[Stormy seas, inflatable tanks, and Hitler’s lie-in: What you didn’t know about D-Day]

[On 6 June 1944, western Allied powers launched Operation Overlord – the mission to retake France by landing on the beaches of Normandy. 80 years on, it remains one of history’s greatest military successes. Today, much of our imagination of D-Day is coloured by Hollywood or the classroom...]

[Article by Isaac Smith for H.A.T Blogs, 6th June 2024] 

[Rugged Ranger to F1 Hero: How the Marlboro man survived tobacco’s advertising ban]

[In the early 1960s, scientists and medical professionals managed to prove that smoking caused cancers and other illnesses which resulted in premature death. As these findings became public knowledge, governments moved to legislate against the tobacco industry.]

[Article by Isaac Smith for H.A.T Blogs, 5th June 2024] 

[Turkmenbashi: The Maddest Modern Dictator you've never heard of]

[Ask someone to name a modern dictator and the names they’ll mention will probably include the likes of Kim Jong-Un, Muammar Gaddafi, and Saddam Hussein. Other more notorious 20th century dictators include the likes of Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong. Somewhat less well known though is the regime of Saparmurat Niyazov] 

[Article by Isaac Smith for H.A.T Blogs, 8th May 2024]

[Why Good Urbanism Should be Bipartisan]

[Urbanism can be hard to define; it is both a political ideology and a characteristic of towns and cities. It is a term that can be adopted by any party or person that wishes to lay claim to it; however, the idea of urbanism does hold up several key tenets and assumptions.]

[Article by Luke Dawson for H.A.T Blogs, 24th April 2024] 

[Britain’s Biggest Illegal Rave: The Story of the Castlemorton Common Festival]

[When most people think of historic live events in the history of music, Woodstock in 1969 and Live Aid in 1985 probably come to mind. One not as well known, but equally historic event was the 1992 Castlemorton Common Festival in Worcestershire. For those unfamiliar, Castlemorton was the UK’s largest ever illegal rave, and the fallout from it prompted legal changes which some consider to have effectively killed off illegal raves....]

[Article by Isaac Smith for H.A.T Blogs, 11th April 2024]

[Have I really rejected Conservatism, or am I just a floating voter?]

[From the age of about 15, I was a Tory. I’m not exactly sure what started it, but part of me attributes my Tory phase to rebelling against my peers, and authority more generally. As I saw it, nearly everyone my age was left wing, as were most of the adults in my life.]

[Article by Isaac Smith for H.A.T Blogs, 13th March 2024]

[‘Standard English’: If language is always changing, why is academia so stubborn when it comes to what is deemed ‘acceptable’ writing?]

[Language has never been a consistent, static aspect of human life, constantly adapting and changing across countries, cultures, and different modes of expression. If an English speaker from Yorkshire in 2024 were to have a conversation with an English speaker from Yorkshire in 1524, much would be lost in translation. Likewise, language is different depending on a person’s region, culture, or subculture; for example, it is a recurrent cliche for older generations to not understand the ‘new slang’ of younger generations...]

[Article by Megan Stalham for H.A.T Blogs, 27th February 2024]

[Party like it's 1999: The best year ever for Western Society?

[If you could travel back in time, what year would you go back to? In 2018, singer Charli XCX told us “I just wanna go back, back to 1999”, in her hit song 1999. In it, she expressed her desire to go to her old neighbourhood and sing the Britney Spears classic …Baby One More Time, amongst doing other things. Nostalgia and reminiscing about the past play a big part in how all of us perceive history from our own perspective.]

[Article By Isaac Smith for H.A.T Blogs, 27th February 2024]

[NMW Age Bands typify institutional ageism against the Young in the UK]

[Ageism, or the discrimination of someone based upon their real or perceived age, is a very real problem in British society today. It should be resisted and called out in all instances it is found. Though ageism is typically thought of as being directed against older people, I will argue that a form of ageism is institutionalized politically and socially - against the young]

Article by Luke Dawson for H.A.T Blogs, 27th February 2024]

[Sport and Politics are Inseparable: Why telling athletes to "stick to the game" is ludicrous]

[Anyone who has been on social media or not lived in a cave during the last decade has probably heard about athletes being criticised for highlighting issues such as racism and homophobia. Most of these criticisms conform with the notion that the expression of political and or social concerns should not happen at, or surrounding sports events]

[Article by Isaac Smith for H.A.T Blogs, February 21st 2024]

[In Search of an Aesthetic for Green Politics]

[The Green Party is not a mainstream political party in the UK, but it should be. Right now, green parties across the West are relegated to the margins of political activity - the UK Greens only control a couple of seats and only manage to pull in under 10% of the vote share in the best scenarios. Though it’s not immediately obvious, one of the fundamental reasons for this marginality, I believe, is a lack of a coherent and unifying aesthetic form underpinning environmentalist ideology]

[Article by Luke Dawson for H.A.T Blogs, 21st February 2024] 

[Cultivating Habitats: Why it's time to abandon our lawnmowers and prioritise Garden Wildlife]

[When I moved into my current house, the grass in the back garden barely existed. The lawn was mowed with an inch to its life, and most of the greenery bordering the garden was either dead or cut back so ruthlessly that it looked like it. Now, over a year later, it is a thriving green ecosystem, teeming with life and biodiversity, from fruit-bearing bushes to healthy long grass that is home to hundreds of species, including grasshoppers, which I had never before encountered.]

[Article by Megan Stalham for H.A.T Blogs, 21st February 2024]

[Art Class: How Capitalism is tearing Art away from its Original Roots in Expression]

[The Royal West of England Academy of Art (RWA) is a prestigious art gallery well-known around Bristol and the South West. It prides itself on being a creative space for everyone to enjoy, with most exhibition rooms being free to visit, and several community activities launched across the city. Despite the RWA’s progressive aims, it is far from perfect in terms of being an art space ‘for everyone’; like many museums and galleries across the country, it has a long way to go regarding accessibility, inclusivity, and transparency]

[Article by Megan Stalham for H.A.T Blogs, 21st Febuary 2024]

[Commercialising My Smile: a Marxist-feminist take on the exploitative nature of the Hospitality Industry]

[The service industry is known to be exploitative, and one particular branch of this is institutional sexism. An obligation to put up with creeping customers, to look a certain way, and to constantly put on an agreeable manner even in shady situations parallels many young women working in minimum wage hospitality positions to the female service industry workers of previous decades....]

[Article by Megan Stalham for H.A.T Blogs, 27th September 2023]

['Rat Infestations, Mould and Poor Plumbing? Sounds like a you Problem': How Landlords Exploit the Inexperienced Position of Student Renters]

[Nowadays, most young people opt for renting when looking to leave home as it is the most affordable and attainable option. It can be exciting moving out for the first time and living with housemates, who then become your family (or enemies, depending on your situation). But as young people are thrown into this new world of renting with little to no help, too many landlords exploit our lack of experience...]

 [Article by Megan Stalham for Heroica]

[The Subtle Oppression of Industrial Time Discipline]

[Ever since the advent of the Industrial Revolution, the power of clocks and strict timekeeping have dominated every aspect of the human experience. Clocks have ordered our lives to such an extent that they are almost totally omnipresent - they are carried with us at all times in our mobile phones, and they lord over public squares on clock towers like an omnipotent all-seeing eye. However, the system they ordain and represent is unnatural and divorced entirely from environmental and physical nature. Whatever use they had before the Industrial Revolution, their modern forms were created solely to serve the economic interests of the Capitalist elite - and their total subsequent domination of everyday life contributes to the planet's destruction.]

[Article by Luke Dawson for H.A.T Blogs: 27th September 2023]