This blog's hero J.W. Logan is quoted in The Shortest History of England by James Hawes

The Shortest History of England by James Hawes does what it says on the cover. I bought it this morning and have already finished it.

It's a great little book, whose argument is that the North/South divide marked by the River Trent is fundamental to an understanding of English history.

Best of all, this blog's hero J.W. Logan, long-time Liberal MP for Harborough, makes an appearance:

Discussing the fear of national decline that was prominent among writers and politicians at the turn of the 20th century, Hawes quotes a speech Logan made in the Commons on 27 January 1897:

Let our manufacturers do as the German manufacturers did, and bring up their sons to be better manufacturers than themselves, instead of bringing them up to be gentlemen who did nothing but hunt and shoot.

Reading this, I was reminded of English Culture and the Decline of the Industrial Spirit, 1850-1980 by Martin J. Wiener, which was published in 1980 and cited at the time as one of Margaret Thatcher's favourite books.