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SubscriptionsAuthor: Mike Stuchbery
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Hope Soars Eternal: The Nebra Sky Disk
An ancient artefact due to go on display in the British Museum opens our eyes to a sophisticated and internationally-connected Bronze Age community
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Persisting in the Ruins: A Walk Through Thessaloniki’s History
Mike Stuchbery returns with his tours through history – on this occasion through a city which has been an axis of trade, faith and conflict
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Hope Carved from Bone: The Prehistoric Treasures of the Swabian Jura
In the 40,000-year-old fragments of evocative animals and figurines, Mike Stuchbery finds inspiration and resilience in dark times
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Building on the Rubble — The Memorials of Stuttgart
Mike Stuchbery explains how, rather than mute statues, Germany has a much more dynamic dialogue with its traumatic imperial past
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Fear – the Most Infectious Contagion
With the Coronavirus the subject of headlines the world over, fears of a pandemic have again arisen. Along with media speculation, however, there is a far more insidious contagion.
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GOLD DUST WOMAN: The Story of Sybilla von Anhalt
Mike Stuchbery on the story of a pioneering woman chemist in 16th Century Germany. Every weekend in Stuttgart, I wake early on a Sunday morning to head into the city centre and lead a walking tour. It’s something that I started doing after realising that so many parts of the Swabian capital have stories that…
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The Fires of Bamberg are Still Burning
Mike Stuchbery returns with his telling short histories – this time of how climate change and panic led to an explosion of persecution, mainly of women.
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Death and Loss: Hope and Renewal – A Message from Stuttgart
After a tumultuous year politically and personally for Mike Stuchbery, he reminds how humans have survived the darkest hours.
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Germany Calling: at the Crossroads of Europe
Mike Stuchbery reflects on leaving the UK behind after a tumultuous three years.
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Lives Left in Stone: Cologne’s Eternal Cathedral
Will Cologne’s cathedral, which was centuries in the making, ever be considered to be truly ‘finished’? Maybe nothing we build ever is.
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Art and Disaster: ‘The Delft Thunderclap’
Mike Stuchbery on how terrible moments of devastation can be overcome with creativity and vision.
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The Art of Dying – A Medieval Blockbuster for Terrible Times
Mike Stuchbery on reading one of the first printed bestsellers – a book on how to die properly – from his hospital bed.
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Between Two Worlds: The Secrets of the Shaman of Bad Dürrenberg
On a recent trip to Germany, Mike Stuchbery came across the remains of a woman who lived some 8,500 years ago – astonishing, not only for the impressive manner in which she was buried, but the secrets that her bones contained.
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Living with Attention Deficit Disorder
Mike Stuchbery on his recent ADD diagnosis and why this has provided the breakthrough he needed.
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Recalling the Stasi: Boris Johnson, Privacy and the Politics of Personal Destruction
Mike Stuchbery explains how a journalist’s targeting of neighbours who recorded the prime minister-in-waiting has more in common with East Germany’s infamous secret police than they do.
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The Lesson of Dachau and the ‘Concentration Camp’ Controversy
Mike Stuchbery sheds some light on the heated debate ignited by New York congresswoman Alexandra-Cortez
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Anybody can be a Hero: The Story of Lilo Hermann
Whenever Mike Stuchbery travels to Stuttgart he is reminded that the courage to resist authoritarianism and tyranny isn’t restricted to a particular kind of individual and here manifests itself in the form of a bookish single mother.
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FAR RIGHT FUNDING: The Rebel Reporters Threatening the UK’s Rule of Law
Mike Stuchbery examines the funding and support for Far Right figures delivered under the guise of journalism.
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Unbroken: The Story of Artemisia Gentileschi
Mike Stuchbery on a renaissance artist who overcame the predatory sexism of her day and survives as an emblem of feminist persistence.
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A Sharp Wake Up Call: We need to talk about Amy
Mike Stuchbery on the troubling behaviour of a Brexit activist
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Why so Sore, Donny? Fascism has Deep American Roots
London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s comment on Donald Trump’s nativism, isolationism and bigotry has hit a sore spot.
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London Calling – City of the World
Mike Stuchbery recalls a cacophony of people through time, who came to London and made it what it is today.
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She Came from Nowhere: The Tale of Jeanne Hatchette
Mike Stuchbery on another stirring story from our European past that shows how small actions can have big consequences.
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Growing ‘Irexit’ Campaign has Links to Notorious British Ethno-Nationalist
A fast growing ‘Irexit’ campaign gaining online traction over recent months, calling for Ireland’s withdrawal from the EU, has close links with British white nationalists. An investigation by anti-racism activists in Ireland has revealed that the ‘Muintir na héireann’ (‘People of Ireland’) website and Facebook community, with over 10,000 followers, is the work of Jack…
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‘A Plague Tale’ Review: A (Grim) Kind of Alchemy’
‘A Plague Tale: Innocence’ is a game about change. True to the alchemical concepts upon which much of the plot rests, the game represents an arc of corruption, distillation, purification and sublimation.
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The Last Straw? In Defence of the Milkshake
The milkshake has emerged as a potent tool in showing the Far Right in the UK for what they are – cowards and frauds, argues Mike Stuchbery.
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Your Vote this Thursday will be a Message to the Far Right. No Further
Mike Stuchbery draws strength from history and argues that anyone who cares about stopping the Far Right, now fighting in a Europe-wide alliance, needs to vote in the Euro Elections this Thursday
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A New Crusade for White Christian Europe? Not a Good Look
When Far Right and populist figures such as Hungary’s Viktor Orban talk about a ‘crusade’ to defend ‘Christendom’ – this should ring some very shrill alarm bells.
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As Epic as Jon Snow and Daenerys – a Glimpse of Roman Britain’s Multicultural Love
The 2nd Century tombstone near Hadrian’s Wall tells a story as exotic as anything out of Game of Thrones, the epic love story of a woman from Hertfordshire and her partner from Syria.
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The Light of the Beguines: Medieval Europe’s Altruistic Women
The story of the Beguines is important to remember in a time of increasing social fracturing.
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Two Days In April: Did Love at First Sight Change the World for Ever?
Mike Stuchbery argues that Petrarch’s passion for his muse Laura triggered the Renaissance imagination and paved the way for modernity.
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Battle of the Bucket – So Much Blood Shed over So Little
Tribalism is killing us, wrote Tina Gharavi in our launch issue and Mike Stuchery has a vivid example of this from history.
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Rape, Race and UKIP’s MEP Candidate
Carl Benjamin, the would-be UKIP MEP for South-West England, must recognise that he speaks out of both sides of his mouth when it comes to issues such as racism and misogyny.
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In the Smoke of Notre Dame: To all the Churches I’ve Loved
As the embers cool in the devastated sections of Notre Dame de Paris and the world comes together to restore it, it seems a good time to reflect on the effect that historic churches and cathedrals have had on my own life.
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A Thousand Small acts of Kindness – How to Tame the Black Dog of Depression
Mike Stuchbery speaks out about his mental health struggles, and in doing so finds a cure in the kindness of others
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Get Stoned – Therapy, Neolithic Style
Mike Stuchbery argues that we need to take a salutary walk in the shadow our our ancestors to reconnect with their hopes and fears
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Online Islamophobia: YouTube Still Aiding the Targeting of Muslims
Mike Stuchbery speaks to Parveen Ali who has experienced harrassment and abuse since appearing in a YouTube video by a well-known Far Right figure.
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Stuchbery’s Histories: What Regiswindis Teaches Us
Mike Stuchbery takes a brief holiday from the tensions of the here and now to wonder why all those lives of the saints tend to end quite badly.
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Weaponising history: the graffitied rifle of the Christchurch terrorist is a tool to radicalise
The Christchurch terrorist created a misleading historical narrative of how Christians and Muslims have interacted over time. Mike Stuchbery explains why this is so dangerous.
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A Quiet Kind of Terror: What It’s Like to be the Target of a Far Right Witch-hunt
A week after Mike Stuchbery became subject to targeted harassment and threats of violence, he reflects on the impact it has had on his life.
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Stuchbery’s Strange Histories: the Sad Tale of Gesche Gottfried
Millennials, and the generation that followed them, have often been painted as self-obsessed, image-conscious, fixated on the picture that they present to the world. But we only need look at the sad tale of Gesche Gottfried to understand that we’ve always been vain creatures.
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Lessons from the Clubmen: How the English Civil War can Make us More Civil
Increasingly, when I think of the divisions within British society – Left and Right, Leave and Remain, for example – I can’t help but think of the Clubmen.
