@leedavidevansuk.bsky.social
Podcasting and writing about post-war British politics. Ramsden Fellow at Mile End Institute.
... the UK should introduce compulsory voting.
Available now on Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/m...
Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/7LzF...
And wherever you get your podcasts.
🚨 NEW PODCAST: The size of the Civil Service, Digital ID & Compulsory Voting
In our latest podcast, Richard reflects on the historic size of the Civil Service...
... I think back to Blair's attempt to introduce ID cards...
and we discuss - and disagree! - whether...
I'll be talking about Edwardian Britain at the King's Gallery, Buckingham Palace on 13 November.
Do come along, if you can.
www.rct.uk/event/alwyn-...
Available now on Apple: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/s...
And on Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/4qfa...
Should this map have included the United Kingdom?
The UK government, led by Clement Attlee, didn't think so - and Britain stayed OUT of the European Coal & Steel Community.
Why? Richard and I discuss in our latest Since Attlee & Churchill podcast... (see next tweet).
What motivated their decision? Was it Germanophobia, or a devotion to British socialism?
And what were the consequences for Britain - and for Europe?
Our discussion is available now on Apple: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/s...
And on Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/4qfa...
🚨 NEW PODCAST: Why was Britain absent from the EU's beginning?
Richard and I discuss one of the most important forks in the road in Britain's post-war history:
When Attlee's Labour government refused to take part in discussions on the Schuman Plan (which would evolve into the EU).
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... focus on the question of Margaret Thatcher's legacy, one I'm keen to defend - and Richard even keener to condemn.
You can listen on Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/52ZT...
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/m...
Or wherever you get your podcasts.
🚨 NEW PODCAST: 'Are the old Political Parties over?' & Thatcher's Legacy
Richard kicks off our mid-week Since Attlee & Churchill podcast by asking whether the old political parties in Britain are dying, changing, or simply finding they have new competitors.
And I...
‘What a good idea! I hadn’t thought of it.’
Margaret Thatcher was so pleased with this heckle from Dennis Skinner that she apparently wanted to make him a peer!
Thanks very much, Rob. Glad you enjoyed the episode. I suspect the awful Morrison appointment was key to it all as if there had been someone in charge who wasn't so prone to optimism on the figures, and told her how grim things were, she *may* have acted differently. But we'll never know!
21.10.2025 09:22 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
... if she had stayed in office, would she have won the 1991/2 general election?
Available now on Apple: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/d...
Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/2dn2...
Or wherever you get your podcasts!
🚨 NEW PODCAST: Did Margaret Thatcher have to resign as Prime Minister?
In this week's podcast, Richard and I discuss the dramatic downfall of Margaret Thatcher in November 1990.
Why did she resign? Could she have fought on? And...
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... and Richard discusses the politics of free-to-use toilets in public spaces, which happens to have been the subject of one of Barbara Castle's first ever campaigns.
Available now on Apple: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/s...
And on Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/6cYB...
🚨 NEW PODCAST: Political Awareness, Party Memberships & Public Loos
In our new podcast, I challenge the shibboleth of some political commentators that hardly anyone pays attention to politics…
… we discuss party memberships, following news that the Lib Dem membership has halved…
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The app won’t let me send messages, I’m afraid. But if you can email me on l.d.evans@qmul.ac.uk that would be great. Thanks!
14.10.2025 11:06 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0
Richard and I discuss Castle's life and achievements - and Richard explains why she is his favourite Labour politician of all time - in our latest podcast.
Available on Apple: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/s...
And on Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/6b3l...
🚨 NEW PODCAST: Was Barbara Castle Labour's Iron Lady?
115 years ago this week, one of Labour's most iconic politicians was born: Barbara Castle.
For over three decades, she was among the best-known MPs in the country and one of the most forceful advocates for socialism.
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Of course - I'll drop you a message!
12.10.2025 17:23 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Standing room only for @ldfreedman.bsky.social's superb "Hennessy Lecture" at the @mileendinstitute.bsky.social this evening, on "As long as it takes: What does it mean to commit to Ukraine's security?"
Really good questions from the audience, too. Thanks to everyone who came.
… and Richard discovers an almost century-old prescription given to Churchill by an American doctor - and considers what it reveals about prohibition-era America.
Available now on Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/2fKv...
And on Apple: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/s...
🚨 NEW PODCAST: Tory Conference, ECHR & Churchill's Boozy Prescription
Richard and I are experimenting with mid-week instalments of ‘Matters of Interest’.
In this episode, I reflect on Thatcher’s starring role at Conservative Party Conference…
Over a dramatic few days, the front-runner at the start of conference, David Davis, bombed; and a little known MP, David Cameron, emerged as the leader-in-waiting.
Available to listen now on Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/2oU2...
And on Apple: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/s...
🚨 NEW PODCAST: Conservative Party Conference 2005
In the second part of our miniseries on consequential party conferences, Richard and I discuss the Conservatives' 2005 gathering in Blackpool - when discussion of the next leader was top of everyone’s mind.
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To re-establish some balance, we’ve recorded a special bonus episode on two of the most dramatic, and consequential, Tory lives cut short: Iain Macleod and Airey Neave.
You can listen here. 👉https://www.sinceattleeandchurchill.com/p/bonus-podcast-conservative-lives
🚨 BONUS PODCAST: Conservative Lives Cut Short
Richard and I recently completed a three-part miniseries on the Since Attlee & Churchill podcast on ‘Labour Lives Cut Short’.
All three episodes are free to listen to on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Echoes of John Major in 1993 describing Britain as:
‘…the country of long shadows on county [cricket] grounds, warm beer, invincible green suburbs, dog lovers, and - as George Orwell said - old maids bicycling to Holy Communion through the morning mist.’
Picture Post's preview of the 1952 Labour conference held in Morecambe.
It features many of the post-war Labour greats: Attlee, Bevan, Foot, Castle, Braddock, Wilson...
The drama of this conference is the subject of the latest Since Attlee & Churchill podcast.
Available now.
… deeply split, with combustible speeches and outrageous heckling dominating the proceedings in the hall.
What then happened in Morecambe shaped the party for years to come.
You can hear all about in on Apple: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/s...
And on Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/6pj1...
🚨 NEW PODCAST: The Crucible of Conference (Labour, 1952)
With party conference season under way, Richard and I discuss Labour's dramatic 1952 party conference in Morecambe.
Amidst pelting rain, Britain's socialists gathered in opposition for the first time in over a decade. The party was…
