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It was 40 years ago, on 27th August 1979, that Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, was killed by an IRA bomb on his fishing boat Shadow V off the coast of Ireland in Donegal Bay.  He was Viceroy of India (1947), Governor-General of India (1947-48), First Sea Lord (1955-59) and mentor of the...

Sunday trading was legalised in England and Wales 25 years ago, on 28th August 1994. Until then, under the Shops Act of 1950, the situation had been rather chaotic, and some of the rules laughable, but Sunday had been recognised as a ‘special’ day. The Shops Bill of 1984, which would have allowed widespread Sunday trading,...

More of us need more help.  Fewer of us are getting it.  The crisis in the social care system in England continues to grow.  Local council spending in real terms is now £700million below what it was in 2010/11. The findings come in a recent report from the King’s Fund think tank, which found a...

The M6 has just achieved an unenviable status: it is now the worst road in Britain for delays. So says the recent analysis of government traffic and roadworks.  It found that motorists using the UK’s longest motorway (running from Rugby to Gretna) face delays on more than 210 million journeys during a three-year period of...

Did you know that you are eating plastic?  On average, each one of us now ingests about five grams of plastic each week – or the equivalent of eating a credit card. Such is the rather startling news from WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature).  Research at the University of Newcastle in Australia has found...

Have you ever considered going on a meditation retreat?  You may want to think again. A recent study by University College London (UCL) has found that three in 10 people who go on such retreats suffer “unpleasant” episodes, including feelings of anxiety and fear.   UCL’s study also found that more than a quarter of people...

What kind of beer did people drink in biblical times, and what did it taste like? Such questions will brew in the minds of real ale lovers, as they lovingly savour their favourite real ale each weekend.  And now help is at last at hand. For scientists in Israel have managed to brew beer using...

Britain’s favourite traditional foods, according to a recent YouGov survey, are Yorkshire pudding, Sunday roast, fish and chips, crumpets, a full English breakfast and bacon sandwiches. Our least favourite are jellied eels, haggis and laverbread (a Welsh dish of seaweed). The results provoked some outcry.  Several Scottish people were upset at the low ranking given...

All in the month of JULY Walking on the moon in July 1969 Remembering Gerard Manley Hopkins   The absent-minded William Spooner Our friends across the pond Torch Trust celebrates 60 years of ministry Religious music is everywhere Does your holiday villa even exist? National ‘Don’t Step on a Bee’ Day is on 10th July...

It was: 200 years ago, on 2nd July 1819 that the Cotton Mills and Factories Act 1819 was passed in Britain.  It placed restrictions on the number of hours children could work in cotton mills. It was virtually unenforceable and had little effect, but it paved the way for later legislation. 175 years ago, on...

American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin became the first people to walk on the surface of the Moon 50 years ago, on 21st July 1969. There had been some dispute over who would step first on to the Moon’s surface, but Apollo 11 commander Armstrong was given the privilege partly for technical reasons....

The poet and Jesuit priest Gerard Manley Hopkins was born 175 years ago, on 28th July 1844 in Stratford – now East London. He was the eldest of probably nine children in a family that was both well off and artistically creative, as well as High Anglican. His father Manley, who founded a marine insurance...