TUC president and POA leader STEVE GILLAN speaks to Ben Chacko on the eve of Congress 2026
WELL, in truth not really, but there’s certainly something to admire in working-class lad Thomas Cromwell, especially in his empathetic portrayal by Mark Rylance.
Certainly, against the entitled mob of Tudor aristocrats he confronts, he appears as a true “Man of the People.”
This wasn’t really the case (his mother was from the gentry), but Cromwell was looked down upon by the court, who despised his relatively humble origins, legal knowledge, multilingual ability, and formidable intelligence.
In June 1402 Owain Glyndwr defeats the English in a battle of Bryn Glas, a fact not introduced to the school curriculum in Wales until 2022. MARK SEDDON revisits the battlefield
STEPHEN ARNELL looks at some of the notorious political corruption cases from British history
In his fortnightly Borderlands column, MARK SEDDON visits overgrown forts along Offa’s Dyke and reflects on wars past and present
STEPHEN ARNELL wonders at the family resemblance between former prince Andrew and his great-uncle ‘Dickie’


