Prophecies and politics (or: anarchy in ASE)
October 11, 2013
Bob Geldof has joined the ranks of doom mongers when he predicted that the world only has a good 17 years left to go. While there are plenty of reasons to be pessimistic, given all the current wars and human tragedy, the idea that the end is nigh has been around for a long time. …
The Far Traveller
September 24, 2013
I have just come back from a range of different research trips which took me to Shetland, Iceland, Germany and Ireland in a very brief time span. While I have really enjoyed the opportunities to talk with my colleagues, I am less keen on the travel itself, especially since flying is not very comfortable, airports …
The Jewel in the Crown
March 4, 2013
The recent public outcry about Hilary Mantel’s observations regarding the Duchess of Cambridge remind me that it is often Queens, not Kings that fire our imagination.[1] One of these women whose story needs telling again is that of Emma/ Ælfgifu, a woman with quirks, oddities and a lot of character. Unfortunately Mantel has not yet …
Viking ancestors: fact and fiction
February 11, 2013
With racism in the news it is perhaps time to look at one of the most persisting misconceptions about the Vikings: that they were actually a ‘race’. There is nothing ‘ethnic’ about the Vikings and they would have been perplexed to be defined thus. The idea that there is something ‘racial’ about Vikings is often …