Lion & Unicorn
@lionunicorn.bsky.social
đ€ 538
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Culture | History | Politics thelionandunicorn.com
Tonight on Amazon Prime, THE LION IN WINTER (1968), Peter O'Toole's second cinematic turn as Henry II. The greatest of all Christmas movies.
about 2 hours ago
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Tom Courtenay, Lulu, Stephen Fry and James Corden in Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?, a comedy about psychokinesis.
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/13/f...
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Final Cut: Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? (1999)
SIMON MATTHEWS watches Tom Courtenay in a comedy set in the 1970s. Can love bridge the disco-punk divide?
https://thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/13/final-cut-whatever-happened-to-harold-smith-1999/
about 17 hours ago
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Tom Courtenay, Lulu, Stephen Fry and James Corden in Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?, a comedy about psychokinesis.
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/13/f...
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Final Cut: Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? (1999)
SIMON MATTHEWS watches Tom Courtenay in a comedy set in the 1970s. Can love bridge the disco-punk divide?
https://thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/13/final-cut-whatever-happened-to-harold-smith-1999/
1 day ago
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Robert Louis Stevenson was born 175 years ago today.
thelionandunicorn.com/2019/11/16/i...
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Imperial fiction: Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde
From 1886, itâs the greatest ever horror story, re-read by ALWYN TURNER.
https://thelionandunicorn.com/2019/11/16/imperial-fiction-dr-jekyll-mr-hyde/
2 days ago
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News coming in that our
@finlay24.bsky.social
has committed content again...
2 days ago
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reposted by
Lion & Unicorn
Ben Finlay
2 days ago
Coming soon on
@lionunicorn.bsky.social
, yours truly on the quiet treasure trove that is BBC4....
#bbc
#writingcommunity
#drama
#documentary
#film
#history
#art
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"The footage was heavily edited and shown out of sequence, so that it gave the impression of the Queen stomping prematurely out of the session. Or, as Peter Fincham, the controller of BBC One put it, it showed her âlosing it a bit and walking out in a huffâ."
thelionandunicorn.com/2021/05/21/w...
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âWhat is the BBC for?â
Sachsgate, Kittengate, the Queen âlosing itâ â the BBC had a difficult few years, reflects ALWYN TURNER.
https://thelionandunicorn.com/2021/05/21/what-is-the-bbc-for/
3 days ago
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He is working-class and a disco fan, she's a middle-class punk-rocker. Can love bridge the social and cultural divisions?
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/13/f...
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Final Cut: Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? (1999)
SIMON MATTHEWS watches Tom Courtenay in a comedy set in the 1970s.
https://thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/13/final-cut-whatever-happened-to-harold-smith-1999/
3 days ago
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add a skeleton here at some point
3 days ago
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"To tell you the truth, itâs all about the hype..." Les McKeown of the Bay City Rollers was born 70 years ago today.
thelionandunicorn.com/2021/04/22/l...
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Les McKeown: âA cheeky little upstartâ
The late Bay City Rollers singer in his own words, as recorded by ALWYN TURNER.
https://thelionandunicorn.com/2021/04/22/les-mckeown-a-cheeky-little-upstart/
4 days ago
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On Armistice Day, the story of the first Two-Minute Silence.
thelionandunicorn.com/2017/11/06/t...
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The Great Silence
ALWYN TURNER tells the story of the first commemoration of Armistice Day in 1919.
https://thelionandunicorn.com/2017/11/06/the-great-silence/
5 days ago
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reposted by
Lion & Unicorn
"Blue Peter had invited viewers to name a new cat, and then ignored the peopleâs choice (either Cookie or Pussy, depending on whether one believed the BBC or the Sun), deciding instead to call it Socks"
@alwynturner.bsky.social
on Auntie's bloopersđ
thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2021/05/21/w...
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âWhat is the BBC for?â
Sachsgate, Kittengate, the Queen âlosing itâ â the BBC had a difficult few years, reflects ALWYN TURNER.
https://thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2021/05/21/what-is-the-bbc-for/
5 days ago
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reposted by
Lion & Unicorn
On the centenary of his birth, here's Richard Burton in an early movie role as an IRA man, jailed for bombing offences, who harbours a discreet liking for his fellow men...
thelionandunicorn.com/2023/05/24/f...
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Final Cut: Now Barabbas Was a Robber (1949)
SIMON MATTHEWS on an anti-death-penalty movie written by the brother of a prime minister.
https://thelionandunicorn.com/2023/05/24/final-cut-now-barabbas-was-a-robber-1949/
6 days ago
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Strip The Times of its Royal Charter!
add a skeleton here at some point
5 days ago
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reposted by
Lion & Unicorn
"Labour history is full of missed opportunities and great leader-that-never-were. But 1980 was the most catastrophic mistake of them all." Michael Foot became leader of the Labour Party 45 years ago today.
thelionandunicorn.com/2016/08/06/l...
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Labour leadership elections: Part 2
Continuing ALWYN TURNERâs history of the post-war Labour Party, seen through leadership elections past (1976-88).
https://thelionandunicorn.com/2016/08/06/labour-leadership-elections-part-2/
6 days ago
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Lion & Unicorn
"Soldiers march away to the Korean war, an Orange parade passes by, Ewan MacColl sings âDirty Old Townâ whilst slum clearance happens and new estates are built." Film-maker Terence Davies was born 80 years ago today.
thelionandunicorn.com/2024/11/03/f...
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Final Cut: Of Time and the City (2008)
SIMON MATTHEWS watches Terence Daviesâs rumination on the Liverpool that was.
https://thelionandunicorn.com/2024/11/03/final-cut-of-time-and-the-city-2008/
6 days ago
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Tonight on YouTube, BECKET (1964), starring Richard Burton & Peter O'Toole.
youtu.be/LMwgMDUjVf0
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Becket - 1964 - Richard Burton - Peter O'Toole - Film - Multiple Subtitles - Restored - 2024 - 4K
YouTube video by Shakespeare Network
https://youtu.be/LMwgMDUjVf0
5 days ago
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5 days ago
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"Blue Peter had invited viewers to name a new cat, and then ignored the peopleâs choice (either Cookie or Pussy, depending on whether one believed the BBC or the Sun), deciding instead to call it Socks"
@alwynturner.bsky.social
on Auntie's bloopersđ
thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2021/05/21/w...
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âWhat is the BBC for?â
Sachsgate, Kittengate, the Queen âlosing itâ â the BBC had a difficult few years, reflects ALWYN TURNER.
https://thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2021/05/21/what-is-the-bbc-for/
5 days ago
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"Liberalism, with a capital âLâ sees itself as knowing what is best, it regards the population as illiberal and dangerous, it is a ruling point of view. Paternalism is its middle name" A fantastic, moving interview with the great
@anthonybarnett.bsky.social
.đ
www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...
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Anthony Barnett: âThe Sixties were a catastrophic failureâ
The writer and campaigner on nationalism, the rise of the new right and how a fractured left can organise in response
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2025/11/anthony-barnett-the-sixties-were-a-catastrophic-failure
5 days ago
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On the centenary of his birth, here's Richard Burton in an early movie role as an IRA man, jailed for bombing offences, who harbours a discreet liking for his fellow men...
thelionandunicorn.com/2023/05/24/f...
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Final Cut: Now Barabbas Was a Robber (1949)
SIMON MATTHEWS on an anti-death-penalty movie written by the brother of a prime minister.
https://thelionandunicorn.com/2023/05/24/final-cut-now-barabbas-was-a-robber-1949/
6 days ago
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"Labour history is full of missed opportunities and great leader-that-never-were. But 1980 was the most catastrophic mistake of them all." Michael Foot became leader of the Labour Party 45 years ago today.
thelionandunicorn.com/2016/08/06/l...
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Labour leadership elections: Part 2
Continuing ALWYN TURNERâs history of the post-war Labour Party, seen through leadership elections past (1976-88).
https://thelionandunicorn.com/2016/08/06/labour-leadership-elections-part-2/
6 days ago
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"Soldiers march away to the Korean war, an Orange parade passes by, Ewan MacColl sings âDirty Old Townâ whilst slum clearance happens and new estates are built." Film-maker Terence Davies was born 80 years ago today.
thelionandunicorn.com/2024/11/03/f...
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Final Cut: Of Time and the City (2008)
SIMON MATTHEWS watches Terence Daviesâs rumination on the Liverpool that was.
https://thelionandunicorn.com/2024/11/03/final-cut-of-time-and-the-city-2008/
6 days ago
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reposted by
Lion & Unicorn
How did a simple British Army bugle call from the 18th century become a sacred anthem of death and remembrance? Our
@alwynturner.bsky.social
tells the story of the Last Post for Radio 4.đ
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...
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BBC Radio 4 - The Last Post
The untold story of The Last Post, one of the world's most famous pieces of music.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06nq1f6
7 days ago
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reposted by
Lion & Unicorn
"Absolute stillness descended upon the vast crowds at the Cenotaph, a hush so total that the chimes of Big Ben were heard for miles around, in places never before reached in daylight hours. At the centre of the greatest city on Earth, all human activity ceased"
thelionandunicorn.com/2017/11/06/t...
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The Great Silence
ALWYN TURNER tells the story of the first commemoration of Armistice Day in 1919.
http://thelionandunicorn.com/2017/11/06/the-great-silence/
7 days ago
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reposted by
Lion & Unicorn
"If every ex-soldier would tell his own children the truth, the whole truth, about war, the war-spirit would be stamped out for ever" â Ernest Mander, general secretary NUX
@alwynturner.bsky.social
on radicalism and remembrance after the Great Warđ
thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2015/11/08/t...
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âThe most degrading and bestial business in the worldâ
Remembrance hasnât always been a pageant of national unity. ALWYN TURNER reveals how the British state once feared its veterans.
https://thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2015/11/08/the-most-degrading-and-bestial-business-in-the-world/
7 days ago
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reposted by
Lion & Unicorn
"Clumps of crimson poppies, thrusting out from the lips of craters, straggling in drifts between the hummocks, undaunted by the desolation, heedless of human fury and stupidity..."
thelionandunicorn.com/2016/11/07/a...
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âA wreath of poppiesâ
ALWYN TURNER on the early days of the British Legionâs Poppy.
https://thelionandunicorn.com/2016/11/07/a-wreath-of-poppies/
7 days ago
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reposted by
Lion & Unicorn
Paul Saffer
6 days ago
It's 30 years since Bovril tycoon James Goldsmith officially launched the Referendum Party in his usual modest fashion - and eventually changed British politics, but not in the way you think
@lionunicorn.bsky.social
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Remembering the Referendum Party
The most important article on James Goldsmithâs Referendum Party you will ever read â by PAUL SAFFER.
https://thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/07/remembering-the-referendum-party/
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reposted by
Lion & Unicorn
Andy Miller
7 days ago
add a skeleton here at some point
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Lion & Unicorn
"Suspicious of German domination and the benefits of free trade, James Goldsmith decided to set up a rival party, pledging to spend ÂŁ20m on the cause, including ÂŁ10m at the forthcoming General Election."
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/07/r...
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Remembering the Referendum Party
The most important article on James Goldsmithâs Referendum Party you will ever read â by PAUL SAFFER.
https://thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/07/remembering-the-referendum-party/
8 days ago
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"Have you watched the John Lewis Christmas advert yet?"
6 days ago
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How did a simple British Army bugle call from the 18th century become a sacred anthem of death and remembrance? Our
@alwynturner.bsky.social
tells the story of the Last Post for Radio 4.đ
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...
loading . . .
BBC Radio 4 - The Last Post
The untold story of The Last Post, one of the world's most famous pieces of music.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06nq1f6
7 days ago
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"If every ex-soldier would tell his own children the truth, the whole truth, about war, the war-spirit would be stamped out for ever" â Ernest Mander, general secretary NUX
@alwynturner.bsky.social
on radicalism and remembrance after the Great Warđ
thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2015/11/08/t...
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âThe most degrading and bestial business in the worldâ
Remembrance hasnât always been a pageant of national unity. ALWYN TURNER reveals how the British state once feared its veterans.
https://thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2015/11/08/the-most-degrading-and-bestial-business-in-the-world/
7 days ago
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"Absolute stillness descended upon the vast crowds at the Cenotaph, a hush so total that the chimes of Big Ben were heard for miles around, in places never before reached in daylight hours. At the centre of the greatest city on Earth, all human activity ceased"
thelionandunicorn.com/2017/11/06/t...
loading . . .
The Great Silence
ALWYN TURNER tells the story of the first commemoration of Armistice Day in 1919.
http://thelionandunicorn.com/2017/11/06/the-great-silence/
7 days ago
0
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5
"Clumps of crimson poppies, thrusting out from the lips of craters, straggling in drifts between the hummocks, undaunted by the desolation, heedless of human fury and stupidity..."
thelionandunicorn.com/2016/11/07/a...
loading . . .
âA wreath of poppiesâ
ALWYN TURNER on the early days of the British Legionâs Poppy.
https://thelionandunicorn.com/2016/11/07/a-wreath-of-poppies/
7 days ago
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"Suspicious of German domination and the benefits of free trade, James Goldsmith decided to set up a rival party, pledging to spend ÂŁ20m on the cause, including ÂŁ10m at the forthcoming General Election."
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/07/r...
loading . . .
Remembering the Referendum Party
The most important article on James Goldsmithâs Referendum Party you will ever read â by PAUL SAFFER.
https://thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/07/remembering-the-referendum-party/
8 days ago
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"We are going back to the origin of superstition â to an age when dragons tore each other in their slime." On the anniversary of Bram Stoker's birth in 1847, we remember his second-best novel.
thelionandunicorn.com/2020/10/24/i...
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Imperial fiction: The Lair of the White Worm
ALWYN TURNER reads Bram Stokerâs second-best-known novel â and finds thereâs a steep fall-off after #1.
https://thelionandunicorn.com/2020/10/24/imperial-fiction-the-lair-of-the-white-worm/
8 days ago
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reposted by
Lion & Unicorn
"Goldsmith stared unblinking into the camera through his five-minute address, his intense demeanour and ominous message in no way resembling a Bond villain explaining an apocalyptic plan to a terrified world."
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/07/r...
loading . . .
Remembering the Referendum Party
The most important article on James Goldsmithâs Referendum Party you will ever read â by PAUL SAFFER.
https://thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/07/remembering-the-referendum-party/
9 days ago
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reposted by
Lion & Unicorn
"Britain is almost pagan and only a hairline from communism." Today we shall be remembering evangelist Billy Graham, born 7 November 1918. His London Crusade in 1953 attracted two million visits.
thelionandunicorn.com/2016/06/01/m...
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âMay the Lord bless you real goodâ
Billy Grahamâs 1954 London Crusade (the âSalvation Army plus sexâ), remembered by ALWYN TURNER.
https://thelionandunicorn.com/2016/06/01/may-the-lord-bless-you-real-good/
9 days ago
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reposted by
Lion & Unicorn
Steven Fielding
9 days ago
This was bonkers at the time, but seems almost fact-based given how some in the US currently view the UK. Hstorians have looked at how Britons viewed the US but has anybody done a history of how Americans viewed Britain?
add a skeleton here at some point
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Lion & Unicorn
Alwyn Turner
9 days ago
This time next week, I'll be speaking at the King's Gallery, Buckingham Palace. I'd love to see you there.
www.rct.uk/event/alwyn-...
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Alwyn Turner on Edwardian England
Join Alwyn Turner, author of Little Englanders, in conversation with Alice de Quidt, Assistant Curator of Prints and Drawings at Royal Collection Trust.
https://www.rct.uk/event/alwyn-turner
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"Britain is almost pagan and only a hairline from communism." Today we shall be remembering evangelist Billy Graham, born 7 November 1918. His London Crusade in 1953 attracted two million visits.
thelionandunicorn.com/2016/06/01/m...
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âMay the Lord bless you real goodâ
Billy Grahamâs 1954 London Crusade (the âSalvation Army plus sexâ), remembered by ALWYN TURNER.
https://thelionandunicorn.com/2016/06/01/may-the-lord-bless-you-real-good/
9 days ago
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"Goldsmith stared unblinking into the camera through his five-minute address, his intense demeanour and ominous message in no way resembling a Bond villain explaining an apocalyptic plan to a terrified world."
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/07/r...
loading . . .
Remembering the Referendum Party
The most important article on James Goldsmithâs Referendum Party you will ever read â by PAUL SAFFER.
https://thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/07/remembering-the-referendum-party/
9 days ago
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reposted by
Lion & Unicorn
Ben Finlay
9 days ago
Now Halloween and Guy Fawkes Night have passed, it's only right that I start work on the
@lionunicorn.bsky.social
top ten Yuletide albums for next month...
#topten
#christmas
#yuletide
#writingcommunity
#vinylcommunity
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reposted by
Lion & Unicorn
John Rainđ„
10 days ago
I literally cannot stop watching this.
add a skeleton here at some point
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reposted by
Lion & Unicorn
Daniel
10 days ago
Much to consider
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reposted by
Lion & Unicorn
Ben Finlay
11 days ago
"A wonderful dark satire of the goings on within the âglass and steelâ universities that grew from the higher education boom in the early 1960s." Malcolm Bradbury's greatest novel The History Man was published 50 years ago this week. Here's my piece about it for
@lionunicorn.bsky.social
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The (rest is) History, Man
BEN FINLAY celebrates 50 years of Malcom Bradburyâs satire of fashionable left politics.
https://thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/27/the-rest-is-history-man/
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On the first anniversary of Donald Trump's second election victory, here's a reminder of how the great and the good in Britain greeted the result.
thelionandunicorn.com/2024/11/06/r...
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Recrudescence: British Twitter on Donald Trump
A record of how the re-election of Donald Trump as US president was received by British commentators on Twitter.
https://thelionandunicorn.com/2024/11/06/recrudescence-british-twitter-on-donald-trump/
11 days ago
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reposted by
Lion & Unicorn
Jonathan Calder
13 days ago
Liberal England: Market Harborough welcomed a 1905 unemployed workers march
liberalengland.blogspot.com/2025/11/mark...
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Leicester 's Unemployed march to London, 1905. More than 400...
Leicester 's Unemployed march to London, 1905. More than 400 unemployed men marched to London from Leicester on 4 June, intending to petition the King to bring attention to their situation. Resulted.....
http://www.gettyimages.com/consumer/share/assets/173482207?share=embed_twitter
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Lion & Unicorn
"âDo you think that this Free Trade stuff is lunacy or criminal?â enquired Captain de Wilton-ffallow. âDefinitely criminal,â replied his senior officer. âTheyâre all in the pay of Moscow.â" Satirical novelist A.G. Macdonell was born 130 years ago today.
thelionandunicorn.com/2016/09/10/a...
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All cricket on the Western Front
ALWYN TURNER celebrates the work of novelist and failed Liberal candidate AG Macdonell.
https://thelionandunicorn.com/2016/09/10/all-cricket-on-the-western-front/
13 days ago
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