Lion & Unicorn
@lionunicorn.bsky.social
Culture | History | Politics
thelionandunicorn.com
thelionandunicorn.com
Reposted by Lion & Unicorn
"Blue Peter had invited viewers to name a new cat, and then ignored the people’s choice (either Cookie or Pussy, depending on whether one believed the BBC or the Sun), deciding instead to call it Socks"
@alwynturner.bsky.social on Auntie's bloopers👇
thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2021/05/21/w...
@alwynturner.bsky.social on Auntie's bloopers👇
thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2021/05/21/w...
‘What is the BBC for?’
Sachsgate, Kittengate, the Queen ‘losing it’ – the BBC had a difficult few years, reflects ALWYN TURNER.
thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:59 PM
"Blue Peter had invited viewers to name a new cat, and then ignored the people’s choice (either Cookie or Pussy, depending on whether one believed the BBC or the Sun), deciding instead to call it Socks"
@alwynturner.bsky.social on Auntie's bloopers👇
thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2021/05/21/w...
@alwynturner.bsky.social on Auntie's bloopers👇
thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2021/05/21/w...
Reposted by Lion & Unicorn
On the centenary of his birth, here's Richard Burton in an early movie role as an IRA man, jailed for bombing offences, who harbours a discreet liking for his fellow men...
thelionandunicorn.com/2023/05/24/f...
thelionandunicorn.com/2023/05/24/f...
Final Cut: Now Barabbas Was a Robber (1949)
SIMON MATTHEWS on an anti-death-penalty movie written by the brother of a prime minister.
thelionandunicorn.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:49 AM
On the centenary of his birth, here's Richard Burton in an early movie role as an IRA man, jailed for bombing offences, who harbours a discreet liking for his fellow men...
thelionandunicorn.com/2023/05/24/f...
thelionandunicorn.com/2023/05/24/f...
Strip The Times of its Royal Charter!
The BBC will fuck things up from time to time. Lots of major news organisations do; just look at The Times having to memoryhole several fake news stories in a matter of weeks.
No one is calling for the abolition of The Times, however.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
No one is calling for the abolition of The Times, however.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
UK newspaper editor calls Bill de Blasio fake interview blunder ‘humiliating’
A Times associate editor reportedly addressed situation in an email to staff, saying: ‘We should have been on our guard’
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Strip The Times of its Royal Charter!
Reposted by Lion & Unicorn
"Labour history is full of missed opportunities and great leader-that-never-were. But 1980 was the most catastrophic mistake of them all."
Michael Foot became leader of the Labour Party 45 years ago today.
thelionandunicorn.com/2016/08/06/l...
Michael Foot became leader of the Labour Party 45 years ago today.
thelionandunicorn.com/2016/08/06/l...
Labour leadership elections: Part 2
Continuing ALWYN TURNER’s history of the post-war Labour Party, seen through leadership elections past (1976-88).
thelionandunicorn.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:42 AM
"Labour history is full of missed opportunities and great leader-that-never-were. But 1980 was the most catastrophic mistake of them all."
Michael Foot became leader of the Labour Party 45 years ago today.
thelionandunicorn.com/2016/08/06/l...
Michael Foot became leader of the Labour Party 45 years ago today.
thelionandunicorn.com/2016/08/06/l...
Reposted by Lion & Unicorn
"Soldiers march away to the Korean war, an Orange parade passes by, Ewan MacColl sings ‘Dirty Old Town’ whilst slum clearance happens and new estates are built."
Film-maker Terence Davies was born 80 years ago today.
thelionandunicorn.com/2024/11/03/f...
Film-maker Terence Davies was born 80 years ago today.
thelionandunicorn.com/2024/11/03/f...
Final Cut: Of Time and the City (2008)
SIMON MATTHEWS watches Terence Davies’s rumination on the Liverpool that was.
thelionandunicorn.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:34 AM
"Soldiers march away to the Korean war, an Orange parade passes by, Ewan MacColl sings ‘Dirty Old Town’ whilst slum clearance happens and new estates are built."
Film-maker Terence Davies was born 80 years ago today.
thelionandunicorn.com/2024/11/03/f...
Film-maker Terence Davies was born 80 years ago today.
thelionandunicorn.com/2024/11/03/f...
"Blue Peter had invited viewers to name a new cat, and then ignored the people’s choice (either Cookie or Pussy, depending on whether one believed the BBC or the Sun), deciding instead to call it Socks"
@alwynturner.bsky.social on Auntie's bloopers👇
thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2021/05/21/w...
@alwynturner.bsky.social on Auntie's bloopers👇
thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2021/05/21/w...
‘What is the BBC for?’
Sachsgate, Kittengate, the Queen ‘losing it’ – the BBC had a difficult few years, reflects ALWYN TURNER.
thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:59 PM
"Blue Peter had invited viewers to name a new cat, and then ignored the people’s choice (either Cookie or Pussy, depending on whether one believed the BBC or the Sun), deciding instead to call it Socks"
@alwynturner.bsky.social on Auntie's bloopers👇
thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2021/05/21/w...
@alwynturner.bsky.social on Auntie's bloopers👇
thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2021/05/21/w...
"Liberalism, with a capital ‘L’ sees itself as knowing what is best, it regards the population as illiberal and dangerous, it is a ruling point of view. Paternalism is its middle name"
A fantastic, moving interview with the great @anthonybarnett.bsky.social.👇
www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...
A fantastic, moving interview with the great @anthonybarnett.bsky.social.👇
www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...
Anthony Barnett: “The Sixties were a catastrophic failure”
The writer and campaigner on nationalism, the rise of the new right and how a fractured left can organise in response
www.newstatesman.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:40 PM
"Liberalism, with a capital ‘L’ sees itself as knowing what is best, it regards the population as illiberal and dangerous, it is a ruling point of view. Paternalism is its middle name"
A fantastic, moving interview with the great @anthonybarnett.bsky.social.👇
www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...
A fantastic, moving interview with the great @anthonybarnett.bsky.social.👇
www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...
On the centenary of his birth, here's Richard Burton in an early movie role as an IRA man, jailed for bombing offences, who harbours a discreet liking for his fellow men...
thelionandunicorn.com/2023/05/24/f...
thelionandunicorn.com/2023/05/24/f...
Final Cut: Now Barabbas Was a Robber (1949)
SIMON MATTHEWS on an anti-death-penalty movie written by the brother of a prime minister.
thelionandunicorn.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:49 AM
On the centenary of his birth, here's Richard Burton in an early movie role as an IRA man, jailed for bombing offences, who harbours a discreet liking for his fellow men...
thelionandunicorn.com/2023/05/24/f...
thelionandunicorn.com/2023/05/24/f...
"Labour history is full of missed opportunities and great leader-that-never-were. But 1980 was the most catastrophic mistake of them all."
Michael Foot became leader of the Labour Party 45 years ago today.
thelionandunicorn.com/2016/08/06/l...
Michael Foot became leader of the Labour Party 45 years ago today.
thelionandunicorn.com/2016/08/06/l...
Labour leadership elections: Part 2
Continuing ALWYN TURNER’s history of the post-war Labour Party, seen through leadership elections past (1976-88).
thelionandunicorn.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:42 AM
"Labour history is full of missed opportunities and great leader-that-never-were. But 1980 was the most catastrophic mistake of them all."
Michael Foot became leader of the Labour Party 45 years ago today.
thelionandunicorn.com/2016/08/06/l...
Michael Foot became leader of the Labour Party 45 years ago today.
thelionandunicorn.com/2016/08/06/l...
"Soldiers march away to the Korean war, an Orange parade passes by, Ewan MacColl sings ‘Dirty Old Town’ whilst slum clearance happens and new estates are built."
Film-maker Terence Davies was born 80 years ago today.
thelionandunicorn.com/2024/11/03/f...
Film-maker Terence Davies was born 80 years ago today.
thelionandunicorn.com/2024/11/03/f...
Final Cut: Of Time and the City (2008)
SIMON MATTHEWS watches Terence Davies’s rumination on the Liverpool that was.
thelionandunicorn.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:34 AM
"Soldiers march away to the Korean war, an Orange parade passes by, Ewan MacColl sings ‘Dirty Old Town’ whilst slum clearance happens and new estates are built."
Film-maker Terence Davies was born 80 years ago today.
thelionandunicorn.com/2024/11/03/f...
Film-maker Terence Davies was born 80 years ago today.
thelionandunicorn.com/2024/11/03/f...
Reposted by Lion & Unicorn
How did a simple British Army bugle call from the 18th century become a sacred anthem of death and remembrance?
Our @alwynturner.bsky.social tells the story of the Last Post for Radio 4.👇
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...
Our @alwynturner.bsky.social tells the story of the Last Post for Radio 4.👇
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...
BBC Radio 4 - The Last Post
The untold story of The Last Post, one of the world's most famous pieces of music.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 9, 2025 at 11:52 AM
How did a simple British Army bugle call from the 18th century become a sacred anthem of death and remembrance?
Our @alwynturner.bsky.social tells the story of the Last Post for Radio 4.👇
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...
Our @alwynturner.bsky.social tells the story of the Last Post for Radio 4.👇
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...
Reposted by Lion & Unicorn
"Absolute stillness descended upon the vast crowds at the Cenotaph, a hush so total that the chimes of Big Ben were heard for miles around, in places never before reached in daylight hours. At the centre of the greatest city on Earth, all human activity ceased"
thelionandunicorn.com/2017/11/06/t...
thelionandunicorn.com/2017/11/06/t...
The Great Silence
ALWYN TURNER tells the story of the first commemoration of Armistice Day in 1919.
thelionandunicorn.com
November 9, 2025 at 11:41 AM
"Absolute stillness descended upon the vast crowds at the Cenotaph, a hush so total that the chimes of Big Ben were heard for miles around, in places never before reached in daylight hours. At the centre of the greatest city on Earth, all human activity ceased"
thelionandunicorn.com/2017/11/06/t...
thelionandunicorn.com/2017/11/06/t...
Reposted by Lion & Unicorn
"If every ex-soldier would tell his own children the truth, the whole truth, about war, the war-spirit would be stamped out for ever"
— Ernest Mander, general secretary NUX
@alwynturner.bsky.social on radicalism and remembrance after the Great War👇
thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2015/11/08/t...
— Ernest Mander, general secretary NUX
@alwynturner.bsky.social on radicalism and remembrance after the Great War👇
thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2015/11/08/t...
‘The most degrading and bestial business in the world’
Remembrance hasn’t always been a pageant of national unity. ALWYN TURNER reveals how the British state once feared its veterans.
thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com
November 9, 2025 at 11:48 AM
"If every ex-soldier would tell his own children the truth, the whole truth, about war, the war-spirit would be stamped out for ever"
— Ernest Mander, general secretary NUX
@alwynturner.bsky.social on radicalism and remembrance after the Great War👇
thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2015/11/08/t...
— Ernest Mander, general secretary NUX
@alwynturner.bsky.social on radicalism and remembrance after the Great War👇
thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2015/11/08/t...
Reposted by Lion & Unicorn
"Clumps of crimson poppies, thrusting out from the lips of craters, straggling in drifts between the hummocks, undaunted by the desolation, heedless of human fury and stupidity..."
thelionandunicorn.com/2016/11/07/a...
thelionandunicorn.com/2016/11/07/a...
‘A wreath of poppies’
ALWYN TURNER on the early days of the British Legion’s Poppy.
thelionandunicorn.com
November 9, 2025 at 9:54 AM
"Clumps of crimson poppies, thrusting out from the lips of craters, straggling in drifts between the hummocks, undaunted by the desolation, heedless of human fury and stupidity..."
thelionandunicorn.com/2016/11/07/a...
thelionandunicorn.com/2016/11/07/a...
Reposted by Lion & Unicorn
It's 30 years since Bovril tycoon James Goldsmith officially launched the Referendum Party in his usual modest fashion - and eventually changed British politics, but not in the way you think @lionunicorn.bsky.social
Remembering the Referendum Party
The most important article on James Goldsmith’s Referendum Party you will ever read – by PAUL SAFFER.
thelionandunicorn.com
November 9, 2025 at 4:20 PM
It's 30 years since Bovril tycoon James Goldsmith officially launched the Referendum Party in his usual modest fashion - and eventually changed British politics, but not in the way you think @lionunicorn.bsky.social
Reposted by Lion & Unicorn
Reposted by Lion & Unicorn
"Suspicious of German domination and the benefits of free trade, James Goldsmith decided to set up a rival party, pledging to spend £20m on the cause, including £10m at the forthcoming General Election."
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/07/r...
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/07/r...
Remembering the Referendum Party
The most important article on James Goldsmith’s Referendum Party you will ever read – by PAUL SAFFER.
thelionandunicorn.com
November 8, 2025 at 8:40 AM
"Suspicious of German domination and the benefits of free trade, James Goldsmith decided to set up a rival party, pledging to spend £20m on the cause, including £10m at the forthcoming General Election."
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/07/r...
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/07/r...
"Have you watched the John Lewis Christmas advert yet?"
November 9, 2025 at 12:25 PM
"Have you watched the John Lewis Christmas advert yet?"
How did a simple British Army bugle call from the 18th century become a sacred anthem of death and remembrance?
Our @alwynturner.bsky.social tells the story of the Last Post for Radio 4.👇
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...
Our @alwynturner.bsky.social tells the story of the Last Post for Radio 4.👇
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...
BBC Radio 4 - The Last Post
The untold story of The Last Post, one of the world's most famous pieces of music.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 9, 2025 at 11:52 AM
How did a simple British Army bugle call from the 18th century become a sacred anthem of death and remembrance?
Our @alwynturner.bsky.social tells the story of the Last Post for Radio 4.👇
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...
Our @alwynturner.bsky.social tells the story of the Last Post for Radio 4.👇
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...
"If every ex-soldier would tell his own children the truth, the whole truth, about war, the war-spirit would be stamped out for ever"
— Ernest Mander, general secretary NUX
@alwynturner.bsky.social on radicalism and remembrance after the Great War👇
thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2015/11/08/t...
— Ernest Mander, general secretary NUX
@alwynturner.bsky.social on radicalism and remembrance after the Great War👇
thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2015/11/08/t...
‘The most degrading and bestial business in the world’
Remembrance hasn’t always been a pageant of national unity. ALWYN TURNER reveals how the British state once feared its veterans.
thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com
November 9, 2025 at 11:48 AM
"If every ex-soldier would tell his own children the truth, the whole truth, about war, the war-spirit would be stamped out for ever"
— Ernest Mander, general secretary NUX
@alwynturner.bsky.social on radicalism and remembrance after the Great War👇
thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2015/11/08/t...
— Ernest Mander, general secretary NUX
@alwynturner.bsky.social on radicalism and remembrance after the Great War👇
thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2015/11/08/t...
"Absolute stillness descended upon the vast crowds at the Cenotaph, a hush so total that the chimes of Big Ben were heard for miles around, in places never before reached in daylight hours. At the centre of the greatest city on Earth, all human activity ceased"
thelionandunicorn.com/2017/11/06/t...
thelionandunicorn.com/2017/11/06/t...
The Great Silence
ALWYN TURNER tells the story of the first commemoration of Armistice Day in 1919.
thelionandunicorn.com
November 9, 2025 at 11:41 AM
"Absolute stillness descended upon the vast crowds at the Cenotaph, a hush so total that the chimes of Big Ben were heard for miles around, in places never before reached in daylight hours. At the centre of the greatest city on Earth, all human activity ceased"
thelionandunicorn.com/2017/11/06/t...
thelionandunicorn.com/2017/11/06/t...
"Clumps of crimson poppies, thrusting out from the lips of craters, straggling in drifts between the hummocks, undaunted by the desolation, heedless of human fury and stupidity..."
thelionandunicorn.com/2016/11/07/a...
thelionandunicorn.com/2016/11/07/a...
‘A wreath of poppies’
ALWYN TURNER on the early days of the British Legion’s Poppy.
thelionandunicorn.com
November 9, 2025 at 9:54 AM
"Clumps of crimson poppies, thrusting out from the lips of craters, straggling in drifts between the hummocks, undaunted by the desolation, heedless of human fury and stupidity..."
thelionandunicorn.com/2016/11/07/a...
thelionandunicorn.com/2016/11/07/a...
"Suspicious of German domination and the benefits of free trade, James Goldsmith decided to set up a rival party, pledging to spend £20m on the cause, including £10m at the forthcoming General Election."
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/07/r...
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/07/r...
Remembering the Referendum Party
The most important article on James Goldsmith’s Referendum Party you will ever read – by PAUL SAFFER.
thelionandunicorn.com
November 8, 2025 at 8:40 AM
"Suspicious of German domination and the benefits of free trade, James Goldsmith decided to set up a rival party, pledging to spend £20m on the cause, including £10m at the forthcoming General Election."
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/07/r...
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/07/r...