The legacy of William the Bastard

The legacy of William the Bastard

Little seems to have changed since his time. Some two thirds of the British landmass remains in the hands of around 0.3% of the population that includes the Crown, various aristocrats and the Church of England. The social hierarchy is alive and well. And the psyche of the British masses remains deeply marinated in class consciousness, social distinctions and instinctive deference.

  As a spectacle of pomp and circumstance the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton must surely have fulfilled every TV mogul’s wildest dreams. Hollywood could never compete. The setting was Westminster Abbey, founded by King Edward the Confessor in 1045 and the traditional place of coronation and burial for royalty down the ages. […]

La storia e il presente

La storia e il presente

A sessant'anni dal maggio 1952

Per aver ricordato l’europeismo di De Gasperi in contrapposizione agli entusiasmi mediterranei di Fanfani sono stato accusato, in un recente ed importante incontro italo-russo, di conoscere troppo a fondo la storia del mio paese. E anche se non mi pare un’accusa veramente infamante, ho dovuto ammettere che – di fronte all’ignoranza beota in cui la […]