27 MAY

THE AUTHOR Alisdare Hickson is a graduate of the London School of Economics, with an MSc in Economic History. He also holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Essex. After a period working as a researcher, he returned to his true passions of history, politics and photography. As an amateur photojournalist, he covered…

BRITISH TROOPS SACK WASHINGTON DC On this day in 1814, British troops burned down much of Washington D.C., including the White House, the Capitol, the bridge over the Potomac, the United States Treasury and other government  and private properties. The resulting inferno, accelerated by the invaluable collection of books in the heavily timbered Library of…

REFUGEE DEPORTED BACK TO AFGHANISTAN TO BE EXECUTED BY THE TALIBAN [ 14 September 2018 ] On this day in 2018 reports emerged confirming that a 47 year old Afghan father of four who had previously fled to Britain 16 years earlier, had been “shot dead by the Taliban” after he had been deported back…

LET THE SAUDIS BEHAVE AS THEY WANT TO, SO LONG AS THEY REMAIN AN ALLY. 4 October 1993 – Addressing a conference entitled “Inside Saudi Arabia” at London’s Chatham House, Margaret Thatcher declared that she considered the country “a strong force for moderation and stability,” that she was “a great admirer of Saudi Arabia and…

OIL BLOW-OUT POISONS NIGERIAN FARMLAND [ 19 July 1970 ] A massive blow-out of an oil well, owned by the Anglo-Dutch multinational Shell in Ogoniland in South Eastern Nigeria, devastated farmland for many miles around, poisoning the water supply.  One eyewitness describing an “ocean of crude oil… moving swiftly like a flood, successfully swallowing up…