Tom’s curious heirs
Lincoln Allison says the torrent of popular school stories that followed Tom Brown’s Schooldays inverted its central message of Christian reform
Bollocks to Babel
The Erasmus scheme is a political project not designed to work well academically
The “right wing” case for the NHS
Lincoln Allison lays bare the strictly non-socialist argument for the NHS
A kind of loving
Lincoln Allison is moved by a cache of his father’s wartime love letters and what they reveal about conflict, his parents’ relationship — and a huge generational chasm
Bob Lord: butcher and visionary
Bob Lord, the chairman of Burnley FC from 1955 to 1981, had a shrewd view of how the world worked and where it was heading
Sporting life
This biography on Sir Stanley Rous and sport in the twentieth century is scholarly, balanced and well-written, says Lincoln Allison
Are all political beliefs ultimately selfish?
Thomas Prosser’s new book argues that there are elements of self-interest and altruism in all political ‘isms’
Is the expat way of life coming to an end?
The main rules of being an expat are 1) avoid controversy at all costs and 2) constantly belittle your home country
The BBC’s worst mistake
A separate channel dedicated to British sport could have saved the BBC
The Golden Age of London (1980-2020?)
Is London on the verge of another phase of urban decline?