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Owen, I'm reading about Eric Hobsbawm and Hugh Trevor-Roper at the moment. Inspired by these historiographic debates I'm trying to read across your threads today and estimate the trajectory of your comments. I don't know where you're going, but I know it's somewhere good. I hope you have something ready to open this evening.

Trevor-Roper, well known lickspittle and fawner-in-chief to the aristocracy. Think Starky, ie not an original idea of his own but renowned for being bitchy. Did well out of 'controversies', mainly consisting of him getting his friends to publish articles in which he was terribly amusing about people who had at least tried. Finally took a purler over the Hitler diaries. A shining example of what makes England mediocre.

Tchah! Back to cheese. I like cheese.

I think that's Hugh covered fairly comprehensively. Up Eric!
Next time I come over for a tasting I should bring some Irish cheeses.

djewesbury wrote:Eric Hobsbawm

I really liked his idea of the invention of tradition. But disliked his pejorative tone about it. We are a traditional country. We should do things traditionally, even if we haven’t done them before. If the Americans can invent electric lights and Miller Genuine Draft and rounders and Late Bottled Vintage, we can invent traditions.

Ah, yes, we have a lot of invention of tradition where I live. I'll introduce you to some people when you come over in November.

I am about to open a bottle of The Balvenie Caribbean Cask 14 year old.

Am I doing anything wrong?

DRT wrote:I am about to open a bottle of The Balvenie Caribbean Cask 14 year old.

Am I doing anything wrong?

Is it a tradition?

djewesbury wrote:

DRT wrote:I am about to open a bottle of The Balvenie Caribbean Cask 14 year old.

Am I doing anything wrong?

Is it a tradition?

As soon as I open it, yes.

DRT wrote:

djewesbury wrote:

DRT wrote:I am about to open a bottle of The Balvenie Caribbean Cask 14 year old.

Am I doing anything wrong?

Is it a tradition?

As soon as I open it, yes.

Then you can't go wrong. History proves it.

djewesbury wrote:

DRT wrote:

djewesbury wrote:

DRT wrote:I am about to open a bottle of The Balvenie Caribbean Cask 14 year old.

Am I doing anything wrong?

Is it a tradition?

As soon as I open it, yes.

Then you can't go wrong. History proves it.

Live long and prosper.

I should like Julian to expand on tradition, Hobsbawm and all that sort of thing.

I have opened a Blandy 10yo Malmsey and am all ears.

LGTrotter wrote:I should like Julian to expand on tradition, Hobsbawm and all that sort of thing.

I have opened a Blandy 10yo Malmsey and am all ears.

Daniel can you understudy for Julian? I'm sure you could find something to say.

LGTrotter wrote:Daniel … I'm sure you could find something to say.

+1

DRT wrote:

LGTrotter wrote:Daniel … I'm sure you could find something to say.

+1

He's gone all shy now. Or perhaps he's gone to get his pipe and rough shag so he looks academic.

Can I firstly just say that academics do not do rough shag any more. Changed times.
What can I say? It's many years since I read Hobsbawm on this kind of stuff. E. P. Thompson has more recently been my bag, though I have been meaning to get that collection of essays on Marxism that they published before he died.
Was he too blinkered in his view of economic factors as prime determinants in processes of social change and conflict? Yes, probably, but then he didn't have access, at the start of his career, to some of the information that we have now. The review I was reading today was looking at climate change as a factor that was entirely ignored both by Hobsbawm, the economist, and Trevor-Roper, the politicist, in shaping the 'crisis' of the mid-17th century. Why were there revolutions and rebellions and conflicts over resources? Well the 2° change in climate (this was the start of the Little Ice Age) was a lot to do with it.
I am watching Wallander.

LGTrotter wrote:I should like Julian to expand on tradition, Hobsbawm and all that sort of thing.
I have opened a Blandy 10yo Malmsey and am all ears.

I think Hobsbawm would have opened a red wine. For political reasons...

Marxism then. Which is interesting. He is, of course, deeply unfashionable, and with good reason. But the hardened capitalists of this day forget that, though his solution was terrible, he was correct about his identification of the social problem of that era.

I cannot hide that I am disappointed that academics no longer smoke pipes and Julian's response is short and does not mention tradition or Hobsbawm.

DRT wrote:I am about to open a bottle of The Balvenie Caribbean Cask 14 year old.

Am I doing anything wrong?

Yes. It should be The Balvenie Madeira Cask 17 year old like I had on Friday. At work. Along with a 1976 Krohn Colheita.

To fix the problem, I acknowledge that my previous reply mentioned neither tradition nor Hobsbawm.

jdaw1 wrote:To fix the problem, I acknowledge that my previous reply mentioned neither tradition nor Hobsbawm.

Finally...

A year later and still no mention of Hobsbawm. Bloody typical.