Mihir Bose's Blog, page 6

The Three Old Hacks discuss the inauguration of President Biden and much more in their latest podcast

Listen to Episode 7 of the podcast 

The Three Old Hacks discuss the media’s role in the rise of Trump

Should the media take some responsibility in the rise of Trump by giving him free publicity? Listen to the sixth podcast from the Three Old Hacks  

Lifting the lid: the untold history of slavery and the British empire

Irish Times Have a look at my recent review of two books which consider the history of the empire and slavery. Time’s Monster, History, Conscience and Britain’s empire and Slave Empire: How slavery built modern Britain        

The backlash against colonialism holds lessons in guilt and gratitude

Financial Times In the tsunami of words on the poisonous legacy of slavery and empire generated by the death of George Floyd, an African-American who was killed in Minneapolis in May by a white police officer, two stand out: “gratitude” and “guilt”. Should descendants of those who built empires on the back of exploitation feel […]

Freedom at Last? Brexit shows Britain has never got over the Second World War

Asian Lite What a year we have had and on January 1, as Boris Johnson has said, we will at last be free people. This has been the great dream of the Brexiters but I must say I have always found that absurd. I was born in India just a few months before India won […]

The Three Old Hacks ponder the question what real loss of freedom means in another episode of their regular podcast

Nelson Mandela knew what loss of freedom was as he explained to me over coffee one morning in Soweto. For Brexiteers to talk about the EU having taken away our freedom is nonsense  – listen to the latest podcast from The Three Old Hacks Nelson Mandela and what real loss of freedom means  

The Three Old Hacks decry the attack on BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg by a group of economists in another episode of their regular podcast

Listen to David Smith, Nigel Dudley and myself as we decry the actions of a group of economists who have taken issue with the BBC’s Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg in her attempt to explain the national budget deficit. She likened the country’s current financial state to that of a domestic household being in debt, which […]

Can the Tories bring down Johnson?

Asian Lite It is hard to imagine that it is a year since Boris Johnson carved out his great election triumph, turning the red wall blue and wining an 80-seat majority in Parliament. Then it seemed he really was King, something he has wanted to be since he was a child, and he could do […]

The Three Old Hacks talk about elections they have known and loved – their podcast, episode three

Listen to Nigel Dudley, David Smith and myself in the third podcast by the Three Old Hacks in elections we have known and loved. We discuss the American elections and conclude that it is a time for the British to boast that their electoral system is superior. We also reflect on why the poor in […]

Why Trump will not go away

Asian Lite I have always been fascinated by American elections, going back to the 1960 Presidential battle between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon which I followed as a teenager in Bombay, as the city was then called. This love deepened when not long after I read The Making of the President 1960 by Theodore White, a brilliant study […]