Volume 57 Issue 7 July 2007

Scots On Top? Tartan Power at Westminster 1707-2007

Roland Quinault asks whether politicians from north of the Border have always dominated Parliament, as some people think is the case today. Tam Dalyell, Labour MP for West Lothian and Linlithgow 1962-2007, adds his own comments.

Two Fat Ladies

Will the new super-casinos bring about the demise of the commercial bingo hall? Carolyn Downs traces the history of the game back to the eighteenth century and finds that then – as now – it had a strong attraction for women gamblers.

Satyajit Ray's The Chess Players

Andrew Robinson recalls conversations with the famous director about his work, and in particular the recently re-released Urdu film, The Chess Players, made in the 1970s, which explores events surrounding the British annexation of Oudh in 1856.

Sir Robert Peel: The Making of a Party

Douglas Hurd looks at the way in which a Tory leader took a defeated and demoralized party, and reinvented it to appeal to a different and much more modern constituency.

Vancouver

York Membery visits Canada’s westernmost city.

Carbon Copies?

As we come to terms with the lifestyle changes that will be forced on us by impending climate change, Mark Roodhouse of Rescue!History, an informal network concerned with historical issues related to the climate change agenda, looks at how a previous generation coped with limited supplies of fuel.

Christians in Iraq

Penny Young investigates the situation of one of the country’s less-commonly mentioned communities.