Sometimes it’s the details that matter. Top marks to the Telegraph. I thought I’d file this under “history”, for, well, all sorts of reasons.
This comment on Niall Ferguson’s piece in the Telegraph caught my eye: Speaking as someone who moved from the Canadian education system to the British one, I recall being stunned when I was told that 70% and above was an A*. Where I had come from, 85% and above was an A, and 95% and [...]
Two ‘historic’ events happened yesterday – by which I mean that they have some claim to be the first events of their type, rather than anything more particularly significant. Firstly, a woman is for the first time Speaker of the House of Representatives, even if she did make a speech that, I think, over-sold that [...]
An American Historian has attempted to put the current debate about torture into a historical context.
If even a fraction of what this article about essay-writing in America is true (and all of it could equally well be true in Britain) then at least the preliminary response must be to put one’s head in one’s hands and sob uncontrollably.
The universe likes to keep itself in balance, and to make up for the large number of technology-related posts found on this weblog, PDW has been drawn to write this history-related post. The change in calendar is a constant pain for historians working before the changeover, and especially for those working after the change. It [...]
The Guardian has a story about how statisticians correctly estimated the production of German Tanks during World War II, despite having only limited intelligence. Can any mathematician shed light on why the formula works? The statisticians had one key piece of information, which was the serial numbers on captured mark V tanks. The statisticians believed [...]
Here is an interesting and well-written piece about a type aircraft that fought in the Battle of Britain, that was fitted with a rotating turret. What I love most about the description is the 1938 memo: The speed of modern bombers is so great that it is only worthwhile to attack them under conditions which [...]
History and the war on terror
A historian comments on comparisons with 1930s appeasers that have found their way into contemporary political discourse.