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Abstract for “The quest for stability: early public banking in the Mediterranean, 14th to 16th c.”

by Jocopo Sartori ________________________________________________________________________________ Early public banks have been deemed by...

Confessions of a Constitutionalist

Dafydd Elis-Thomas The constitution of the United Kingdom holds no mysteries as far as I am concerned, though most of its commentators...

Why Utopias Go Wrong

Harry Mount, editor of the Oldie Magazine Thomas More invented the word ‘utopia’ from the Greek ‘ou’—‘not’—and ‘topos’—‘place’; i.e....

Early Islam and the Birth of Capitalism

Benedikt Koehler Anyone who sells a house and makes a profit wants to know what to do with the money they make. If they live in a city...

Happy Days: Britain’s Not So Great Depression

Stephen Clark For many, Britain in the 1930s is the age of the Jarrow Marchers, Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier (1937), and the darkening...

Despatch from Southeast Asia:unpacking the region’s complex take on democracy

Sholto Byrnes The idea that liberal democracy is under siege around the globe has been gaining force over the last year or so. A number...

Inventions of Numbers and Zero [Excerpt]

Mark Ronan The following is an excerpt from a talk given by Professor Mark Ronan, University College,London at a research seminar. An...