Podcast appearances and mentions of peter hennessy

To paraphrase Edwin Starr; work, what is it good for, absolutely nothing… At least according to Gen Z.  Reports suggest that a whole generation might be ready to give up work, which, coincidentally, is how Peter felt every day as a younger man when he was mucking out pigs on the farm, while Sarah's eighteen-hour days in Hobbs only finally relented when she found herself talking to a drunken sub editor in a pub who was baffled by his new mac at work, just as Sarah had learnt how to use one… Elsewhere, we take to the seas as Peter asks why our submariners are spending over 200 days underwater at a time and why do we cling to the notion that we need a cold war superweapon like the atomic bomb and what really happens when you try to launch a Trident missile at sea? Nothing good, apparently. And what tests do you have to pass if, God forbid, you have to stand in for the PM one day?  On our reading list this week:  ·      Simple Subs Book – Leslie Sellers ·      The Silent Deep: The Royal Navy Submarine Service Since 1945 – James Jinks & Peter Hennessy ·      The Hunt For Red October - Tom Clancy To get in touch, email: alas@mailonline.co.uk, you can leave a comment on Spotify or even send us a voice note on Whatsapp – on 07796 657512, start your message with the word ‘alas'.   Presenters: Sarah Vine & Peter Hitchens Producer: Philip Wilding Editor: Chelsey Moore Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Jamie East   A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There is a particular kind of joy in the simple act of curling up in an armchair with a book on a winter's day, or going to a café with nothing to do but take in the next chapter, or going to bed early and sitting up against soft pillows to read by lamplight. Words can be a real comfort in the darkest of seasons - both those we read and those we write. I hope this episode inspires you to pull down a favourite book off the shelf and have a read, or perhaps treat yourself to some poetry, or a new story, or a self-help book that is going to carry you through the winter. I also hope it is going to inspire you to get out your notebook and write some of your own words, as the fire crackles and the tree lights flicker.This episode includes:Wintery words to inspire youLots of cosy reading recommendations Inspiration for writing as a tool for wellbeingNature cornerChristmas traditions from around the world (from lovely listeners!)Get ahead tips as Christmas edges closerPLUS A lovely cosy giveaway (enter on my Instagram @bethkempton)With inspiration from Peter Hennessy, Josephine Greywoode, Alexandra Harris, Jane McMorland Hunter @alittlecitygarden, Tom Hennen, Phyllis Cole-Dai, Ruby R Wilson, Horatio Clare @horatiowrites, Nancy Campbell, Kevin Parr, @MattBakerOfficial, @FrancescaBeauman, Ono no Komachi, @SandrineBailly, Kim Simonsen, Randi Ward, Chris McCabe @mccabio1977, Freddie Jones, Andrew McRae, Robert Bridges, @Mark_Nepo, Elizabeth Jenner, @NationalTrust, Greg Loades @hull_urban_gardener, Shawn Bythell @bookshopwigtown, @cheftimanderson @hollyringland @therosiewalsh @mattzhaig, Muriel Barbery, Jenny Colgan @jennycolganwriter @jennycolganbooks, Joanne Harris @joannechocolat.PS See the full show notes here for recipe ingredients and other links. Lovely things for you:·      Read my how to write a haiku essay and subscribe for free at https://bethkempton.substack.com·      CLICK HERE to download the free Calm Christmas Planner ·      CLICK HERE to register for my Winter Writing Sanctuary (Dec 28-Jan 6), also free this year ·      Get up to 50% off ALL my writing courses in my winter gratitude sale at https://dowhatyouloveforlife.com

Professor Peter Hennessy is one of the UK's leading contemporary historians. He has written acclaimed and important books about politics, the civil service, the intelligence agencies and the British constitution on which he is an expert. Peter was born in London in 1947 and read history at St John's College, Cambridge. He started writing for the Times in the mid-1970s, covering the inner workings of Whitehall whose activities at that time were shrouded in secrecy. Peter says he approached his journalism like an amateur anthropologist trying to discover more about an unknown culture. His reports were viewed with suspicion by some members of the civil service and Harold Wilson, the then prime minister, issued an edit banning them from talking to him. In 1986 Peter co-founded the Institute of Contemporary British History, and in 1992 he moved from journalism to academia at Queen Mary, University of London where he is Attlee professor of contemporary British history. He is a fellow of the British Academy and was made a crossbench life peer in 2010. During the COVID-19 pandemic he started keeping a diary which he describes as an “aid to humility” with the aim of assessing post-world war history as BC (Before Covid) or AC (After Covid). Peter lives in London with his wife Enid. DISC ONE: Slow Train - Flanders & Swann DISC TWO: Italian Concerto in F, BWV 971, composed by Johann Sebastian Bach and performed by George Malcolm DISC THREE: Why Don't Women Like Me? - George Formby DISC FOUR: Schubert String Quintet In C Major,D. 956 - 2. Adagio, composed by Franz Schubert, performed by Robert Cohen (cello) and Amadeus Quartet DISC FIVE: The Elements - Tom Lehrer DISC SIX: London Girls - Chas & Dave DISC SEVEN: Skye Boat Song - The Pipes and Drums Of Leanisch DISC EIGHT: How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place, composed by Johannes Brahms, performed by Festival Choir And Orchestra, conducted by Thomas D. Rossin BOOK CHOICE: Poetry in the Making by Ted Hughes LUXURY ITEM: A fountain pen, ink and paper CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: London Girls - Chas & Dave Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Clem's Memo, published by abstractapplic on April 16, 2022 on LessWrong. Declassified document sourced from Cabinets and The Bomb by Peter Hennessy; reproduced verbatim. TOP SECRET GEN 75/1 28th August, 1945 THE ATOMIC BOMB Memorandum by the Prime Minister A decision on major policy with regard to the atomic bomb is imperative. Until this is taken civil and military departments are unable to plan. It must be recognised that the emergence of this weapon has rendered much of our post-war planning out of date. For instance a redistribution of industry planned on account of the experience of bombing attacks during the war is quite futile in the face of the atomic bomb. Nothing can alter the fact that the geographical situation of Britain offers to a Continental Power such targets as London and the other great cities. Dispersal of munition works and airfields cannot alter the facts of geography. Again it would appear that the provision of bomb proof basements in factories and offices and the retention of A.R.P. and Fire Services is just futile waste. All considerations of strategic bases in the Mediterranean or the East Indies are obsolete. The vulnerability of the heart of the Empire is the one fact that matters. Unless its safety can be secured, it is no use bothering about things on the periphery. It is difficult for people to adjust their minds to an entirely new situation. I noticed at Potsdam that people still talked of the line of the Western Neisse although rivers as strategic frontiers have been obsolete since the advent of Air Power. It is infinitely harder for people to realise that even the modern conception of war to which in my lifetime we have become accustomed is now completely out of date. We recognise or some of us did before this war that bombing could only be answered by counter bombing. We were right. Berlin and Magdeburg were the answer to London and Coventry. Both derive from Guernica. The answer to an atomic bomb on London is an atomic bomb on another great city. Duelling with swords and inefficient pistols was bearable. Duelling had to go with the advent of weapons of precision. What is to be done about the atomic bomb? It has been suggested that by a Geneva Convention all nations might agree to abstain from its use. This method is bound to fail as it has failed in the past. Gas was forbidden but used in the first world war. It was not used in World War 2, but its belligerents were armed with it. We should have used it, if the Germans had landed on our beaches. It was not used, because military opinion considered it less effective than explosives and incendiaries. Further the banning of the atomic bomb would leave us with the other weapons used in the late war which were quite destructive enough. Scientists agree that we cannot stop the march of discovery. We can assume that any attempt to keep this as a secret in the hands of the U.S.A. and U.K. is useless. Scientists in other countries are certain in time to hit upon the secret. The most we may have is a few years start. The question is what use we are to make of that few years start. We might presumably on the strength of our knowledge and of the advanced stage reached in technical development in the U.S.A. seek to set up an Anglo-American Hegemony in the world using our power to enforce a world wide rigid inspection of all laboratories and plants. I do not think this is desirable or practicable. We should not be able to penetrate the curtain that conceals the vast area of Russia. To attempt this would be to invite a world war leading the the destruction of civilization in a dozen years or so. The only course which seems to me to be feasible and to offer a reasonable hope of staving off disaster for the world is joint action taken by the U.S.A., U.K. and Russia based on stark reality. We should...

Link to original articleWelcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Clem's Memo, published by abstractapplic on April 16, 2022 on LessWrong. Declassified document sourced from Cabinets and The Bomb by Peter Hennessy; reproduced verbatim. TOP SECRET GEN 75/1 28th August, 1945 THE ATOMIC BOMB Memorandum by the Prime Minister A decision on major policy with regard to the atomic bomb is imperative. Until this is taken civil and military departments are unable to plan. It must be recognised that the emergence of this weapon has rendered much of our post-war planning out of date. For instance a redistribution of industry planned on account of the experience of bombing attacks during the war is quite futile in the face of the atomic bomb. Nothing can alter the fact that the geographical situation of Britain offers to a Continental Power such targets as London and the other great cities. Dispersal of munition works and airfields cannot alter the facts of geography. Again it would appear that the provision of bomb proof basements in factories and offices and the retention of A.R.P. and Fire Services is just futile waste. All considerations of strategic bases in the Mediterranean or the East Indies are obsolete. The vulnerability of the heart of the Empire is the one fact that matters. Unless its safety can be secured, it is no use bothering about things on the periphery. It is difficult for people to adjust their minds to an entirely new situation. I noticed at Potsdam that people still talked of the line of the Western Neisse although rivers as strategic frontiers have been obsolete since the advent of Air Power. It is infinitely harder for people to realise that even the modern conception of war to which in my lifetime we have become accustomed is now completely out of date. We recognise or some of us did before this war that bombing could only be answered by counter bombing. We were right. Berlin and Magdeburg were the answer to London and Coventry. Both derive from Guernica. The answer to an atomic bomb on London is an atomic bomb on another great city. Duelling with swords and inefficient pistols was bearable. Duelling had to go with the advent of weapons of precision. What is to be done about the atomic bomb? It has been suggested that by a Geneva Convention all nations might agree to abstain from its use. This method is bound to fail as it has failed in the past. Gas was forbidden but used in the first world war. It was not used in World War 2, but its belligerents were armed with it. We should have used it, if the Germans had landed on our beaches. It was not used, because military opinion considered it less effective than explosives and incendiaries. Further the banning of the atomic bomb would leave us with the other weapons used in the late war which were quite destructive enough. Scientists agree that we cannot stop the march of discovery. We can assume that any attempt to keep this as a secret in the hands of the U.S.A. and U.K. is useless. Scientists in other countries are certain in time to hit upon the secret. The most we may have is a few years start. The question is what use we are to make of that few years start. We might presumably on the strength of our knowledge and of the advanced stage reached in technical development in the U.S.A. seek to set up an Anglo-American Hegemony in the world using our power to enforce a world wide rigid inspection of all laboratories and plants. I do not think this is desirable or practicable. We should not be able to penetrate the curtain that conceals the vast area of Russia. To attempt this would be to invite a world war leading the the destruction of civilization in a dozen years or so. The only course which seems to me to be feasible and to offer a reasonable hope of staving off disaster for the world is joint action taken by the U.S.A., U.K. and Russia based on stark reality. We should...

The norms and conventions of the UK's uncodified constitution are being pushed to their limits – and sometimes beyond. In the absence of clear legal rules, the constitution relies on a shared understanding of what constitutes good behaviour in public and political life, and trust that people in positions of power will abide by that understanding. The constitutional historian Peter Hennessy describes as this as the “good chaps” theory of UK government. However, the Brexit process saw conflict between different branches of government – parliament, the government and the courts – while Westminster has been rocked by a recent series of scandals around the behaviour of ministers and MPs. So is this a temporary aberration or a deeper problem? Is greater codification needed to regulate the behaviour of constitutional actors? Can the UK rely on “good chaps” or is more needed to ensure norms and conventions are followed? As part of our review of the UK constitution, the Institute for Government and the Bennett Institute for Public Policy hosted a panel of experts to discuss these issues and more: Professor Andrew Blick, Head of the Department of Political Economy and Professor of Politics and Contemporary History at King's College London Dr Catherine Haddon, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government Professor Meg Russell, Professor of British and Comparative Politics and Director of the Constitution Unit at University College London The event was chaired by Maddy Thimont Jack, Associate Director at the Institute for Government. #IfGBennettInst

The historian Peter Hennessy asks whether post-Covid Britain needs to set out a new social contract, comparable to the Beveridge report after WWII. In A Duty of Care, he looks back to the foundations of the modern welfare state and the ‘five giants' against which society had to battle – want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness. He tells Helen Lewis that after the effects of the pandemic, it's time to be ambitious and try and work together to tackle today's comparable giants. In a damning report commissioned by the NHS Race and Health Observatory earlier this month, it was revealed that minority ethnic patients suffered overwhelming inequalities. If a new Beveridge is to be conceived diversity will need to be at its heart, but the anthropologist Farhan Samanani is concerned that increasingly ‘difference' is being seen as a threat to societal cohesion. He has undertaken field research in the north London area of Kilburn – one of the most diverse in the UK. In How To Live With Each Other he explores the capacity of people to connect across divides and cultivate common ground. While post-war governments looked to rebuild the country's infrastructure and create a new welfare state in the aftermath of the trauma of war, the arts and education in Britain were also viewed as vital to the economy and to reuniting the nation. Jane Alison is the curator of the Barbican's new exhibition, Postwar Modern: New Art in Britain, 1945–1965 (opening on 3rd March). She says that artists at the time – both home grown and refugees – sought to find meaning and purpose in a changed world. And she argues that artists today are asking similar probing questions about what kind of society we want and need. Producer: Katy Hickman Image credit: Eva Frankfurther, West Indian Waitresses, c.1955 Ben Uri Collection, presented by the artist's sister, Beate Planskoy, 2015,© The Estate of Eva Frankfurther, photograph by Justin P (from the exhibition, 'Postwar Modern: New Art in Britain 1945-1965' Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK)

Does the British constitution require that Boris Johnson goes? Famous for his “good chaps" theory of government, Britain's most celebrated post-war historian, Peter Hennessy joins Tom Clark to provide a long view on this pressing question. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Trident Debate: Britain's Nuclear Deterrent Should Be Consigned to HistoryThis is a fierce debate about whether or not Britain should retain her nuclear deterrent. Speaking for the motion are David Edgerton, Professor of Modern British History at King's College London, and Kate Hudson, General Secretary of CND. Speaking against are Lord Hennessy, Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History at Queen Mary University of London and Philip Dunne MP, Minister of State for Defence Procurement at the time. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

News with Paddy O'Connell. Peter Hennessy assesses the historical impact of Dominic Cummings' comments on the COVID crisis. We celebrate the bandstand and have a choir singing live. Plus we debate how the National Trust should promote the nation's heritage with former chairman Sir Simon Jenkins and Professor Donna Chambers. Reviewing the news coverage - political journalist Katy Balls, radio legend Tony Blackburn and chef Asma Khan.

The historian Peter Hennessy asks what we might learn from the experience of another hinge moment: 1945, when an exhausted but victorious Britain launched a new social contract.

Historian Peter Hennessy talks about his new book Winds of Change, which tells the story of Britain in the early 1960s and explores subjects such as the Cold War, decolonisation, the Profumo affair and the country’s failed attempt to join the EEC. Historyextra.com/podcast See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The BBC’s Radio Four is known among the British as the nation’s cerebral option. This well deserved reputation comes from decades of delivering consistently high quality content. What follows is an excellent example of this high standard. Since 2013, historian Peter Hennessy has picked four of his country’s highest profile politicians for in-depth interviews that explore their formative influences, experiences and impressions of people they had known. The final interview of the Seventh Series’ of Reflections with Peter Hennessy featured South African-raised anti-apartheid icon Lord Peter Hain. Aired last month, the interview provides unique insights into Hain, whose family were ejected from their homeland because of their political activism. Although best known for leading the sports boycott against white South Africa, Hain also became British MP for 24 years, served in the cabinets of two Prime Ministers and was knighted after his retirement in 2015. The peerage opened the door for Hain’s participation in the House of Lords, where his contribution to his former homeland has been immense through exposing the Guptas, Bell Pottinger and multinational companies which participated in the pillage of State Capture.   Here, with kind permission of the BBC, are the two Peters – Hennessy and Hain……

Theresa May has been back in Brussels to attend a meeting of EU leaders, a day after surviving a leadership challenge at home. Her mission: to try to extract some form of concession from the other 27 EU member states that might persuade MPs in Westminster to support the withdrawal agreement the UK has concluded with the EU. Few commentators give her much chance of success. It still seems likely that when the deal is finally voted on by Parliament, it will be rejected. So what would happen then? Would the UK be heading for the EU exit door with no-deal? Might there be a vote of confidence that could lead to a general election? Could MPs from both main parties form a temporary government of national unity? Or might the Prime Minister accede to demands for a new referendum? With the historian Peter Hennessy, Jill Rutter of the Institute For Government, Agata Gostynska-Jakubowska of the Centre for European Reform and Meg Russell from University College London.

Norman Tebbit is a British politician and life peer. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet from 1981 to 1987 as Secretary of State for Employment (1981–83), Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1983–85), Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1985–87) and Chairman of the Conservative Party (1985–87). He was a member of parliament from 1970 to 1992, representing the constituencies of Epping (1970–74) and Chingford (1974–92). He retired from parliament for Chingford in 1992, and has since sat in the House of Lords as Baron Tebbit, of Chingford. In July 2013, Tebbit was one of the guests on an episode of Peter Hennessy’s BBC radio 4 programme Reflections in which he talked about his life and career. Earlier that year he paid tribute to Margaret Thatcher, saying he wished there were “someone like her now”.

Historian and psychoanalyst Daniel Pick of Birkbeck College, University of London tells the story of how aerial bombardment - from Zeppelins to B52s, from H-Bombs to drones - has made the unconscious mind a field of battle. Daniel explores how, in the shadow of the First World War, Freud turned his analytical eye from desire to the 'death drive', and how psychoanalysts probed what might happen if another war came. Would survivors of mass aerial bombardment hold up psychically, or would they collapse into infantile panic? Or would they become uncontrollably aggressive? And why do humans come to be so aggressive in the first place? When the war - and the bombers - did come to Britain, it appeared that survivors were much more stoical and defiant than had been expected. But, as Daniel discovers, brave faces concealed a great deal of psychological damage. With historian Lyndsey Stonebridge, he visits the Wellcome Library to see - courtesy of the Melanie Klein Trust - the case notes of the psychoanalyst Melanie Klein on her analysis of a troubled ten year old boy, 'Richard'. What do Klein's notes, and Richard's extraordinary drawings, reveal about his attitude to being bombed? Daniel examines how, with the advent of the Cold War and the distinct possibility that bombs and missiles could destroy civilisation, technocrats trying to plan for the end of the world coped with staring into the abyss. Finally, Daniel shows how a radical new turn in aerial bombardment opens up this field anew. Nuclear weapons can destroy the planet; but what does it do to the mind to live under the threat of 'surgical' attack by unmanned drones? With: Derek Gregory, Peter Hennessy, Dagmar Herzog, Richard Overy, Lyndsey Stonebridge Producer: Phil Tinline.

Institute of Historical Research Book: Reflections: Conversations with Politicians Peter Hennessy, Robert Shepherd London, Haus Publishing, 2016, ISBN: 9781910376485; 220pp.; Price: £20.00 Reviewer: Daniel Snowman Citation: Daniel Snowman, ...

Institute of Historical Research Book: Reflections: Conversations with Politicians Peter Hennessy, Robert Shepherd London, Haus Publishing, 2016, ISBN: 9781910376485; 220pp.; Price: £20.00 Reviewer: Daniel Snowman Citation: Daniel Snowman, ...

Michael Heseltine discusses his political career with Peter Hennessy. The Rt Hon Lord Michael Heseltine CH, one of the most influential politicians of recent times, discusses his distinguished political career with historian Lord Peter Hennessy.

Lord Peter Hennessy is a journalist, professor and researcher. He is widely recognised as one of the country’s leading historians of British politics and an acclaimed expert on the inner workings of government machinery, from the complexities of constitutional arrangements to the role of the secret state. In this thought-provoking lecture, he draws on his vast experience, and his book Distilling the Frenzy: Writing the History of One’s Own Times, to offer an insight into the challenges of researching and writing about contemporary political history.

Historian-politicians Tristram Hunt, Chris Skidmore, Kwasi Kwarteng and Peter Hennessy explain how their two professions relate to each other. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Peter Hennessy sees the UK's vote to leave the European Union as the biggest strategic shift in British history since the Second World War, rivalled only by the disposal of the British Empire. As a consequence, we need a serious national conversation using a new political vocabulary to tackle "multiple and overlapping anxieties". "If we do hold that national conversation, rise to the level of events and draw on those wells of civility and tolerance, we may yet surprise ourselves - and the watching world - by the quality, the care and the foresight of what we do and what we say." Producer: Sheila Cook.

Meritocracy, then and now. Laurie Taylor talks to Peter Hennessy, Attlee professor of contemporary British history at Queen Mary, University of London. How did meritocracy arise as a concept and has it ever been realised in practice given the persistence of notions of a British Establishment with control over access to the centres of power? They are joined by Danny Dorling, professor of Geography at the University of Oxford. Also, doctors' choice of desert island discs - what do they tell us about the possession of cultural capital? Ruth McDonald, professor of health science research at Manchester University, discusses the meaning of elite musical tastes. Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Leading Whitehall historian Peter Hennessy examines Britain's secret war planning and preparations before 1914. Drawing on official papers, sound archive, and interviews with historians, Hennessy discusses what was in the minds of Asquith, ministers, officials and top soldiers and sailors, as they prepared for a possible conflict and as they finally took Britain into war in August 1914. He explores tensions between senior military and naval officers, between the Admiralty and the War Office, and within the Cabinet, and shows how debates and divisions shaped the war plans and influenced their effectiveness.

Sian Williams and Richard Coles with historian Peter Hennessy, John McCarthy on Canvey Island with Dr Feelgood's Wilko Johnson, Sheri Pitman a young woman who went through school refusing to speak, Tony Walker a 56 year old man whose life has been documented on TV since he was seven, Kevin Allmond the Yorkshire businessman who has become the Baron of a small European principality, a Crowdscape from Reading, The UK representative for the Pacific Island of Nauru Martin Weston makes a plea for Naurans in Britain to contact him, a "Thing About Me" feature from Sinead Withers about a beloved leather jacket, and Folk legend Joan Baez's Inheritance Tracks. Producer: Lisa Jenkinson.

Historian Peter Hennessy discusses joining what he has spent a lifetime writing about: the British constitution.At a time of constitutional upheaval, what does the second house still provide? He argues that expertise, in rare supply elsewhere in the political system, is abundant in the Lords, and offers a great deal to a system currently held in low esteem.Four Thought combines big ideas and evocative storytelling in a series of personal viewpoints - speakers take to the stage ready to air their latest thinking on the trends, ideas, interests and passions that affect our culture and society.Producer: Giles Edwards.

Peter Hennessy, President, NY Tri-State Cassidy Turley Michael R. Laginestra, Chairman, CB Richard Ellis Bruce Mosler, Co-Chairman of the Board, Cushman & Wakefield Peter Riguardi, President, Jones Lang LaSalle

The influential history professor returns to Finchley in North London to reminisce with Wendy Robbins about his 1950s childhood.