Lessons from the French Revolution
It is terribly ironic that the French monarchy, under Louis XVI, was a major supporter of the British colonists in America’s bid for independence in 1775 – 1783. Only six years after the American colonists won, in 1789, France was ripped apart by one of the most violent revolutions in history. Louis XVI, who only came to power in 1774, More...
Lessons from the American Revolution
American Revolution The American Revolution, which started in 1775, was a British revolution on American soil. There were thirteen British colonies in America. These colonies were governed by British laws and More...
Lessons from the English Civil War / English Revolution
The English Civil War, or English Revolution, which kicked off in 1642, is perhaps the most important of all revolutions in modern European history. What took place here provided the blueprint for many revolutions More...
What does it take to get Europeans to have a Revolution?
In a recent article about the youth unemployment crisis in Europe and Africa HFN asked a question: “What are all these people going to do?” to which a reader responded: “If you look on the street, More...
Dont confuse what is legal with what is morally right
Most people think of themselves as being “law abiding” citizens. They admonish those that break the law and feel that it is reasonable that if you break the law you should pay the consequences. Broadly More...
A frozen society: the long term implications of NSA’s secrets
HFN has been thinking about the historical and future implications of Edward Snowden’s NSA files that have been leaked bit by bit over the past few months. HFN is very worried. Edward Snowden’s act of More...
Jobs: First, get rid of expensive Westerners. Second, get rid of people entirely
The Great Recession has been going on since 2008, with no end in sight. A great part of the problem is financial: we borrowed too much money for too long and now don’t have the ability to pay off our debts. More...
Crisis: or an explanation on the origins of the decline of the West
Christopher Marlowe’s play Doctor Faustus was written around 1592 and was based on an earlier German work about Dr Faustus, a talented German scholar at Wittenburg University who was frustrated by the limits More...
Who benefits from our increased social fragmentation?
Cable television and satellite radio stations have been praised for providing greater choice and criticised for the fragmentation of our societies. New social media apps and websites allow this choice/fragmentation More...
An American parable: The rise of Venetian inequality and the decline of prosperity
A new book, Why Nations Fail: the Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty, looks at the historical roots as to why some countries are rich and others are poor. As with all books of this genre, it owes a great More...