James Barker

Egypt's Pyramid Sell-Off

Suggestions that the European Union should have control over Greece’s budget in order to curb its debt crisis have caused a fierce reaction from Athens. James Barker explores a parallel situation in 19th-century Egypt.

Published April 19 2012

Monty and the Mandate in Palestine

With a solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians as far away as ever, James Barker looks back to Britain’s occupation of the region and the efforts made by the future Viscount Montgomery to impose peace on its warring peoples.

Published February 16 2009

1948: The First Arab-Israeli War

The First Arab-Israeli War

Published June 16 2008

Policing Palestine

James Barker reveals how parsimony and muddle in Whitehall in the first years of the British Mandate in Palestine almost led to disaster in August 1929.

Published May 14 2008

The Bombing of the King David Hotel

James Barker considers the role of terrorism in the establishment of Israel, on the 60th anniversary of the attack on the British military headquarters in Jerusalem.

Published June 20 2006

Sowing the Wind

James Barker on ‘Bomber’ Harris, the RAF’s wartime bombing campaign of Germany, and propaganda.

Published February 16 2005

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Lords of the Northern Forest

The Hudson's Bay Company was one of the central forces moulding the development of the vast tracts of land that today are Canada - but as Barry Gough explains here, the circumstances of its launch in 1670 also reveal much about the commercial forces, personalities and rivalries of Restoration England.