The Royal Historical Society. A name that doesn’t really roll off the tongue in these days of digital democracy. It sounds like a creation of extravagantly whiskered Victorian gentlemen; somewhere Finneas Fogg might have been a member of before he set off around the world at breakneck speed. And it did indeed originate in just such a fashion. Queen Victoria granted the Society’s Charter in 1868. For a long period of its existence it was the almost exclusive preserve of historians who were wealthy and male. Books were expensive, access to records and manuscripts (mostly in private collections) severely restricted, time to study, write and publish a fortunate circumstance available to only very few.

History by apprising them of the past, will enable them to judge of the future - Thomas Jefferson, 1787.

Simon Schama, probably most famous for his television series A History of Britain, gave an excellent talk in Dublin recently. Discussing his latest book, The American Future: A History, where he uses the quote above, he said that he regards President Barack Obama as a historian in power. Should we see this as a good thing? Is history any use to people who run the world? Are sharp narrative and insightful analysis weapons the Taliban should fear, when so far they’ve resisted A10 ground attack aircraft and Abrams tanks?

Mega Boom and one Almighty Bust! Entire forests of electronic paper have been laid waste over the last six months or so documenting the near cataclysmic failure of the highly sensitive and intricately linked Global banking system upon which we are all so utterly reliant upon now.

Today, Tuesday 6th January, will sadly see the closure of the last Woolworths store, with the company falling just short of its 100th anniversary. As the much published end of Woolworths becomes a reality, the demise of what had become one of the great British retail institutions will be felt by the entire British public – and not solely those who will never again pull on a Woolworths uniform.