The European Court of Human rights foiled Britain’s plans to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda yesterday by holding that British courts must first find the policy legal. The Taliban have proven surprisingly adept tax collectors, though they will spend much of the funds on defence rather than improving the lives of struggling Afghans. And the world is buying too few electric vehicles to meaningfully reduce carbon emissions.
Tag Archives: Great Britain
Opinions: New Frontier For AI, British Stagnation, Story Scene Imagination
A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, why foundation models are artificial intelligence’s new frontier, the stagnation nation: a chronic British disease (10:30), and why visiting the scenes of stories is an act of imagination (18:20).
Cover Previews: Britain Magazine – July/Aug 2022
A TASTE OF THE JULY/AUGUST 2022 ISSUE
Big Ben: The time machine
Big Ben, the world’s most famous clock has been under wraps for four years, its iconic bell silenced. This year, restored to its former glory, Big Ben once again shows its face.
Richmond: Down by the river
Between Richmond and Hampton Court is a storied stretch of the River Thames, whose banks are lined with grand houses, royal parks and Henry VIII’s favourite palace.
King Arthur’s Cornwall: Searching for Camelot
The timeless legends of King Arthur and his brave knights live on in the magical landscapes of North Cornwall.
Cover Preview: Current Archaeology – July 2022
This year, events are taking place across the country to celebrate the 1,900th anniversary of the construction of Hadrian’s Wall (the eagle-eyed among you may have spotted that this most-famous Roman landmark has also featured, in some capacity, in every issue of CA since January).
This month our cover story considers whether the Romans too may have commemorated the Wall’s construction – and we also have an opinion piece asking how sure we can be about its date.
From monumental stonework to modern quarrying, we next head to Bedfordshire to learn about archaeological investigations at Black Cat Quarry, carried out before extraction works began on the site. There, excavations have revealed an impressive multi-period landscape, including Neolithic and Bronze Age settlements, a significant Roman farmstead, and what may be the remains of a Viking ‘fort’ referred to in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
Blenheim Palace: Britain’s Answer To Versailles
Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire — the seat of the Duke of Marlborough — is one of the outstanding palaces of Baroque Europe, and was planned as both a residence and national monument.
Towards the end of the day on August 13, 1704, John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, exhausted by an intense day of fighting near Blindheim, a village on the Danube, famously scrawled a note to his wife on the back of a tavern bill: ‘I have not time to say more but to beg you will give my duty to the Queen and let her know her army has had a glorious victory.’ The battle of Blenheim — as the name has been anglicised — was, in fact, a confrontation between a Franco-Bavarian army and the forces of a grand alliance of European powers, including the Dutch republic, Austria and Britain, over control of Spain and its empire. It was the first major defeat inflicted on a French army in the field for 50 years and was crowned by the capture of Louis XIV’s commander-in-chief, Marshal Talleyrand, who waited in the Duke’s coach as he scribbled his hasty message.
Although the plans of the building changed considerably over time, something close to the final design was published in the first part of Colen Campbell’s Vitruvius Britannicus (1715). As described by Campbell, ‘the manner is grand, the parts noble, and the air majestick of this palace, adapted to the martial genius of the patron…’ This latter quality was celebrated both in the ornament of the building with military trophies and its original title, ‘Blenheim Castle’.
Fig 5: The Saloon is overlooked by figures representing the four Continents and the marble doorcase is ornamented with an imperial eagle. Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, photographed for Country Life Magazine by Will Pryce. ©Country Life
Both Vanbrugh and Hawksmoor were well versed in medieval castle architecture and their knowledge of it shines through the spectacular outline of this building, its great angle towers and the rugged articulation of the masonry. Yet this is really a Classical castle suitable for a general of Britain in its newly assumed character as an Imperial power and second Rome. Borrowing Hawksmoor’s description of Castle Howard, as ‘the seat of one of the chief nobles of Britain, it is both a castle and palace conjoined’.
Previews: Cheshire Life Magazine – April 2022
Photo Reviews: The Sunday Times Magazine At 60 Years
Morning News: UK Energy Transition, Interest Rates & Inflation, Lego’s Rise
A.M. Edition for Oct. 6. WSJ’s Rochelle Toplensky explains what went wrong in Britain’s energy transition and what other countries can learn from this. The Senate prepares another vote on raising the U.S. debt limit.
New Zealand raises interest rates as more central banks worry about rising inflation. Hundreds more join the oil spill cleanup in California. Plus, how the world’s biggest toy maker, Lego, stayed popular during the pandemic. Peter Granitz hosts.
Morning News: Supreme Court Docket, Britain’s Dying Trees, Hotels & Film
The court will be tackling just about every judicial and social flashpoint in the country during the term that starts today; our correspondent lays out the considerable stakes.
A vast and costly die-off of Britain’s trees could have been averted simply and cheaply: just let them stay put. And why hotels are such ideal backdrops for filmmakers and scriptwriters.
Morning News: Supply Chain Crisis In The UK, Tunisia’s Political Turmoil
We get the latest on the UK’s supply chain crisis and find out about the political turmoil in Tunisia. Plus: the morning papers and a round-up of the latest urbanism news.
