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Sunday round-up 6 July 2025
Birthday wishes to the Dalai Lama, George W. Bush and Eva Green; Jan Hus Day in the Czech Republic; and a tale of Mary Tudor and her Spanish husband…
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Eliot Wilson
Starmer goes nuclear: UK back in the air game
The RAF may soon regain the ability to launch tactical nuclear weapons, but this embrace of smaller devices is fraught with risk and potentially…
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Eliot Wilson
Sunday round-up 29 June 2025
A big day for Romans as it is the Feast of SS Peter and Paul; candles for Gary Busey and Amanda Donohoe; a black day for (Sir) Roger Casement
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Eliot Wilson
NATO's Article 5: collective security
The obligations among member states enshrined in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty are not watertight and mean nothing without personnel, resources…
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Eliot Wilson
Sunday round-up 22 June 2025
The Hampstead Tube opens, the title of "Emperor of India" is omitted from the royal style and titles, and St John Fisher and St Thomas More are…
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Eliot Wilson
4
The new National Security Strategy: joining the dots or sleight of hand?
A broad definition of "national security" can show sophisticated policy-making or offer a way to cook the books when it comes to public expenditure…
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Eliot Wilson
Sunday round-up 15 June 2025
Magna Carta is agreed, the Battle of Kosovo is fought, birthday cake for Simon Callow, Noddy Holder, Xi Jinping and Ice Cube and we dance to mark St…
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Eliot Wilson
3
For King and Country: should the British Army accept more Commonwealth recruits?
A leaked memo to Downing Street proposes a tiny increase in the cap on Commonwealth recruits; it will not be transformative but can prompt other…
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Eliot Wilson
Trump is itching to flex military might: calling out the National Guard
The President has activated 4,000 National Guard personnel and a US Marine infantry battalion to deal with disorder in Los Angeles, and the state is…
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Eliot Wilson
1
Sunday round-up 8 June 2025
Millicent Martin, Nancy Sinatra and Bonnie Tyler walk into a birthday party... and marking the Viking raid on Lindisfarne, St Jadwiga's Day and French…
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Eliot Wilson
1
Parliamentary control of the armed forces: theory and practice
The authority may be nominal in current practice, but Parliament's support for government policy and expenditure is essential and ministers should…
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Eliot Wilson
Sunday round-up 1 June 2025
Birthdays for Morgan Freeman, Brian Cox and the "Son of Sam", Anne Boleyn is crowned Queen and Adolf Eichmann is executed
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Eliot Wilson
2
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