euro|topics - Tristram Hunt

21/11/2008

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Hunt, Tristram

British historian, broadcaster and newspaper columnist.

5 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.

The Guardian - United Kingdom | 23/07/2008

The Balkanisation of Britain?

The historian Tristram Hunt uses the by-election in Glasgow East as a peg to comment in The Guardian on the future of the United Kingdom: "Rather than stopping nationalism dead in its tracks, the Scottish parliament and Welsh assembly have only intensified cross-party calls for the Balkanisation of Britain. ... Here's the nightmare scenario: a Scottish National party administration holds on to Holyrood and seeks to move towards a referendum on independence. Meanwhile, a Tory government in Westminster, elected into office without a single Scottish seat, sees no reason why it should fight to preserve a system that delivers 39 Scottish Labour MPs to the House of Commons. Post-2010, the two governing parties in Edinburgh and London look to their own electoral interests and signal the evisceration of the union. ... It has been left to Gordon Brown to re-weld the union with his lofty talk of liberty, the rule of law, and the British way of life.The awful truth is that the tide of history is flowing in the other direction. From Slovakia to Kosovo to the nation formerly known as Belgium, the trend is for smaller, ethnically codified national entities at the expense of broader civic federations."

The Guardian - United Kingdom | 06/11/2007

St Pancras, London's new Eurostar terminal, quite an achievement

Tristram Hunt is delighted with St Pancras station, built in 1867 and officially reopened on Tuesday, November 6th, as the new Eurostar terminal. "It embodied all the vulgar brashness of the mid-1800s - wealth, empire, technology and hubris - but also the great gift of the Victorians to our cities: civic pride and a public sphere. ... Today, with its vast champagne bar and promise of Paris in a little over two hours, the new St Pancras might be dismissed as another component of an overheated capital. But that would be to misread the national achievement of its visionary architect, Alastair Lansley. ... In true Victorian style, Lansley has also revived civic ownership of a commercial space. ... Advertising is constrained, while the glamour of train travel is revived. The Victorians worshipped profit, but also believed in a public sphere of architecture, design and recreation. The reopened St Pancras has caught that perfectly."

The Guardian - United Kingdom | 23/08/2007

An international slavery museum in Liverpool

British historian and broadcaster Tristram Hunt notes "a bold step away from the dead end of guilt and apology" in the opening on August 23rd of the world's first International Slavery Museum in Liverpool. "It is a fitting tribute to this year's highly successful reflection on the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade. ... The city once laid claim to the largest fleet of slave ships in the history of the trade. ... Today, elements of that racist bequest live on [in the UK]. The murder of black teenager Anthony Walker and the unwelcome appearance of the BNP [far-right British National Party] have revealed the danger. And inner-city communities are struggling this summer with a noxious cocktail of guns, gangs and joblessness. Which is why the International Slavery Museum's commitment to challenging the legacies of slavery is so important."

The Guardian - United Kingdom | 22/05/2007

The Cutty Sark, London's iconic ship, goes up in flames

"A familiar landmark on the London marathon route and a curiously enduring tourist attraction for residents and visitors alike, the Cutty Sark is little short of a national icon", notes the historian Tristram Hunt referring to the 19th century ship/museum that caught fire yesterday, May 21st. "On the one hand, the ship's past is a story of seafaring bombast, a codified sense of Britishness and imperial power politics. On the other, it is a more supple tale of global trading and mutual cultural exchange. Thankfully, the ship has been in the excellent care of the Cutty Sark Trust, which has engaged with the Chinese, Australian and Brazilian communities to offer a very nuanced account of the ship's past and present in the context of modern, multicultural London. It is a global story of Britishness that goes beyond the old paradigm of high seas and imperial benevolence. That is why some 14 million people have come on board since it berthed at Greenwich in 1957."

The Observer - United Kingdom | 31/01/2006

'City-states' and economic revival

Tristram Hunt, a journalist with the Sunday newspaper, believes that a proposal to create modern 'city-states' in Britain could spur the economic revival of urban conglomerations such as Manchester or Birmingham - as has proven successful on the Continent. "Germany's system of devolved authority means that despite the federal economic slow-down, some 15 of its cities have made their way into Europe's top performing urban centres. Much of this is the product of a cohesive regional strategy. ... Outside of an increasingly autonomous London, this urban ambition is suffocated in Britain, not least because of our democratic deficit. ... But whichever model they choose, if Britain's regional cities are going to curtail London's dominance and challenge their Continental peers, they need to start thinking like city-states, not parish councils."

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