strategy for winning the next election, there’s a question: why bother?" On the sheer, infuriating pointlessness of a Labour leadership that sees governing in a progressive way as a distracting from fighting the next election. newstatesman.com/politics/uk-po…

Glad to see Princess Anne getting out her camera to photograph the beauty of Sark facebook.com/share/v/1E7hfj…

David Lloyd George in Dorchester for the Tolpuddle Martyrs' centenary 7 July 1934 (badge from my collection, cutting from Western Daily Press 9th July 1934)

“Jonathan Parry is uniquely qualified to write the history of Liberalism in Britain... a pithy, original, and trenchant analysis.” Anthony Howe on 'Liberalism' by Jon Parry - the latest addition to the Short Histories series. agendapub.com/page/series-re… #politicalhistory

I had a chat with Mark Pack about British Liberalism here markpack.org.uk/174939/liberal…

Picnics with a Purpose: Macdonald’s 1876 Political Innovation In the summer of 1876, Sir John A. Macdonald launched a bold new tradition: Picnic Politics — a fusion of food, fun, and fiery speeches.

This is a powerful critique of Blue Labour and its close ally ‘post-liberalism’ by S. I. Rubinstein who points out how both feed off a simplistic Eighties worldview: unherd.com/2025/06/what-d…

Fr Calvin seems a character from the mid-Victorian culture wars

Good job here for the right kind of 19th century political history PhD student jobs.ac.uk/job/DNS877/rec…

A piece I wrote for the London Review of Books about the responses of British soldiers and journalists to the unfamiliar world of Sudan in the 1880s and 1890s. Also some reflections on the underrated A.E.W. Mason and the curious case of the four feathers: lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v47/…

“Oxford has so much more influence & power than Cambridge … their education gives them a much more dexterous & agreeable use of intellectual things. We here in Cambridge are sound in knowledge, provincial in interest, narrow in purpose…..We must stew in our own juice.”

95 quid for lunch with a twat!

Whenever Starmer tries to appear normal, he ends up sounding like a mixture of David Brent and the acid bath murderer spectator.co.uk/article/keir-s…

Just arrived! A Festschrift for David Cannadine edited by Jon Parry — with pieces by Miles Taylor, ⁦Paul Ramsbottom⁩ Sandy Nairne, Helen McCarthy, Charles Saumerez Smith, and many others including me on Noel Annan

Out now: Institutions, Individuals and Modern British History edited by Jonathan Parry examines the place of Britain’s political and cultural institutions, and the impact of individuals in their formation and evolution. Jon Parry buff.ly/56uEe9y

The Football Governance Act has done something that ministers from Rab Butler onwards dismissed as unthinkable - legislative regulation of soccer. Here is how we got here .... thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/14/blo…