Podcasts about David Lloyd George

Good Sunday morning to you,I am just on a train home from Glasgow, where I have been gigging these past two nights. I've had a great time, as I always seem to do when I go north of the wall.But Glasgow on a Saturday night is something else. My hotel was right next to the station and so I was right in the thick of it. If I ever get to make a cacatopian, end-of-days, post-apocalyptic thriller, I'll just stroll through Glasgow city centre on a Friday or Saturday night with a camera to get all the B roll. It was like walking through a Hieronymus Bosch painting only with a Scottish accent. Little seems to have changed since I wrote that infamous chapter about Glasgow in Life After the State all those years ago. The only difference is that now it's more multi-ethnic. So many people are so off their heads. I lost count of the number of randoms wandering about just howling at the stars. The long days - it was still light at 10 o'clock - make the insanity all the more visible. Part of me finds it funny, but another part of me finds it so very sad that so many people let themselves get into this condition. It prompted me to revisit said chapter, and I offer it today as your Sunday thought piece.Just a couple of little notes, before we begin. This caught my eye on Friday. Our favourite uranium tech company, Lightbridge Fuels (NASDAQ:LTBR), has taken off again with Donald Trump's statement that he is going to quadruple US nuclear capacity. The stock was up 45% in a day. We first looked at it in October at $3. It hit $15 on Friday. It's one to sell on the spikes and buy on the dips, as this incredible chart shows.(In other news I have now listened twice to the Comstock Lode AGM, and I'll report back on that shortly too). ICYMI here is my mid-week commentary, which attracted a lot of attentionRight - Glasgow.(NB I haven't included references here. Needless to say, they are all there in the book. And sorry I don't have access to the audio of me reading this from my laptop, but, if you like, you can get the audiobook at Audible, Apple Books and all good audiobookshops. The book itself available at Amazon, Apple Books et al).How the Most Entrepreneurial City in Europe Became Its SickestThe cause of waves of unemployment is not capitalism, but governments …Friedrich Hayek, economist and philosopherIn the 18th and 19th centuries, the city of Glasgow in Scotland became enormously, stupendously rich. It happened quite organically, without planning. An entrepreneurial people reacted to their circumstances and, over time, turned Glasgow into an industrial and economic centre of such might that, by the turn of the 20th century, Glasgow was producing half the tonnage of Britain's ships and a quarter of all locomotives in the world. (Not unlike China's industrial dominance today). It was regarded as the best-governed city in Europe and popular histories compared it to the great imperial cities of Venice and Rome. It became known as the ‘Second City of the British Empire'.Barely 100 years later, it is the heroin capital of the UK, the murder capital of the UK and its East End, once home to Europe's largest steelworks, has been dubbed ‘the benefits capital of the UK'. Glasgow is Britain's fattest city: its men have Britain's lowest life expectancy – on a par with Palestine and Albania – and its unemployment rate is 50% higher than the rest of the UK.How did Glasgow manage all that?The growth in Glasgow's economic fortunes began in the latter part of the 17th century and the early 18th century. First, the city's location in the west of Scotland at the mouth of the river Clyde meant that it lay in the path of the trade winds and at least 100 nautical miles closer to America's east coast than other British ports – 200 miles closer than London. In the days before fossil fuels (which only found widespread use in shipping in the second half of the 19th century) the journey to Virginia was some two weeks shorter than the same journey from London or many of the other ports in Britain and Europe. Even modern sailors describe how easy the port of Glasgow is to navigate. Second, when England was at war with France – as it was repeatedly between 1688 and 1815 – ships travelling to Glasgow were less vulnerable than those travelling to ports further south. Glasgow's merchants took advantage and, by the early 18th century, the city had begun to assert itself as a trading hub. Manufactured goods were carried from Britain and Europe to North America and the Caribbean, where they were traded for increasingly popular commodities such as tobacco, cotton and sugar.Through the 18th century, the Glasgow merchants' business networks spread, and they took steps to further accelerate trade. New ships were introduced, bigger than those of rival ports, with fore and aft sails that enabled them to sail closer to the wind and reduce journey times. Trading posts were built to ensure that cargo was gathered and stored for collection, so that ships wouldn't swing idly at anchor. By the 1760s Glasgow had a 50% share of the tobacco trade – as much as the rest of Britain's ports combined. While the English merchants simply sold American tobacco in Europe at a profit, the Glaswegians actually extended credit to American farmers against future production (a bit like a crop future today, where a crop to be grown at a later date is sold now). The Virginia farmers could then use this credit to buy European goods, which the Glaswegians were only too happy to supply. This brought about the rise of financial institutions such as the Glasgow Ship Bank and the Glasgow Thistle Bank, which would later become part of the now-bailed-out, taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).Their practices paid rewards. Glasgow's merchants earned a great deal of money. They built glamorous homes and large churches and, it seems, took on aristocratic airs – hence they became known as the ‘Tobacco Lords'. Numbering among them were Buchanan, Dunlop, Ingram, Wilson, Oswald, Cochrane and Glassford, all of whom had streets in the Merchant City district of Glasgow named after them (other streets, such as Virginia Street and Jamaica Street, refer to their trade destinations). In 1771, over 47 million pounds of tobacco were imported.However, the credit the Glaswegians extended to American tobacco farmers would backfire. The debts incurred by the tobacco farmers – which included future presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson (who almost lost his farm as a result) – grew, and were among the grievances when the American War of Independence came in 1775. That war destroyed the tobacco trade for the Glaswegians. Much of the money that was owed to them was never repaid. Many of their plantations were lost. But the Glaswegians were entrepreneurial and they adapted. They moved on to other businesses, particularly cotton.By the 19th century, all sorts of local industry had emerged around the goods traded in the city. It was producing and exporting textiles, chemicals, engineered goods and steel. River engineering projects to dredge and deepen the Clyde (with a view to forming a deep- water port) had begun in 1768 and they would enable shipbuilding to become a major industry on the upper reaches of the river, pioneered by industrialists such as Robert Napier and John Elder. The final stretch of the Monkland Canal, linking the Forth and Clyde Canal at Port Dundas, was opened in 1795, facilitating access to the iron-ore and coal mines of Lanarkshire.The move to fossil-fuelled shipping in the latter 19th century destroyed the advantages that the trade winds had given Glasgow. But it didn't matter. Again, the people adapted. By the turn of the 20th century the Second City of the British Empire had become a world centre of industry and heavy engineering. It has been estimated that, between 1870 and 1914, it produced as much as one-fifth of the world's ships, and half of Britain's tonnage. Among the 25,000 ships it produced were some of the greatest ever built: the Cutty Sark, the Queen Mary, HMS Hood, the Lusitania, the Glenlee tall ship and even the iconic Mississippi paddle steamer, the Delta Queen. It had also become a centre for locomotive manufacture and, shortly after the turn of the 20th century, could boast the largest concentration of locomotive building works in Europe.It was not just Glasgow's industry and wealth that was so gargantuan. The city's contribution to mankind – made possible by the innovation and progress that comes with booming economies – would also have an international impact. Many great inventors either hailed from Glasgow or moved there to study or work. There's James Watt, for example, whose improvements to the steam engine were fundamental to the Industrial Revolution. One of Watt's employees, William Murdoch, has been dubbed ‘the Scot who lit the world' – he invented gas lighting, a new kind of steam cannon and waterproof paint. Charles MacIntosh gave us the raincoat. James Young, the chemist dubbed as ‘the father of the oil industry', gave us paraffin. William Thomson, known as Lord Kelvin, developed the science of thermodynamics, formulating the Kelvin scale of absolute temperature; he also managed the laying of the first transatlantic telegraph cable.The turning point in the economic fortunes of Glasgow – indeed, of industrial Britain – was WWI. Both have been in decline ever since. By the end of the war, the British were drained, both emotionally and in terms of capital and manpower; the workers, the entrepreneurs, the ideas men, too many of them were dead or incapacitated. There was insufficient money and no appetite to invest. The post-war recession, and later the Great Depression, did little to help. The trend of the city was now one of inexorable economic decline.If Glasgow was the home of shipping and industry in 19th-century Britain, it became the home of socialism in the 20th century. Known by some as the ‘Red Clydeside' movement, the socialist tide in Scotland actually pre-dated the First World War. In 1906 came the city's first Labour Member of Parliament (MP), George Barnes – prior to that its seven MPs were all Conservatives or Liberal Unionists. In the spring of 1911, 11,000 workers at the Singer sewing-machine factory (run by an American corporation in Clydebank) went on strike to support 12 women who were protesting about new work practices. Singer sacked 400 workers, but the movement was growing – as was labour unrest. In the four years between 1910 and 1914 Clydebank workers spent four times as many days on strike than in the whole of the previous decade. The Scottish Trades Union Congress and its affiliations saw membership rise from 129,000 in 1909 to 230,000 in 1914.20The rise in discontent had much to do with Glasgow's housing. Conditions were bad, there was overcrowding, bad sanitation, housing was close to dirty, noxious and deafening industry. Unions grew quite organically to protect the interests of their members.Then came WWI, and inflation, as Britain all but abandoned gold. In 1915 many landlords responded by attempting to increase rent, but with their young men on the Western front, those left behind didn't have the means to pay these higher costs. If they couldn't, eviction soon followed. In Govan, an area of Glasgow where shipbuilding was the main occupation, women – now in the majority with so many men gone – organized opposition to the rent increases. There are photographs showing women blocking the entrance to tenements; officers who did get inside to evict tenants are said to have had their trousers pulled down.The landlords were attacked for being unpatriotic. Placards read: ‘While our men are fighting on the front line,the landlord is attacking us at home.' The strikes spread to other cities throughout the UK, and on 27 November 1915 the government introduced legislation to restrict rents to the pre-war level. The strikers were placated. They had won. The government was happy; it had dealt with the problem. The landlords lost out.In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution of 1917, more frequent strikes crippled the city. In 1919 the ‘Bloody Friday' uprising prompted the prime minister, David Lloyd George, to deploy 10,000 troops and tanks onto the city's streets. By the 1930s Glasgow had become the main base of the Independent Labour Party, so when Labour finally came to power alone after WWII, its influence was strong. Glasgow has always remained a socialist stronghold. Labour dominates the city council, and the city has not had a Conservative MP for 30 years.By the late 1950s, Glasgow was losing out to the more competitive industries of Japan, Germany and elsewhere. There was a lack of investment. Union demands for workers, enforced by government legislation, made costs uneconomic and entrepreneurial activity arduous. With lack of investment came lack of innovation.Rapid de-industrialization followed, and by the 1960s and 70s most employment lay not in manufacturing, but in the service industries.Which brings us to today. On the plus side, Glasgow is still ranked as one of Europe's top 20 financial centres and is home to some leading Scottish businesses. But there is considerable downside.Recent studies have suggested that nearly 30% of Glasgow's working age population is unemployed. That's 50% higher than that of the rest of Scotland or the UK. Eighteen per cent of 16- to 19-year-olds are neither in school nor employed. More than one in five working-age Glaswegians have no sort of education that might qualify them for a job.In the city centre, the Merchant City, 50% of children are growing up in homes where nobody works. In the poorer neighbourhoods, such as Ruchill, Possilpark, or Dalmarnock, about 65% of children live in homes where nobody works – more than three times the national average. Figures from the Department of Work and Pensions show that 85% of working age adults from the district of Bridgeton claim some kind of welfare payment.Across the city, almost a third of the population regularly receives sickness or incapacity benefit, the highest rate of all UK cities. A 2008 World Health Organization report noted that in Glasgow's Calton, Bridgeton and Queenslie neighbourhoods, the average life expectancy for males is only 54. In contrast, residents of Glasgow's more affluent West End live to be 80 and virtually none of them are on the dole.Glasgow has the highest crime rate in Scotland. A recent report by the Centre for Social Justice noted that there are 170 teenage gangs in Glasgow. That's the same number as in London, which has over six times the population of Glasgow.It also has the dubious record of being Britain's murder capital. In fact, Glasgow had the highest homicide rate in Western Europe until it was overtaken in 2012 by Amsterdam, with more violent crime per head of population than even New York. What's more, its suicide rate is the highest in the UK.Then there are the drug and alcohol problems. The residents of the poorer neighbourhoods are an astounding six times more likely to die of a drugs overdose than the national average. Drug-related mortality has increased by 95% since 1997. There are 20,000 registered drug users – that's just registered – and the situation is not going to get any better: children who grow up in households where family members use drugs are seven times more likely to end up using drugs themselves than children who live in drug-free families.Glasgow has the highest incidence of liver diseases from alcohol abuse in all of Scotland. In the East End district of Dennistoun, these illnesses kill more people than heart attacks and lung cancer combined. Men and women are more likely to die of alcohol-related deaths in Glasgow than anywhere else in the UK. Time and time again Glasgow is proud winner of the title ‘Fattest City in Britain'. Around 40% of the population are obese – 5% morbidly so – and it also boasts the most smokers per capita.I have taken these statistics from an array of different sources. It might be in some cases that they're overstated. I know that I've accentuated both the 18th- and 19th-century positives, as well as the 20th- and 21st-century negatives to make my point. Of course, there are lots of healthy, happy people in Glasgow – I've done many gigs there and I loved it. Despite the stories you hear about intimidating Glasgow audiences, the ones I encountered were as good as any I've ever performed in front of. But none of this changes the broad-brush strokes: Glasgow was a once mighty city that now has grave social problems. It is a city that is not fulfilling its potential in the way that it once did. All in all, it's quite a transformation. How has it happened?Every few years a report comes out that highlights Glasgow's various problems. Comments are then sought from across the political spectrum. Usually, those asked to comment agree that the city has grave, ‘long-standing and deep-rooted social problems' (the words of Stephen Purcell, former leader of Glasgow City Council); they agree that something needs to be done, though they don't always agree on what that something is.There's the view from the right: Bill Aitken of the Scottish Conservatives, quoted in The Sunday Times in 2008, said, ‘We simply don't have the jobs for people who are not academically inclined. Another factor is that some people are simply disinclined to work. We have got to find something for these people to do, to give them a reason to get up in the morning and give them some self-respect.' There's the supposedly apolitical view of anti-poverty groups: Peter Kelly, director of the Glasgow-based Poverty Alliance, responded, ‘We need real, intensive support for people if we are going to tackle poverty. It's not about a lack of aspiration, often people who are unemployed or on low incomes are stymied by a lack of money and support from local and central government.' And there's the view from the left. In the same article, Patricia Ferguson, the Labour Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Maryhill, also declared a belief in government regeneration of the area. ‘It's about better housing, more jobs, better education and these things take years to make an impact. I believe that the huge regeneration in the area is fostering a lot more community involvement and cohesion. My real hope is that these figures will take a knock in the next five or ten years.' At the time of writing in 2013, five years later, the figures have worsened.All three points of view agree on one thing: the government must do something.In 2008 the £435 million Fairer Scotland Fund – established to tackle poverty – was unveiled, aiming to allocate cash to the country's most deprived communities. Its targets included increasing average income among lower wage-earners and narrowing the poverty gap between Scotland's best- and worst-performing regions by 2017. So far, it hasn't met those targets.In 2008 a report entitled ‘Power for The Public' examined the provision of health, education and justice in Scotland. It said the budgets for these three areas had grown by 55%, 87% and 44% respectively over the last decade, but added that this had produced ‘mixed results'. ‘Mixed results' means it didn't work. More money was spent and the figures got worse.After the Centre for Social Justice report on Glasgow in 2008, Iain Duncan Smith (who set up this think tank, and is now the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions) said, ‘Policy must deal with the pathways to breakdown – high levels of family breakdown, high levels of failed education, debt and unemployment.'So what are ‘pathways to breakdown'? If you were to look at a chart of Glasgow's prosperity relative to the rest of the world, its peak would have come somewhere around 1910. With the onset of WWI in 1914 its decline accelerated, and since then the falls have been relentless and inexorable. It's not just Glasgow that would have this chart pattern, but the whole of industrial Britain. What changed the trend? Yes, empires rise and fall, but was British decline all a consequence of WWI? Or was there something else?A seismic shift came with that war – a change which is very rarely spoken or written about. Actually, the change was gradual and it pre-dated 1914. It was a change that was sweeping through the West: that of government or state involvement in our lives. In the UK it began with the reforms of the Liberal government of 1906–14, championed by David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill, known as the ‘terrible twins' by contemporaries. The Pensions Act of 1908, the People's Budget of 1909–10 (to ‘wage implacable warfare against poverty', declared Lloyd George) and the National Insurance Act of 1911 saw the Liberal government moving away from its tradition of laissez-faire systems – from classical liberalism and Gladstonian principles of self-help and self-reliance – towards larger, more active government by which taxes were collected from the wealthy and the proceeds redistributed. Afraid of losing votes to the emerging Labour party and the increasingly popular ideology of socialism, modern liberals betrayed their classical principles. In his War Memoirs, Lloyd George said ‘the partisan warfare that raged around these topics was so fierce that by 1913, this country was brought to the verge of civil war'. But these were small steps. The Pensions Act, for example, meant that men aged 70 and above could claim between two and five shillings per week from the government. But average male life- expectancy then was 47. Today it's 77. Using the same ratio, and, yes, I'm manipulating statistics here, that's akin to only awarding pensions to people above the age 117 today. Back then it was workable.To go back to my analogy of the prologue, this period was when the ‘train' was set in motion across the West. In 1914 it went up a gear. Here are the opening paragraphs of historian A. J. P. Taylor's most celebrated book, English History 1914–1945, published in 1965.I quote this long passage in full, because it is so telling.Until August 1914 a sensible, law-abiding Englishman could pass through life and hardly notice the existence of the state, beyond the post office and the policeman. He could live where he liked and as he liked. He had no official number or identity card. He could travel abroad or leave his country forever without a passport or any sort of official permission. He could exchange his money for any other currency without restriction or limit. He could buy goods from any country in the world on the same terms as he bought goods at home. For that matter, a foreigner could spend his life in this country without permit and without informing the police. Unlike the countries of the European continent, the state did not require its citizens to perform military service. An Englishman could enlist, if he chose, in the regular army, the navy, or the territorials. He could also ignore, if he chose, the demands of national defence. Substantial householders were occasionally called on for jury service. Otherwise, only those helped the state, who wished to do so. The Englishman paid taxes on a modest scale: nearly £200 million in 1913–14, or rather less than 8% of the national income.The state intervened to prevent the citizen from eating adulterated food or contracting certain infectious diseases. It imposed safety rules in factories, and prevented women, and adult males in some industries,from working excessive hours.The state saw to it that children received education up to the age of 13. Since 1 January 1909, it provided a meagre pension for the needy over the age of 70. Since 1911, it helped to insure certain classes of workers against sickness and unemployment. This tendency towards more state action was increasing. Expenditure on the social services had roughly doubled since the Liberals took office in 1905. Still, broadly speaking, the state acted only to help those who could not help themselves. It left the adult citizen alone.All this was changed by the impact of the Great War. The mass of the people became, for the first time, active citizens. Their lives were shaped by orders from above; they were required to serve the state instead of pursuing exclusively their own affairs. Five million men entered the armed forces, many of them (though a minority) under compulsion. The Englishman's food was limited, and its quality changed, by government order. His freedom of movement was restricted; his conditions of work prescribed. Some industries were reduced or closed, others artificially fostered. The publication of news was fettered. Street lights were dimmed. The sacred freedom of drinking was tampered with: licensed hours were cut down, and the beer watered by order. The very time on the clocks was changed. From 1916 onwards, every Englishman got up an hour earlier in summer than he would otherwise have done, thanks to an act of parliament. The state established a hold over its citizens which, though relaxed in peacetime, was never to be removed and which the Second World war was again to increase. The history of the English state and of the English people merged for the first time.Since the beginning of WWI , the role that the state has played in our lives has not stopped growing. This has been especially so in the case of Glasgow. The state has spent more and more, provided more and more services, more subsidy, more education, more health care, more infrastructure, more accommodation, more benefits, more regulations, more laws, more protection. The more it has provided, the worse Glasgow has fared. Is this correlation a coincidence? I don't think so.The story of the rise and fall of Glasgow is a distilled version of the story of the rise and fall of industrial Britain – indeed the entire industrial West. In the next chapter I'm going to show you a simple mistake that goes on being made; a dynamic by which the state, whose very aim was to help Glasgow, has actually been its ‘pathway to breakdown' . . .Life After the State is available at Amazon, Apple Books and all good bookshops, with the audiobook at Audible, Apple Books and all good audiobookshops. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

rWotD Episode 2918: Austen Chamberlain Welcome to Random Wiki of the Day, your journey through Wikipedia's vast and varied content, one random article at a time.The random article for Wednesday, 30 April 2025, is Austen Chamberlain.Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain (16 October 1863 – 16 March 1937) was a British statesman, son of Joseph Chamberlain and older half-brother of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for 45 years, as Chancellor of the Exchequer (twice) and was briefly Conservative Party leader before serving as Foreign Secretary.Brought up to be the political heir of his father, whom he physically resembled, he was elected to Parliament as a Liberal Unionist at a by-election in 1892. He held office in the Unionist coalition governments of 1895–1905, remaining in the Cabinet as Chancellor of the Exchequer (1903–05) after his father resigned in 1903 to campaign for Tariff Reform. After his father's disabling stroke in 1906, Austen became the leading tariff reformer in the House of Commons. Late in 1911 he and Walter Long were due to compete for the leadership of the Conservative Party (in succession to Arthur Balfour), but both withdrew in favour of Bonar Law rather than risk a party split on a close result.Chamberlain returned to office in H. H. Asquith's wartime coalition government in May 1915, as Secretary of State for India, but resigned to take responsibility for the disastrous Kut Campaign. He again returned to office in David Lloyd George's coalition government, once again serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer. He then served as Conservative Party leader in the Commons (1921–1922), before resigning after the Carlton Club meeting voted to end the Lloyd George Coalition.Like many leading coalitionists, he did not hold office in the Conservative governments of 1922–1924. By now regarded as an elder statesman, he served an important term as Foreign Secretary in Stanley Baldwin's second government (1924–1929). He negotiated the Locarno Treaties (1925), aimed at preventing war between France and Germany, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Chamberlain last held office as First Lord of the Admiralty in 1931. He was one of the few MPs supporting Winston Churchill's appeals for rearmament against the German threat in the 1930s and remained an active backbench MP until his death in 1937.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:18 UTC on Wednesday, 30 April 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Austen Chamberlain on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Amy.

In the aftermath of the Irish War of Independence in 1921, Michael Collins is sent to London to meet Winston Churchill, David Lloyd George and other British officials to negotiate a treaty.  After weeks of travelling back and forth across the Irish Sea, Collins and his fellow Sinn Féin negotiators return with a deal. Ireland would become a Free State, but it would remain in the British Empire, and the Irish must swear an oath of allegiance to the King. Eamonn De Valera, the president of the republic, refuses to accept. De Valera and Collins, who were on the same side, are suddenly enemies. A rift tears through the republicans, splitting them into pro-Treaty and anti-Treaty forces. Families are divided, and soldiers who once fought together are on opposite sides. As the Irish tricolour replaces the Union Jack above Dublin castle, war breaks out between the two factions. Will Collins and De Valera survive their third war on home soil? Listen as William and Anita are joined once again by Diarmaid Ferriter, author of A Nation Not A Rabble, to discuss how the Anglo-Irish Treaty descended into civil war.  _____________ Empire UK Live Tour: The podcast is going on a UK tour! William and Anita will be live on stage in Glasgow, Birmingham, York and Bristol, discussing how the British Empire continues to shape our everyday lives. Tickets are on sale NOW, to buy yours head to empirepoduk.com. Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, and a weekly newsletter! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. Email: empire@goalhanger.com Instagram: @empirepoduk  Blue Sky: @empirepoduk  X: @empirepoduk goalhanger.com Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Senior Producer: Callum Hill Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Matts are joined by Damian Collins - former Tory minister who launched a national inquiry into fake news and election interference. How can we protect society from online harm? How can government's hope to contain the whims of a man like Elon Musk? And what does he make of Kemi Badenoch's first months as leader of the Conservatives? The Matts also explore his fascination with two giants of a bygone era, David Lloyd George and Theodore Roosevelt. What would they make of today's political carnival? Enjoy!Get a FREE bottle of tequila when you subscribe to The New European (over 18s only, see ts and cs): theneweuropean.co.uk/2matts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts takes a look at a book that has made me rethink several things I thought I knew about the history of the Liberal Democrats and Liberals before them. It also contains some wonderfully acerbic photo captions and some not terribly kind words about David Lloyd George. It is a book from another David - David Laws - and is a history of Labour - Liberal (Democrat) relations over the last century. Show notes Serpents, Goats and Turkeys - a century of Liberal-Labour relations: Amazon, Waterstones, Bookshop.org* Who Killed Kitchener? The Life and Death of Britain's Most Famous War Minister: Amazon, Waterstones, Bookshop.org* How Lib Dems love the 1920s despite the electoral disasters for the Liberal Party. Theme tune by Hugo Lee. New to listening to podcasts? Here are some tips on how to listen to podcasts. Check out some of this show's most popular previous episodes. * Affiliate links that generate a commission for purchases made. Enjoy the show? Spread the word Share the show's website, www.NeverMindTheBarCharts.com.

The Battle of Ideas 2024 delivered yet another weekend of thought-provoking talks, panel discussions and debate. It was especially heartening to witness so many attendees from the younger generation – so-called ‘Gen Z' – contributing to and shaping discussion that will equip us to defend enlightenment principles over the coming years and decades. How ironic it is then, that, according to a new language Guide reported on by The Telegraph, words used to discuss generational differences are to be classified as offensive across Northern Ireland's Civil Service. The guide also advises staff to use gender-neutral language and to avoid words such as “love”, “dear” or “darling”. In Wales, meanwhile, the next chapter in the Welsh government's tax-payer funded ‘Anti-racist Wales Action Plan' is a project to ‘decolonise' the childhood home of David Lloyd George. According to The Telegraph, the museum in Llanystumdwy honouring Britain's First World War leader has worked with a “decolonisation consultant” to change its approach to history, and LGBT displays could be included in future. While our new language commissars continue their mission of command and control across the UK, we shall continue to draw refreshment from the mountain-tops of Western culture – just one reason why we'll be listening back to the session, “Why JS Bach Still Matters” from the Battle of Ideas. ‘That's Debatable!'  is edited by Jason Clift.

PREVIEW: BERGHOF: Conversation with author Charles Spicer, "Coffee with Hitler," re the origin of the meeting place called Berghof, built for NSDAP Führer Hitler near Berchtesgaden on the Austrian-German border -- where Hitler invited, before the war, David Lloyd George and eventually Neville Chamberlain. More tonight and tomorrow. 1850 Berchtesgaden

Preview: Lloyd George: Conversation with Professor Lloyd about the most effective British leader in the war, Prime Minister David Lloyd George. More later. 1925 David Lloyd George

“If the war was to be over by Christmas, as many believed, or at the latest by Easter 1915, tens of thousands of soldiers might be killed or wounded before the guns fell silent. Every army believed that it could crush its opponents within a few months.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! Join us as we dive into The First World War by Martin Gilbert. We'll explore the intricate details of WW1, from the seemingly pointless triggers to the significant aftermath that reshaped the world. We'll also touch on intriguing historical anecdotes, like Germany's return in WW2, and the far-reaching consequences of redrawing borders. History lovers, buckle up for this one! We cover a wide range of topics including: Technological advancements from cavalry to tanks and planes How WW1 redrew the map and ended empires The concept of 'war guilt' and its impact America's pivotal role and the intercepted telegram The seemingly unnecessary triggers of the first World War And much more. Please enjoy, and make sure to follow Nat, Neil, and Adil on Twitter and share your thoughts on the episode. Links from the Episode: Mentioned in the Show: The Great War on Youtube (2:32) Schlieffen Plan (10:57) French Foreign legion (16:48) Empires before WW1 (34:42) Zimmerman Telegram (41:21) Marshall Plan (1:13:34) They Shall Not Grow Old (1:26:26) Books Mentioned: The First World War The Second World War (3:13) Shadow Divers (43:46) The Power of Geography (1:24:57) Blueprint for Armageddon (1:38:21) The Brothers K (1:39:40) Musashi (1:39:47) People Mentioned: Martin Gilbert Ho Chi Minh (3:59) David Lloyd George (24:47) John J. Pershing (41:03) Dan Carlin (1:37:32) Ernest Shackleton (1:38:47) Show Topics: (0:00) Today, we're covering The First World War by Martin Gilbert. While the book offers a detailed play-by-play of WW1, it wasn't the most enjoyable read. However, we gained significant insights into the war. (4:53) The war's triggers and conflicts felt somewhat pointless. Despite this, WW1 felt more significant than WW2 as it redrew maps and ended four empires. Unlike WW2's clear-cut good vs. evil narrative, WW1 began with cavalry and ended with advanced technology like planes, tanks, gas, and submarines. (8:02) Numerous underlying tensions grew and eventually exploded in unpredictable ways. One of the triggers was Germany's insecurity about its geographical position. We delve into the circumstances that led to the start of the war. (11:10) A major theme was the widespread belief that the war would end quickly, without long-term consequences. We discuss what wars were like before WW1, typically regional with smaller armies and less impact on civilian populations. (13:57) What was the aftermath of the war like? You might belong to a different town or region, but it may not have affected your daily life much. (18:00) Nat, Neil, and Adil talk about the multiple empires that collapsed during this time.  (20:10) War guilt was a new concept, unlike previous wars where the winning side simply negotiated their gains. The sheer number of deaths and the devastation of this war was shocking.  (25:35) How did the Ottoman Empire get involved and what was their involvement in the war? (27:05) The Germans came back much stronger in WWII, despite being devastated in WWI. They put up a bigger fight just 20 years later. It leads us to wonder, from where did they find the resources? (31:38) How the war marked a complete era shift. Would communism have had as much impact in the 20th century without WWI? Would the Soviet Union have emerged? (34:42) We take a look at a map of empires before WW1 and how the territories looked before then, which leads into our first tangent of this episode! (37:52) Though Mexico wasn't involved in the war, Germany sent them a telegram promising several U.S. states in exchange for support. The British intercepted this message and informed the U.S. (40:34) America's entry into the war truly tipped the scales and accelerated the conflict. They joined gradually, but their involvement turned the tide. We discuss the telegram that prompted America's entry into WWI. (43:58) We were surprised by the advanced use of submarines in WWI. It's fascinating to consider how much the world has changed, especially thinking about the Ottoman Empire, which lasted over 600 years. (47:49) WWI was the first time oil played a significant role, and the Ottoman Empire had some of the largest oil reserves. Had they survived, they could have controlled one of the 20th century's most crucial resources. From the four dissolved empires, 40 new countries emerged. (50:12) While book wasn't the most entertaining and it felt repetitive, its importance lies in how it made people rethink the norms and rules of engagement. If a major war broke out next year, for example, there would likely be a similar period of figuring out new ground rules. (57:15) The Russian Revolution. Two generations of European leaders were responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people. With two major world wars only 20 years apart, the loss of life was staggering. (1:02:11) In the last 6 months of the war, everyone believed they were losing. The Germans were preparing to surrender, and the British doubted they would make it. After the war, the US never ratified the Treaty of Versailles and chose not to get involved in the aftermath. (1:06:31) The redrawing of borders after the war marked the end of colonialism, profoundly impacting various parts of the world. Much of the end of colonialism stemmed from the end of WW1 and the dissolution of empires. The poorly executed division of territories led to cascading conflicts in the aftermath. (1:11:25) The Hapsburg empire isn't extensively covered in the book, yet it was a very old empire, with its dynasty dating back to the 11th century. The exact beginnings are unclear since it follows a family rather than a defined state, making the timeline a bit blurry. (1:13:34) We talk about the Marshall Plan. Would the Marshall Plan be effective in a kingdom-era setup? Plus, we talk about the idea of 'collective insanity' and how it can be seen as a form of self-governance, where a group loses its rationality as opposed to just an individual. (1:20:25) There were many overarching themes of the book and the war as a whole: From the end of the old European system to the transition from kingdoms to states. (1:24:01) Geographical positioning and how that plays a huge impact where you sit on the map. Much of the war is a downstream of geography. Some European countries were at a disadvantage based off of where they are on the map.  (1:30:25) How lives changed drastically because of the war. One day you're working your normal job and the next you're on the front lines of the war. (1:35:59) Neil and Adil give their final thoughts on the book, Gilbert's writing style, and what they took away from reading the book.  (1:38:47) That wraps up this episode! Stay tuned for our next episode where we'll be reading Endurance by Alfred Lansing. Make sure to pick up a copy of the book and head on over to our website to see what's next. If you enjoyed this episode, let us know by leaving a review on iTunes and tell a friend. As always, let us know if you have any book recommendations! You can say hi to us on Twitter @TheRealNeilS, @adilmajid, @nateliason and share your thoughts on this episode. You can now support Made You Think using the Value-for-Value feature of Podcasting 2.0. This means you can directly tip the co-hosts in BTC with minimal transaction fees. To get started, simply download a podcast app (like Fountain or Breez) that supports Value-for-Value and send some BTC to your in-app wallet. You can then use that to support shows who have opted-in, including Made You Think! We'll be going with this direct support model moving forward, rather than ads. Thanks for listening. See you next time!

In today's podcast we're joined by Damian Collins MP, whose new book - Rivals in the Storm -, charts the political career of David Lloyd George, the man credited popularly with winning the First World War. In this episode we explore the radical liberal Chancellor and later Prime Minister whose ability to focus on the key challenges of the war saw him eclipse Herbert Asquith in 1916. We examine his complex relationships with both the Liberal and Conservative Parties and his political downfall in 1923.You can hear Damian speak at the Hay Festival on May 28th, tickets are available here.You can grab your copy of Rivals in the Storm Here Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Lloyd George, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, introduced the People's Budget to address social inequality and poverty by redistributing wealth through taxation and welfare ...

David Lloyd George regularly features in lists of Britain's greatest prime ministers. Born in Manchester and raised in rural Wales, the Liberal luminary helped lay the foundations of the modern welfare state and went on to lead the nation during the final two years of the First World War. But there is far more to Lloyd George's life and career, as Professor Richard Toye tells Jon Bauckham in this episode of our 'Life of the Week' series. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Easter Monday in 1916, a group of armed Irish republicans took over the main post office in Dublin and several other public buildings. They had little enough popular support, and the British authorities were able to put down the uprising quickly, using Irish troops. Then, however, the military organised a court martial for fifteen surviving leaders and executed them, including a remarkable man, James Connolly, who was so badly injured he couldn't even stand to face the firing squad and had to be shot strapped to a chair. Those executions, followed by that of Roger Casement in August, only served to enhance the status of Sinn Fein, the Irish republican movement, wrongly believed by many to have been behind the uprising. As is not at all uncommon, brutal repression only enhanced the status of the insurgents. Asquith's government did try to take action to improve the situation in Ireland. It sent in the man of the moment, David Lloyd George, whose performance in government was constantly strengthening his reputation as an effective politician, if not a particularly trustworthy one. He failed in Ireland, but continued to strengthen his reputation. That turned into a major problem for Asquith, whose own standing was being rapidly undermined by the perception that he was indecisive and, above all, by the disaster of the Battle of the Somme, casting doubts on his capacity to manage the war. In the end, that left him hopelessly vulnerable to attack. Lloyd George joined forces with twos Conservatives, the party leader Bonar Law, and the leader of the Ulster Protestants Edward Carson. They proved too much for Asquith to resist. Eventually, he felt forced to resign, and Lloyd George achieved the height of his ambition, by becoming Prime Minister himself. Illustration: James Connolly, Irish Republican, Socialist and Trade Unionist, put to death by firing squad by the British Army in Dublin when he was too badly injured even to stand. www.census.nationalarchives.ie/exhibition/dublin/ Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License.

(Bonus) The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British Government in 1917 during the First World War announcing its support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine, then an Ottoman region with a small minority Jewish population. The declaration was contained in a letter dated 2 November 1917 from the United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Lord Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community, for transmission to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland. The text of the declaration was published in the press on 9 November 1917. Immediately following their declaration of war on the Ottoman Empire in November 1914, the British War Cabinet began to consider the future of Palestine; within two months a memorandum was circulated to the Cabinet by a Zionist Cabinet member, Herbert Samuel, proposing the support of Zionist ambitions in order to enlist the support of Jews in the wider war. A committee was established in April 1915 by British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith to determine their policy towards the Ottoman Empire including Palestine. Asquith, who had favoured post-war reform of the Ottoman Empire, resigned in December 1916; his replacement David Lloyd George favoured partition of the Empire. The first negotiations between the British and the Zionists took place at a conference on 7 February 1917 that included Sir Mark Sykes and the Zionist leadership. Subsequent discussions led to Balfour's request, on 19 June, that Rothschild and Chaim Weizmann submit a draft of a public declaration. Further drafts were discussed by the British Cabinet during September and October, with input from Zionist and anti-Zionist Jews but with no representation from the local population in Palestine.

The year 1911 was action-packed. Churchill, who'd been made Home Secretary the year before and got caught up in that great fake-news event, the Tonypandy massacre, added to his reputation, not in a good way, at the Sidney Street Siege. His leader in their radical duo, David Lloyd George, got his National Insurance Act through and set Britain firmly on the road towards a welfare state. Not that everyone was happy about it, including many of the workers it was designed to help. But it's noteworthy that even when the Conservative came back to power, they left the National Insurance scheme in place. Then the Kaiser sent a gunboat to Agadir. Europe took a step closer to a major war but avoided it again. For now. Still, Britain decided it had to make some war preparations at last. One involved a change at the top of Navy, with Churchill, in yet another milestone on his career, taking over as First Lord of the Admiralty. Meanwhile, the Irish and the women had to wait again. Though at least the women had a promise, one first made three years earlier. Now, Asquith made clear, it would at last be kept. The Irish would have to hang on a little longer. Illustration: Churchill (the leading figure in the top hat) at the Sidney Street siege. National Army Museum, Out of Copyright Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License.

This Day in Legal History: Paris Peace ConferenceOn this day, January 18, in 1919, a significant chapter in international legal and political history began with the opening of the Paris Peace Conference at Versailles, France. This conference, convened in the aftermath of World War I, was a monumental gathering of the victorious Allied Powers, setting the stage for negotiations that would profoundly reshape the geopolitical landscape of Europe and lay the groundwork for modern international law.Over six months of intense deliberations followed, marking one of the longest and most complex diplomatic events in history. The primary objective was to establish a lasting peace and prevent the recurrence of such a devastating conflict. The leaders of the 'Big Four' – Woodrow Wilson of the United States, David Lloyd George of the United Kingdom, Georges Clemenceau of France, and Vittorio Emanuele Orlando of Italy – played pivotal roles in shaping the Treaty of Versailles.The Treaty of Versailles, signed on June 28, 1919, dramatically redrew the borders of Europe. It imposed severe reparations and territorial losses on Germany, an aspect later criticized for possibly sowing the seeds of World War II. The treaty also resulted in the disbandment of empires, the creation of new nations, and significant territorial adjustments.A landmark outcome of the conference was the establishment of the League of Nations, an intergovernmental organization aimed at ensuring world peace and cooperation. Although the League ultimately failed to prevent another world war, it represented a groundbreaking step towards the development of international organizations and international law.The Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles had far-reaching legal implications. They introduced principles of self-determination, held nations accountable for aggression, and set precedents for international diplomacy and conflict resolution. While the conference's decisions were controversial and its impacts debated for decades, its role in shaping the 20th-century legal and political order remains undeniable.On this day, as we reflect on the 105th anniversary of the Paris Peace Conference, we recognize the complex legacy of these efforts to create a lasting peace and their profound impact on international law and global relations.Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook, is likely to face additional claims in a lawsuit concerning its Facebook "pixel" tracking tool. This tool is alleged to have violated the health-care privacy of millions by tracking and sharing protected health information without consent. The plaintiffs, anonymous Facebook users from various U.S. states, argue that Meta encouraged health-care providers to install the pixel on their websites, thereby violating federal and state laws. The tool reportedly matches collected information with Facebook user IDs for targeted advertising.Judge William H. Orrick of the US District Court for the Northern District of California found the plaintiffs' invasion of privacy claims under the California Constitution and common law to be plausible, considering the privileged relationship between patients and health-care providers. He also acknowledged potential injuries related to common law trespass to chattels and violation of the California Computer Data Access and Fraud Act.In a previous ruling, Orrick had dismissed several claims in the plaintiffs' original complaint but rejected Meta's motion to dismiss five other claims. These included breach of contract, breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing, unjust enrichment, and violations of specific privacy acts.During a hearing on Meta's motion to dismiss the amended complaint, Meta's attorney argued that the content of the plaintiffs' website searches did not reveal sensitive health information sufficient for an invasion of privacy claim. This was based on a Ninth Circuit ruling in a similar case. However, the plaintiffs' attorney countered, citing the Federal Trade Commission's broader definition of health information, which includes data that can infer a consumer's health status.Furthermore, Meta's attorney argued that the intrusion by the Facebook pixel was not significant enough to support the plaintiffs' trespass claims, stating that the alleged harms were minimal. Conversely, the plaintiffs' attorney maintained that under California law, any measurable harm to a computer system can be grounds for a compensable trespass injury, as demonstrated in previous legal cases.The lawsuit, representing a proposed class, includes several law firms on both sides. The case, In re Meta Pixel Healthcare Litigation, continues in the Northern District of California, with ongoing debates over the scope and nature of the alleged privacy violations and damages.Meta Likely to Face Additional Claims in Pixel Health-Care SuitThe Maine State Superior Court has delayed a decision regarding former U.S. President Donald Trump's eligibility for the state's Republican primary ballot, pending a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on a similar case in Colorado. The court's directive, issued by Judge Michaela Murphy, orders Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows to reassess her decision to disqualify Trump within 30 days following the Supreme Court's verdict.Bellows, a Democrat, had determined in December that Trump was ineligible to hold office under a U.S. Constitution provision barring individuals who have engaged in "insurrection or rebellion" from holding office. This decision was based on the allegation that Trump incited an insurrection in an attempt to retain power following his defeat in the 2020 election, highlighted by the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.Trump's spokesperson criticized the disqualification as a "bad-faith sham," while Trump himself appealed the ruling, arguing that Bellows was biased and that he was denied a fair opportunity to defend himself. He has consistently denied engaging in insurrection.The upcoming Supreme Court ruling, with oral arguments scheduled for February 8, is expected to be politically significant. It could potentially clarify the role of state officials and courts in handling ballot challenges under the U.S. Constitution and might resolve the issue nationwide.Maine and Colorado are currently the only states to have disqualified Trump under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Courts and election officials in several other states have rejected similar challenges to Trump's candidacy. Proponents of Trump's disqualification argue that enforcing the constitutional provision supports democratic values, while Trump and his supporters view these efforts as undemocratic election interference. Maine's primary is set for March 5, adding urgency to the Supreme Court's impending decision.Maine court puts Trump ballot decision on hold until after Supreme Court acts | ReutersThe U.S. Justice Department is set to release a report on the delayed police response to the 2022 Uvalde, Texas school shooting, which resulted in the deaths of 19 children and two teachers. Initiated at the request of Uvalde's mayor just days after the tragedy at Robb Elementary School, this report is part of the department's "Critical Incident Review." The police response faced severe criticism for the officers' prolonged wait in a hallway while the gunman was active in a classroom, despite receiving desperate 911 calls from students.In July 2022, a report by Texas lawmakers described an "atmosphere of chaos" at the scene and criticized law enforcement for not prioritizing the lives of victims. The Justice Department's review, led by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services with support from external experts in emergency management and school safety, aims to provide an independent analysis and draw lessons for future mass shooting responses.Attorney General Merrick Garland and other top Justice Department officials visited Uvalde on Wednesday, touring a mural memorializing the victims ahead of the report's release. This report is expected to shed light on the law enforcement actions during the shooting and offer insights for handling similar incidents in the future.US Justice Dept to release report on Uvalde school shooting response | ReutersApple Inc. announced that it will remove the blood oxygen monitoring feature from two of its flagship Apple Watch models in the U.S., the Series 9 and Ultra 2, as a result of an ongoing legal battle over patent infringement with medical technology company Masimo. This decision comes after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled against Apple selling these models. The issue stemmed from a December decision by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), which ordered a halt to the imports of the devices following a complaint by Masimo.Masimo accused Apple of stealing its pulse oximetry technology and poaching its employees to use in Apple Watches. The ITC initially imposed an import ban on the affected Apple Watch models, but the Federal Circuit briefly lifted this ban while considering Apple's request for a long-term pause. Apple resumed sales of the smartwatches shortly after the temporary lift of the ban.Apple has expressed strong disagreement with the ITC's decision and is seeking to reverse it. Meanwhile, existing Apple Watches and devices sold outside the United States are not affected by the order. The Series 9 and Ultra 2 models sold in the U.S. from Thursday will still display an app icon for the blood oxygen features, but upon accessing, users will be informed that the feature is unavailable.The legal dispute is expected to take months to resolve, during which time Apple has requested the ban be kept on hold. The company argues that maintaining the ban would harm not only Apple but also its suppliers and the public. Apple's wearables, home, and accessory segment, which includes the Apple Watch, is a significant part of its revenue, making the outcome of this legal battle crucial for the company.Apple to sell some watches without blood oxygen feature after US court ruling | Reuters Get full access to Minimum Competence - Daily Legal News Podcast at www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe

Lloyd George wasn't going to be able to fund his ambitious plans for social reform by simply cutting expenditure elsewhere in government, specifically on defence. Instead he was going to have to cover both social assistance and defence. That meant that he was going to have to raise the money from taxation. His answer was a 'people's budget'. It included a tax on value gained from selling land, and some dramatic innovations in income tax, which would certainly increase its burden. That raised a heck of a lot of hackles, especially among the wealthy, which included most of the membership of the House of Lords. For a while, the government believed that the Lords would respect the convention, in force for over two centuries, whereby the Lords left 'money bills' alone. Not this time. They refused to adopt the Finance Bill until the issue had been tested with the electorate. So Asquith and Lloyd George would be going to the country looking for a popular endorsement of the measures in the 'People's Budget'. Illustration: The ‘terrible twins': David Lloyd George (left) and Winston Churchill, the radicals of time of the People's budget. Public Domain Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License.

The big challenge facing David Lloyd George, and indeed the man who had become something of a sidekick of his on the radical wing of the Liberal Party, surprisingly for a former Tory, was how to pay for old age pensions and later for the other social security measures he hoped to introduce. That was particularly difficult given the pressure to invest more in the Royal Navy, as Germany built itself more ships, and as Germany's ally, Austria Hungary, pursued an aggressive policy in the Balkans. At one point, Lloyd George seemed to want to fund social security by cutting defence spending. But then he changed, as the Liberal Party set out to spend more on both. Instead of choosing between guns and butter, Liberals decided to go for both. Making Lloyd George's challenge more challenging still. Illustration: The first of a new class of battleships, HMS Dreadnought, launched in 1906. Public domain Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License.

In this second installment of their three-part exploration of the historiography of the Great War, Gary and Spencer dedicate a significant portion of their discussion to the influential works and impact of historian John Terraine. Much like other notable figures such as David Lloyd George, Basil Liddel Hart, and Sir James Edmonds, Terraine's contributions have played a crucial role in shaping the understanding of this pivotal period in history.  Terraine departed from conventional narratives that often-painted military leadership during the conflict as inept. He, a proponent of strategic realism, argued that the challenges faced by commanders were unprecedented, marked by the complexities of trench warfare and technological advancements. His revisionist approach aimed to offer a nuanced understanding of the decision-making processes and strategic dilemmas confronted by military leaders. Notably, he staunchly defended General Douglas Haig, challenging prevailing negative assessments and contending that Haig's decisions were made under extraordinary circumstances.

We've been tracking years and years of Tory rule in Britain. It's as though the once dominant Liberal Party had practically vanished from the scene. In fact, though, things were changing in its ranks, with new figures emerging to lead the party back towards government. One of these, David Lloyd George, we've met before but briefly and, in this episode, we get to know him better. However, despite the moves to start sorting out the Liberals' difficulties and, above all, the internal divisions that were losing it so much support, it still had more pain to come. The outbreak of the Boer War only revealed more dissension among its leaders and, since split parties don't win elections, that together with the government's apparent victory in South Africa as well as against the Boxer Rebellion in China, would cost the Liberals another landslide defeat in 1900. Another landslide though not quite as big as might have been expected, given how much circumstances favoured the Conservatives and handicapped the Liberals. Was that a glimmer of hope for the future? As well as Lloyd George, who won re-election in 1900 despite his anti-war stance, two other historic figures entered parliament at that election. Keir Hardie of the Independent Labour Party, who'd lost his seat in 1895, returned in 1900. And Winston Churchill won a seat for the first time, at the start of nearly 64 years in parliament with only a brief interruption. Illustration: David Lloyd George, by Harry Furniss: fiery Welsh radical giving his opponents a bad time. National Portrait Gallery 3398 Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License.

In their comprehensive exploration of the historiography of the Great War from the end of the First World War up until the early 1960s, Gary and Spencer delve into the insights provided by several influential figures. Among them is David Lloyd George, the British Prime Minister during the Great War, whose memoirs and writings shed light on the political decision-making and strategies employed during the war. Basil Liddel Hart, a renowned military historian and strategist and Sir James Edmonds' who wrote the official British history of World War One, based on official documents. Additionally, the works of Charles Robert Mowbray Fraser Cruttwell, Alan Clark and Cyril Falls are covered. Throughout their in-depth analysis, Gary and Spencer explore how these historians' work shaped the understanding of the Great War and influenced subsequent generations of scholars.

The pendulum had been swinging fairly steadily over the twenty years up to the early 1890s, with any party that won an election generally losing the next. That happened again in 1892, although the win was nothing like as decisive as Gladstone had hoped, leaving him instead dependent on Irish MPs to have the votes to challenge for office again. It also produced a crop of interesting new characters for the politics of the future. The first Labour MP independent of the Liberal Party, Keir Hardie. Edward Carson, the Unionist lawyer from Dublin who'd already won a reputation as a tough prosecutor in Ireland. Herbert Henry Asquith, first elected six years earlier, now on the brink of an important career. David Lloyd George whose future would be closely bound up with Asquith and had been elected two years earlier. As well as these figures, this episode also talks about Charles Bradlaugh, who had died the year before the election, but whose campaign to allow the non-religious to sit in parliament would have repercussions long after his life and involved many of the people we've come to know, though not necessarily love, such as Asquith, Labouchère and Randolph Churchill. Indeed, after his death – at his funeral indeed – it even involved a figure of huge importance later, one of the towering giants of the twentieth century, Mohandas K. Ghandi. Yes, that's right. The Mahatma. Illustration: Keir Hardie, Labour's first MP, as he was in 1892, by Arthur Clegg Weston. National Portrait Gallery x13173 Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License.

My guest this week is Justin Pugh with whom I went to school in the 1980s. Justin recalls those days of playing cricket at lunchtimes and the two of us reflect on our years at the Bishop of Llandaff Church-in-Wales High School in Cardiff. Justin talks about how Cardiff has changed since the 1970s when it had a much lower profile, and how since the 1990s Cardiff suddenly became cool, and Justin refers to how the city flows through his veins. We reflect on the devolution campaign of 1997 and how Justin speaks Welsh as a second language. Justin has been fascinated by the cause of the Liberal Party since he was young and we learn why David Lloyd George and Harold Wilson are among his political heroes, and why he thinks David Steel was misrepresented on Spitting Image, as well as how some politicians can grow on us when they are out of office. Justin has always liked classical music and ska and he talks about what he thinks is the golden age of cinema and how Julie Christie was a teenage heartthrob of his. Justin studied Economics at university but wishes he had done something different, and he discusses how it is better to do something one is interested in as that motivations you to hit the top grades. Justin nearly did a Masters in Psychology and is doing an NVQ in Counselling. He has a particular interest in Wellbeing, and we talk about how there was more of a stigma around mental health a few decades ago when people who were perceived as different were derided. We talk about experiences of bullying in school and the need to know why people behaved in the way that they did. The negative things that happened in the past do impact on our present, and Justin reflects on how it isn't acceptable to say ‘just move on'. Justin talks about what student life was like for him living at home, how it was a largely yuppie culture which he was watching from the outside in, and how the world is a lot less innocent now than it was a few decades ago. Justin has been collecting toys and other mementos from the 1970s and the effort one might go to in order to find them, and how it can deepen existing friendships – as he recently discovered through watching an old Tom Baker set of Doctor Who episodes with a friend which took him back to his childhood. Then, at the end of the interview, we discover why Justin ringfences positive memories and why he believes everything happens for a purpose which can make us a better person for it. We learn what his younger self wanted to be, why it is good to have role models to aspire to, how it is important not to get too isolated, and we discover whether Justin is a looking back or a looking forward type of person.

By 1916 Winston Churchill's wartime reputation was in tatters after the disaster of the Dardanelles Campaign. His self belief was his most powerful asset, particularly as so many of his parliamentary colleagues mistrusted him. He was brought back into David Lloyd George's war cabinet, though even the new prime minster was wary of him. Lloyd George, who had used the conscription issue to remove Herbert Asquith, eventually led Britain to victory, but this was partially in spite of Churchill, not because of him. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Of the many initiatives of the British government in the First World War, it cast the longest shadow.”

De nieuwe premier Rishi Sunak is een bijzonder mens. Niet alleen is hij de jongste prime minister in ruim 200 jaar, hij is ook een van de meest vermogende bewoners ooit van Downing Street 10 en de eerste gelovige hindoe uit de Brits-Indiase minderheid als leider van de Tories. Jaap Jansen en PG Kroeger duiken daarom in de historie en vertellen over een reeks Britse premiers die net als Sunak een culturele, religieuze en sociale doorbraak vormden. En zij ontmythologiseren daarbij meteen een paar van de beweringen over Sunak!De jongste ooit is een van de meest iconische premiers. Zonder twijfel zal William Pitt de jongere nog vele eeuwen gelden als een van de belangrijkste, meest succesvolle Britse leiders. Met 24 werd hij premier na een koloniale oorlog die uitliep op het verlies van Amerika. Een ramp, ook voor de staatskas. Pitt saneerde niet alleen de begroting, maar herstelde de Britse macht zozeer dat dankzij hem uiteindelijk ook Napoleon verslagen werd. De kiezers noemden hem 'Honest Billy'. Hij regeerde tussen 1783 tot 1801 en van 1804 tot zijn vroege dood in 1806.De eerste premier uit een religieuze en etnische minderheid werd minstens zo'n icoon in de Britse historie. Benjamin Disraeli was van joodse komaf in Marokko. 'Dizzy' was een zeer kleurrijk man, literair begaafd, politiek van vele markten thuis. Zijn bijzondere vriendschappen met de twee machtigste mensen van zijn tijd maakten hem nog meer een legende. Dat waren Queen Victoria en de Reichskanzler Otto von Bismarck.De eerste premier uit de meest eenvoudige milieus was David Lloyd George. Hij was ook de eerste Welshman in Downing Street 10, bekend als 'the Welsh Wizard'. Hij legde als groot sociaal vernieuwer de grondslag voor de 'welfare state' en leidde de regering in en na de Eerste Wereldoorlog. In zijn latere jaren vielen ook zijn politieke en financiële gewetenloosheid en zijn bewondering voor Adolf Hitler nogal op. Zelfs zijn protégé Winston Churchill moest hem toen laten vallen.We kunnen in deze aflevering natuurlijk niet om Margaret Thatcher heen. Eerste vrouw, eerste bèta-alumnus, eerste kruideniersdochter als premier. Maar vooral ook was zij de grote promotor van de Indiase hindoeminderheid. In hen zag zij familiezin, ijver en ondernemendheid zoals ze die ook herkende in de grote joodse minderheid in haar eigen kiesdistrict bij wie zij zeer geliefd was. Zonder Maggie geen Rishi!Maar… is Sunak wel de rijkste premier ooit? PG vertelt over die slagerszoon die in de vroege 16e eeuw de premier en de rijkste Britse machthebber ooit werd. Thomas Wolsey werd 'Alter Rex'- de andere koning – genoemd. Hij was als kardinaal ook bijna paus geworden en onmetelijk rijk. Koning Henry VIII werd daarom jaloers en liet zijn lord chancellor zelfs diens allermooiste paleis aan hem cadeau doen.Nu Rishi Sunak premier is geworden moeten we natuurlijk ook nog even aandacht schenken aan de kortst zittende premier ooit, Liz Truss. PG heeft ontdekt dat dé Britse componist, Georg Friedrich Händel, al in de 18e eeuw van Pitt over haar een opera schreef! We horen die lyrische Liz van toen zingen: 'Myself I Shall Adore!' vlak voordat zij roemloos ten onder gaat.***Deze aflevering is mede mogelijk gemaakt door donaties van luisteraars die we hiervoor hartelijk danken. Word ook vriend van de show!Ook zijn we blij met de advertentie van de Volkskrant. Neem een proefabonnement!En met Bamigo werken we ook fijn samen. Korting op je eerste bestelling krijg je met code: bron25Wilt u sponsoren of adverteren? Stuur voor informatie een mailtje naar adverteren@dagennacht.nl***Hieronder nog meer informatie. Op Apple kun je soms niet alles lezen. De complete tekst vind je altijd hier***Verder lezenAndrew Roberts - George IIIWilliam Hague - William Pitt the Younger***Verder luisteren283 - Zinkende schepen verlaten de rat: het pijnlijke afscheid van Boris Johnson262 - Waarom India - ook voor Nederland - steeds belangrijker wordt190 - Napoleon, 200 jaar na zijn dood: zijn betekenis voor Nederland en Europa103 - Geheim geld in de politiek81 - Ambassador Peter Wilson: 'No race to the bottom after Brexit'69 - Britse verkiezingen! PG Kroeger over 'the mother of parliaments'60 - Coen Brummer & Daniël Boomsma: De canon van het sociaal-liberalisme52 - Hoe Rutte David Cameron teleurstelde40 – De geniale broers Von Humboldt32 - Churchill en Europa: biografen Andrew Roberts en Felix Klos30 - Delors en Thatcher27 - Rob Jetten (D66) wil muren slopen08 - Pim Waldeck over 'die gekke Britten' - Paul Rem over The Queen03 - Peter Wilson over Brexit***Tijdlijn00:00:00 – Deel 100:06:43 – Volkskrant advertentie00:44:48 – Deel 201:03:20 – Bamigo advertentie01:38:23 – Einde Zie het privacybeleid op https://art19.com/privacy en de privacyverklaring van Californië op https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Der Gedanke, dass ein britischer Premierminister abtritt und ein ernstzunehmender hiesiger Publizist sehnsüchtig mit dem Wunsch kokettiert, dann möge jener doch jetzt die deutsche Regierung übernehmen, erscheint unserer Tage, gelinde gesagt, etwas abwegig. Als der liberale David Lloyd George im Oktober 1922 von Hinterbänklern seines konservativen Koalitionspartners gestürzt wurde, war indes genau dies der Fall. Kein geringerer als der von uns heute vor allem als glühender Nazi-Gegner erinnerte Emil Ludwig blickte schon damals etwas neidisch auf die politische Kultur auf der Insel und vor allem auf den scheidenden Premier, ehedem immerhin erbitterter Weltkriegswidersacher. Was Ludwig in seinen drei Miniaturen für das 8-Uhr-Abendblatt vom 21. Oktober skizziert, hat dabei durchaus nichts von einer Hagiographie. Vielmehr zeichnet er das äußerst differenzierte Bild eines Politikers von sehr britisch sachlicher, stilvoller, aber auch machtbewusster Rationalität, nach der sich mancher heute – nicht nur, aber vielleicht gerade auch im Vereinigten Königreich – wieder sehnen mag. Es liest Frank Riede, der dafür doch etwas mehr als drei Minuten braucht.

They meet on a weekly basis, they have the power to unseat the Prime Minister and they were known to Margaret Thatcher as the "men in grey suits". The 1922 Committee have played a pivotal role in the recent fortunes of one of the oldest and most successful political parties anywhere in the world, the Conservative Party. So, who are "the '22"? How were they formed, and what powers do they hold over the Tory leadership and the party? Professor Sir David Cannadine tells the story of the origins of the 1922 Committee and gains an insight into how our most powerful political party operates, behind the closed doors of Committee Room 14. Back in 1922, Britain was ruled by a coalition, led by the Liberal Prime Minister, David Lloyd George. But the Conservatives were the majority in government and in parliament, and they were becoming increasingly disillusioned by Lloyd George's corrupt ways and irresponsibility. In October 1922, backbench Tories held a meeting at the Carlton Club, and they withdrew their support, which brought the Lloyd George coalition to an end. The Conservatives won a landslide majority in the ensuing general election, and more than one hundred Tories became MPs for the first time. They needed to find their feet in Parliament and the Chief Whip offered to make arrangements to brief them at weekly meetings. So The Conservative Private Members (1922) Committee came into being - in April 1923! While in recent times the '22 has acquired a reputation as being the body that makes and unmakes Tory leaders, that wasn't what it was set up to do, and it wasn't what it did for most of its history. David speaks to the current Chairman of the 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady MP, and the Vice Chair Nusrat Ghani; former '22 Chairman Lord Archie Hamilton; Lord Stephen Parkinson, former Political Secretary to Teresa May; Caroline Slocock, former Private Secretary to Mrs Thatcher; to the political historians Lord Philip Norton and Dr Emily Jones; and to Christopher Hope, the Telegraph's Associate Political Editor. Producer: Melissa FitzGerald Researcher: Sean Canty A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4

"he is one of those giant figures who lose their nationality in death"

In this edition of The Long View Jonathan Freedland finds historical comparisons to the current Tory leadership contest, considering moments in history when the Conservative Party has removed a prime minister and sought a new figure for Number 10. He is first joined by Professor Laura Beers to discuss the removal of David Lloyd George in October 1922. Lloyd George, a Liberal, had led a War Time Coalition consisting of majority Conservative MPs. A charismatic figure, Lloyd George had a reputation as an innovator and a doer, but his time as PM was also plagued by scandal. Unhappy with the PMs economics, his foreign policy and his reputation, Conservative MPs met at the Carlton Club to decide whether to abandon the coalition and oust Lloyd George. Some of the loudest criticisms came from rising star and future PM, Stanley Baldwin who described Lloyd George as a 'dynamic force'. Fast forward 40 years to 1963 and the Party is once again seeing a change of leader. This time after Harold Macmillan decides to resign on the eve of the Tory Conference, citing ill health. The non-democratic 'soundings' procedure, run by the party elite, settles on Alec Douglas-Home to be leader, refusing to back any of the favourites. The choice causes controversy and will have a lasting impact on how future leaders of the party are selected. Presented by Jonathan Freedland Produced by Sam Peach Readings by David Hounslow

"If the British public knew what was really happening, the war would be over tomorrow" stated David Lloyd George to the editor of the Manchester Evening News in 1917.In this episode, we look at the press, their involvement in the front line, and how the War was reported back at home.  How accurate a picture did the British public get of the reality of War? How could reporters produce a balanced copy when hamstrung by censorship of every word they wrote?Unwanted, censored, and followed at every step, the Press were viewed with suspicion bordering on hatred by the British Military establishment.  We meet some of the characters of the Press Corps, including the fabulously eccentric, airplane-loving, bowler hat-wearing H P Robinson, a man who wrote on average 3000 words a day with a gold Cartier fountain pen.  We hear about the origin of the acronym "3Bs", the dangers faced by reporters, and how the actions of one reporter produced a story of such political dynamite, it brought down the GovernmentSupport the podcast:https://www.patreon.com/foostepsofthefallenhttps://www.buymeacoffee.com/footstepsblogSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/footstepsofthefallen)

(Bonus) The Fourteen Points was a statement of principles for peace that was to be used for peace negotiations in order to end World War I. The principles were outlined in a January 8, 1918 speech on war aims and peace terms to the United States Congress by President Woodrow Wilson. However, his main Allied colleagues (Georges Clemenceau of France, David Lloyd George of the United Kingdom, and Vittorio Orlando of Italy) were skeptical of the applicability of Wilsonian idealism.

The 'Welsh Wizard' is the topic of this discussion. John and Olly are joined by Cornelius from the Sixth Form to discuss David Lloyd George. He was Prime Minister during the First World War and after. He is often seen as one of the greatest of leaders of Britain, we examine his legacy. Contact j.jefferies@warwickschool.org

Certains cadeaux d'anniversaire sont plus excentriques que d'autres.Dans le genre "érudit mégalomane", un citoyen Anglais a d'ailleurs battu tous les records.En effet, il y a un peu plus d'un siècle, un homme a tout simplement acheté le site... de Stonehenge, pour l'offrir à sa bien-aimée !Plaisir d'offrirA priori, penser qu'un monument aussi connu que Stonehenge n'ait pu être qu'une simple propriété privée n'est pas vraiment raisonnable.Pourtant, ce fait étonnant a bien eu lieu, il y a plus d'un siècle.C'est le 21 septembre 1915 que Cecil Chubb – un Anglais ayant amassé de belles sommes dans sa brillante carrière d'avocat – a déboursé le montant de 6 600 livres pour acquérir le célèbre monument préhistorique.Organisée à Salisbury, dans le Wiltshire (un comté du sud-ouest de l'Angleterre), la vente aux enchères a, manifestement, été conclue grâce à un coup de tête amoureux.En effet, la légende veut que Cecil Chubb voulait – par cette acquisition excentrique – faire un geste romantique, en offrant cet incroyable présent à son épouse Mary...Rendre à César ce qui est à CésarLes bonnes choses ayant une fin, le riche Britannique a finalement décidé de céder Stonehenge à la propriété publique ; via un acte de donation effectué le 26 octobre 1918.Pour ce geste généreux, l'Anglais fut tout simplement récompensé par David Lloyd George, le Premier ministre du Royaume-Uni en personne.Dès lors, on ne connut plus le vénérable donateur que sous le nom de Sir Cecil Chubb : premier "baronnet de Stonehenge".Pour marquer le coup, l'homme anobli fit confectionner des armoiries originales : à savoir, une patte de lion argentée tenant deux branches de gui (en référence aux druides celtes qui vénéraient Stonehenge, au cours de l'Antiquité).Last but not least : la devise "Saxis Condita", signifiant "fondé sur les pierres", complétait l'ensemble du nouveau blason.Sir Cecil Chubb pouvait être satisfait : un tel prestige allait le faire entrer dans l'Histoire, comme une inscription gravée dans la roche. Voir Acast.com/privacy pour les informations sur la vie privée et l'opt-out.

In this episode of The Director's Chair, Michael Fullilove speaks with the distinguished Canadian historian and award-winning author, Professor Margaret MacMillan. Margaret has written a number of books including Peacemakers, Nixon in China, and The War that Ended Peace. She has been a history professor at Ryerson University, the University of Toronto and the University of Oxford, where she served for a decade as the Warden of St Antony's College. Margaret and Michael discuss how leaders should learn from history, the future of US-China relations, and the results of the recent Canadian election. Margaret talks about how she approached the task of writing about her great-grandfather David Lloyd George, Western approaches to war, and the differences between Canada and Australia.

In this episode of The Director's Chair, Michael Fullilove speaks with the distinguished Canadian historian and award-winning author, Professor Margaret MacMillan. Margaret has written a number of books including Peacemakers, Nixon in China, and The War that Ended Peace. She has been a history professor at Ryerson University, the University of Toronto and the University of Oxford, where she served for a decade as the Warden of St Antony's College. Margaret and Michael discuss how leaders should learn from history, the future of US-China relations, and the results of the recent Canadian election. Margaret talks about how she approached the task of writing about her great-grandfather David Lloyd George, Western approaches to war, and the differences between Canada and Australia.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode we follow Eamon De Valera as he steps into 10 Downing Street to negotiate with David Lloyd George, as the two men try to figure out what it is the other wants and how best to build on the Truce. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Finally ... the story of Boer & black concentration camps in southern Africa during the South African War of 1899-1902. 1. If you want a Q&A episode, send questions you have about the Boer Wars or these concentration camps to me using the following link: https://forgottenwarspodcast.com/contact/. The more quality questions I get, the more likely I'll produce a Q&A episode. 2. A thorough article about the history behind a deeply troubling photo from a concentration camp, a photo used by many as click bait: https://journals.co.za/doi/10.10520/AJA02590190_616 3. Want to try Master Class or support the show in some other way, go to this link: https://forgottenwarspodcast.com/donate/ 4. If you want to learn more about concentration camps during that moment in history across the world, you may appreciate this article ... one of several I used to prepare for this episode: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26266238. You will need a free Jstor account to access this article.

Photo: The Council of Four (from left to right): David Lloyd George, Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, Georges Clemenceau and Woodrow Wilson in Versailles, 1919 7/8   Nick Lloyd, The Western Front: A History of the Great War, 1914-1918 – March 30, 2021. Hardcover.  A panoramic history of the savage combat on the Western Front between 1914 and 1918 that came to define modern warfare. The Western Front evokes images of mud-spattered men in waterlogged trenches, shielded from artillery blasts and machine-gun fire by a few feet of dirt. This iconic setting was the most critical arena of the Great War, a 400-mile combat zone stretching from Belgium to Switzerland where more than three million Allied and German soldiers struggled during four years of almost continuous combat. It has persisted in our collective memory as a tragic waste of human life and a symbol of the horrors of industrialized warfare. In this epic narrative history, the first volume in a groundbreaking trilogy on the Great War, the acclaimed military historian Nick Lloyd captures the horrific fighting on the Western Front beginning with the surprise German invasion of Belgium in August 1914 and taking us to the Armistice of November 1918. Drawing on French, British, German, and American sources, Lloyd weaves a kaleidoscopic chronicle of the Marne, Passchendaele, the Meuse-Argonne, and other critical battles, which reverberated across Europe and the wider war. From the trenches, where men as young as 17 suffered and died, to the headquarters behind the lines where Generals Haig, Joffre, Hindenburg, and Pershing developed their plans for battle, Lloyd gives us a view of the war both intimate and strategic, putting us amid the mud and smoke while at the same time depicting the larger stakes of every encounter. He shows us a dejected Kaiser Wilhelm II―soon to be eclipsed in power by his own generals―lamenting the botched Schlieffen Plan; French soldiers piling atop one another in the trenches of Verdun; British infantryman wandering through the frozen wilderness in the days after the Battle of the Somme; and General Erich Ludendorff pursuing a ruthless policy of total war, leading an eleventh-hour attack on Reims even as his men succumbed to the Spanish Flu. As Lloyd reveals, far from being a site of attrition and stalemate, the Western Front was a simmering, dynamic “cauldron of war” defined by extraordinary scientific and tactical innovation. It was on the Western Front that the modern technologies―machine guns, mortars, grenades, and howitzers―were refined and developed into effective killing machines. It was on the Western Front that chemical warfare, in the form of poison gas, was first unleashed. And it was on the Western Front that tanks and aircraft were introduced, causing a dramatic shift away from nineteenth-century bayonet tactics toward modern combined arms, reinforced by heavy artillery, that forever changed the face of war. Brimming with vivid detail and insight, The Western Front is a work in the tradition of Barbara Tuchman and John Keegan, Rick Atkinson and Antony Beevor: an authoritative portrait of modern warfare and its far-reaching human and historical consequences.35 black-and-white illustrations, 8 maps

Sir Winston Churchill, né le 30 novembre 1874 à Woodstock et mort le 24 janvier 1965 à Londres, est un homme d'État britannique. Sa ténacité face au nazisme, son action décisive en tant que Premier ministre du Royaume-Uni durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, joints à ses talents d'orateur et à ses bons mots, ont fait de lui un des hommes politiques les plus reconnus du xxe siècle. Ne disposant pas d'une fortune personnelle, il tire l'essentiel de ses revenus de sa plume. Ses dons d'écriture seront couronnés à la fin de sa vie par le prix Nobel de littérature. Il est également un peintre estimé. Winston Churchill appartient à la famille aristocratique Spencer, dont il est la plus brillante figure depuis son ancêtre John Churchill, 1er duc de Marlborough (1650-1722), auquel il a consacré une biographie. Fils d'un homme politique conservateur atypique n'ayant pas connu le succès escompté et mort relativement jeune, il ambitionne très vite de réussir dans ce domaine. De fait, s'il débute dans la carrière militaire et combat en Inde, au Soudan et lors de la seconde guerre des Boers, il y cherche surtout l'occasion de briller et de se faire connaître. Cette recherche de gloire lui vaut parfois un certain nombre d'inimitiés parmi ses pairs. Assez rapidement, en partie pour des questions financières — l'armée paie moins que le journalisme et il a besoin d'argent —, il sert en tant que correspondant de guerre, écrivant des livres sur les campagnes auxquelles il participe. Bien plus tard, il sert brièvement sur le front de l'Ouest pendant la Première Guerre mondiale, comme commandant du 6e bataillon des Royal Scots Fusiliers. Il est député durant la majeure partie de sa carrière politique, longue de près de soixante années, commencée et terminée aux côtés du Parti conservateur, malgré un intermède crucial au Parti libéral ; il occupe également des postes ministériels pendant près de trente ans. Avant la Première Guerre mondiale, il est ministre du Commerce, secrétaire du Home Office et Premier Lord de l'Amirauté du gouvernement libéral d'Herbert Henry Asquith. À ce titre, il participe à la fondation des premières lois sociales de son pays et à un mouvement visant à restreindre l'importance de la Chambre des lords, deux éléments qui lui valent une forte inimitié de la part des conservateurs. Il reste à cette fonction jusqu'à la défaite britannique lors de la bataille des Dardanelles, dont il est tenu pour responsable, et qui provoque son éviction du gouvernement. Blanchi de ces accusations par une commission d'enquête parlementaire, il est rappelé comme ministre de l'Armement, secrétaire d'État à la Guerre et secrétaire d'État de l'Air par David Lloyd George, alors Premier ministre. Durant l'entre-deux-guerres, il quitte le Parti libéral et revient au Parti conservateur, avant de devenir chancelier de l'Échiquier. Son bilan à ce poste est mitigé : l'économie n'est pas son domaine de prédilection, à la différence de la politique étrangère et des affaires de stratégie militaire. Dans les années 1930, il n'est pas en phase avec le milieu politique d'alors. Les conservateurs qui dominent le parti ne l'apprécient pas et lui-même n'est pas un homme d'appareil ; ses prises de position envers les régimes fascistes ou lors de la crise monarchique détonent, les dernières lui vouant une solide inimitié de la part du roi George VI. Il connaît une dizaine d'années de traversée du désert ; il s'y distingue toutefois de nombre de ses pairs par son opposition vigoureuse à la montée en puissance de l'Allemagne nazie et ses appels à la vigilance face aux ambitions d'Adolf Hitler. Il faut attendre le déclenchement de la Seconde Guerre mondiale pour que Winston Churchill redevienne ministre en tant que Premier Lord de l'Amirauté. Après la démission de Neville Chamberlain, le 10 mai 1940, il devient Premier ministre du Royaume-Uni, les conservateurs l'ayant choisi plus par défaut que par adhésion. À 65 ans, alors le plus âgé des grands dirigeants alliés, il atteint le sommet de sa carrière politique. Il organise les forces armées britanniques et conduit le pays à la victoire contre les puissances de l'Axe. Ses discours et ses paroles marquent le peuple britannique et les forces alliées. Il plaide également, en 1944, auprès du président américain Franklin D. Roosevelt pour qu'il reconnaisse le gouvernement de la France libre, dirigé par Charles de Gaulle, lequel éprouva une tumultueuse mais forte amitié à l'égard du Premier ministre2. Il intercède une fois de plus, l'année suivante, auprès de Roosevelt et de Staline pour que la France obtienne une place au Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies et une zone d'occupation en Allemagne3. Après avoir perdu les élections législatives de 1945, il devient chef de l'opposition conservatrice, dénonçant dès 1946 le rideau de fer. Il occupe à nouveau la fonction de Premier ministre de 1951 à 1955, date de sa démission. Malade, il reste cependant jusqu'en 1964 membre d'un parlement où il avait été élu pour la première fois en 1900. En 1953, la reine Élisabeth II le fait chevalier de l'ordre de la Jarretière. À sa mort, elle le gratifie d'obsèques nationales qui, avec celles du pape Jean-Paul II en 2005, seront l'occasion de ce qui est, encore de nos jours, l'un des plus importants rassemblements d'hommes d'État ayant eu lieu dans le monde. Il est considéré comme l'un des plus grands Premiers ministres du Royaume-Uni, ayant fortement marqué par sa détermination à résister jusqu'au bout à l'Allemagne nazie alors même que le reste de l'Europe avait été balayé par les forces de l'Axe et qu'une grande partie de la classe politique de son pays a dans un premier temps fait pression pour un armistice avec Hitler. Il est souvent vu comme une figure incarnant les valeurs de rectitude morale, de flegme et de résilience que l'imaginaire collectif associe aux Britanniques. Ses discours Du sang, du labeur, des larmes et de la sueur ainsi que We shall fight on the beaches figurent parmi les plus célèbres discours du xxe siècle.

Photo: Prime Minister Lloyd George and his wife.  Photograph shows British Liberal Party statesman David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor (1863-1945) who served as Prime Minister from 1916-1922, with his wife Dame Margaret Lloyd George (1866-1941).CBS Eye on the World with John BatchelorCBS Audio Network@BatchelorshowBoris Johnson surprise remarries as Britain celebrates his personality. @JosephSternberg @WSJOpinionDecoy dresses helped Carrie Johnson to keep her wedding secret.https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/5ec7cac6-c248-11eb-8601-6a2ece3e4634?shareToken=7e0e5d48630bfc942cdf6074b4e461f3

Sir Winston Churchill , né le 30 novembre 1874 à Woodstock et mort le 24 janvier 1965 à Londres, est un homme d'État britannique. Sa ténacité face au nazisme, son action décisive en tant que Premier ministre du Royaume-Uni durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, joints à ses talents d'orateur et à ses bons mots, ont fait de lui un des hommes politiques les plus reconnus du xxe siècle. Ne disposant pas d'une fortune personnelle, il tire l'essentiel de ses revenus de sa plume. Ses dons d'écriture seront couronnés à la fin de sa vie par le prix Nobel de littérature. Il est également un peintre estimé. Winston Churchill appartient à la famille aristocratique Spencer, dont il est la plus brillante figure depuis son ancêtre John Churchill, 1er duc de Marlborough (1650-1722), auquel il a consacré une biographie. Fils d'un homme politique conservateur atypique n'ayant pas connu le succès escompté et mort relativement jeune, il ambitionne très vite de réussir dans ce domaine. De fait, s'il débute dans la carrière militaire et combat en Inde, au Soudan et lors de la seconde guerre des Boers, il y cherche surtout l'occasion de briller et de se faire connaître. Cette recherche de gloire lui vaut parfois un certain nombre d'inimitiés parmi ses pairs. Assez rapidement, en partie pour des questions financières — l'armée paie moins que le journalisme et il a besoin d'argent —, il sert en tant que correspondant de guerre, écrivant des livres sur les campagnes auxquelles il participe. Bien plus tard, il sert brièvement sur le front de l'Ouest pendant la Première Guerre mondiale, comme commandant du 6e bataillon des Royal Scots Fusiliers. Il est député durant la majeure partie de sa carrière politique, longue de près de soixante années, commencée et terminée aux côtés du Parti conservateur, malgré un intermède crucial au Parti libéral ; il occupe également des postes ministériels pendant près de trente ans. Avant la Première Guerre mondiale, il est ministre du Commerce, secrétaire du Home Office et Premier Lord de l'Amirauté du gouvernement libéral d'Herbert Henry Asquith. À ce titre, il participe à la fondation des premières lois sociales de son pays et à un mouvement visant à restreindre l'importance de la Chambre des lords, deux éléments qui lui valent une forte inimitié de la part des conservateurs. Il reste à cette fonction jusqu'à la défaite britannique lors de la bataille des Dardanelles, dont il est tenu pour responsable, et qui provoque son éviction du gouvernement. Blanchi de ces accusations par une commission d'enquête parlementaire, il est rappelé comme ministre de l'Armement, secrétaire d'État à la Guerre et secrétaire d'État de l'Air par David Lloyd George, alors Premier ministre. Durant l'entre-deux-guerres, il quitte le Parti libéral et revient au Parti conservateur, avant de devenir chancelier de l'Échiquier. Son bilan à ce poste est mitigé : l'économie n'est pas son domaine de prédilection, à la différence de la politique étrangère et des affaires de stratégie militaire. Dans les années 1930, il n'est pas en phase avec le milieu politique d'alors. Les conservateurs qui dominent le parti ne l'apprécient pas et lui-même n'est pas un homme d'appareil ; ses prises de position envers les régimes fascistes ou lors de la crise monarchique détonent, les dernières lui vouant une solide inimitié de la part du roi George VI. Il connaît une dizaine d'années de traversée du désert ; il s'y distingue toutefois de nombre de ses pairs par son opposition vigoureuse à la montée en puissance de l'Allemagne nazie et ses appels à la vigilance face aux ambitions d'Adolf Hitler. Il faut attendre le déclenchement de la Seconde Guerre mondiale pour que Winston Churchill redevienne ministre en tant que Premier Lord de l'Amirauté. Après la démission de Neville Chamberlain, le 10 mai 1940, il devient Premier ministre du Royaume-Uni, les conservateurs l'ayant choisi plus par défaut que par adhésion. À 65 ans, alors le plus âgé des grands dirigeants alliés, il atteint le sommet de sa carrière politique. Il organise les forces armées britanniques et conduit le pays à la victoire contre les puissances de l'Axe. Ses discours et ses paroles marquent le peuple britannique et les forces alliées. Il plaide également, en 1944, auprès du président américain Franklin D. Roosevelt pour qu'il reconnaisse le gouvernement de la France libre, dirigé par Charles de Gaulle, lequel éprouva une tumultueuse mais forte amitié à l'égard du Premier ministre2. Il intercède une fois de plus, l'année suivante, auprès de Roosevelt et de Staline pour que la France obtienne une place au Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies et une zone d'occupation en Allemagne3. Après avoir perdu les élections législatives de 1945, il devient chef de l'opposition conservatrice, dénonçant dès 1946 le rideau de fer. Il occupe à nouveau la fonction de Premier ministre de 1951 à 1955, date de sa démission. Malade, il reste cependant jusqu'en 1964 membre d'un parlement où il avait été élu pour la première fois en 1900.

Iain Dale talks to historian and Conservative MP Damian Collins about the life of David Lloyd George who served as Prime Minister from 1916 to 1922.

Today we discuss Northern Ireland and the role it played during the Irish War Of Independence, discussing figures such as James Craig, Edward Carson, and David Lloyd George. Transcript Donation Links for California: Direct Relief Wildfire Relief Election links: Illinois Virus Free voting References https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/james-craig-backbone-of-revolt-the-soul-of-intransigence-1.508452 https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/ireland-s-first-world-war-veterans-shunned-ostracised-murdered-1.3691036 https://www.irishnews.com/news/easterrising/2016/03/26/news/1916-46-000-from-belfast-volunteered-for-first-world-war-443443/ The Republic: the Fight for Irish Independence by […]

About the lecture: Buoyed by the victory in the east sealed by the Treaty of Brest Litovsk in March 1918, Germany and her allies scrambled to transfer their forces to deliver a decisive blow on the Western front. Unfortunately for them the United States came to the rescue. America's intervention reversed the fortunes of war. By August 1918, the Second Reich suffered its first serious reversal. In September, Germany was retreating in the west and collapsing at home, where mutiny and revolution pushed Berlin to its knees. The Germans thus sought an armistice. Against the advice of the American military leaders, who called for an unconditional surrender, the rest of the Allied, in particular liberal prime minister David Lloyd George, agreed. This was a lethal mistake. By failing to defeat Germany decisively, the Armistice paved the way to the Second World War. About the speaker: Dr. Chodakiewicz currently serves as a Professor of History at The Institute of World Politics, where he holds the Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies. He also leads IWP's Center for Intermarium Studies. At IWP, Dr. Chodakiewicz teaches courses on Contemporary Politics and Diplomacy, Geography and Strategy, Mass Murder Prevention in Failed and Failing States, and Russian Politics and Foreign Policy.He was formerly an assistant professor of history of the Kosciuszko Chair in Polish Studies at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at University of Virginia. He also served as a visiting professor of history at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

This episode we ask the question, who created the Black and Tans? The men behind the British policy in 1919 and 1920 did not want to believe they were at war in Ireland and instead chose to push the narrative that Sinn Fein and the IRA were a simple "murder gang". So rather than sending in the army they further militarised the police in Ireland. Yep, in this episode we look at how David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill created one of the most hated groups in Irish history. Support The History of Ireland by donating to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/historyofireland See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Third Battle of Ypres (German: Dritte Flandernschlacht; French: Troisième Bataille des Flandres and Dutch: Derde Slag om Vlaanderen), also known as the Battle of Passchendaele (/ˈpæʃəndeɪl/), was a campaign of the First World War, fought by the Allies against the German Empire.[a] The battle took place on the Western Front, from July to November 1917, for control of the ridges south and east of the Belgian city of Ypres in West Flanders, as part of a strategy decided by the Allies at conferences in November 1916 and May 1917. Passchendaele lies on the last ridge east of Ypres, 5 mi (8.0 km) from Roulers (now Roeselare) junction of the Bruges (Brugge) to Kortrijk railway. The station at Roulers was on the main supply route of the German 4th Army. Once Passchendaele Ridge had been captured, the Allied advance was to continue to a line from Thourout (now Torhout) to Couckelaere (Koekelare). Further operations and a British supporting attack along the Belgian coast from Nieuport (Nieuwpoort), combined with an amphibious landing (Operation Hush), were to have reached Bruges and then the Dutch frontier. The resistance of the 4th Army, unusually wet weather in August, the beginning of the autumn rains in October and the diversion of British and French resources to Italy, enabled the Germans to avoid the general withdrawal which had seemed inevitable in early October. The campaign ended in November, when the Canadian Corps captured Passchendaele, apart from local attacks in December and early in the new year. The Battle of the Lys (Fourth Battle of Ypres) and the Fifth Battle of Ypres of 1918, were fought before the Allies occupied the Belgian coast and reached the Dutch frontier. A campaign in Flanders was controversial in 1917 and has remained so. The British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, opposed the offensive, as did General Ferdinand Foch, the Chief of Staff of the French Army. Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, commander of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), did not receive approval for the Flanders operation from the War Cabinet until 25 July. Matters of dispute by the participants, writers and historians since 1917 include the wisdom of pursuing an offensive strategy in the wake of the Nivelle Offensive, rather than waiting for the arrival of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in France. The choice of Flanders, its climate, the selection of General Hubert Gough and the Fifth Army to conduct the offensive, debates over the nature of the opening attack and between advocates of shallow and deeper objectives, remain controversial. The time between the Battle of Messines (7–14 June) and the first Allied attack (the Battle of Pilckem Ridge, 31 July), the extent to which the internal troubles of the French armies influenced the British, the effect of the exceptional weather, the decision to continue the offensive in October and the human costs of the campaign, are also debated. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thehistoryexpress/support

Summary Jenny is inside the secret room that she had previously spotted Neville Sinclair. She looks at the shelves of books, and tries to remember which one Neville had moved to open the secret panel. Next to “Where Are We Going” by David Lloyd George, Jenny spots a title: “The Conquests of Casanova” and pulls […]

A review of Verdun and a look at the British home front, which sees radical change under the direction of David Lloyd George and the Ministry of Munitions.

In the first programme of a new series of Start the Week the former MP Lord Hattersley charts the life and politics of David Lloyd George, the Prime Minister responsible for the creation of the welfare state, and a working class man who came to understand the pitfalls of a coalition government. Andrew Marr looks back to the 1980s with the writer Andy McSmith who argues this was the conflict decade, defined by strikes, war and riots. And the philosopher Mary Midgley also criticises the individualism of the time, maintaining that Darwin's 'survival of the fittest' was never a creed in which to live one's life. The Irish-American community in New York is the setting for Richard Bean's new play, in which he uncovers the plots and deals that lead to the American funding of the IRA.