Imagining that Napier had sent a one-word message 'Peccavi' - I have sinned

At least the annexation of Sind survives faintly in our memories, if only for the joke that Punch made about it, imagining that Napier had sent a one-word message 'Peccavi' - I have sinned. Posterity, literal-minded as ever, assumed that Napier really had sent such a message.

F. Mount, The tears of the Rajas (2015), 340

This is the most disappointing thing I have discovered for a very long time.

This view was not confined to British proconsuls. Karl Marx shared it too.

In truth, the British were  in a permanent dither about how best to raise the revenue on which their Raj depended. They began with, and never really lost, a sentimental attachment to the idea of Indian village life. As Sir Charles Metcalfe famously put it: '... Hindoo, Patan, Mughal, Mahratta, Sikh, English, all are masters in turn, but the village communities remain the same.' This view was not confined to British proconsuls. Karl Marx shared it too.

F. Mount,  The tears of the Rajas (2015), 189

It is a myth that there was only one great mutiny in India under British rule

It is a myth that there was only one great mutiny in India under British rule, one single aberration from the peaceful onward flow of the British Raj ... there were 110 uprisings between 1783 and 1900.

F. Mount,  The tears of the Rajas (2015), 71

Current global oil production [is] equivalent to the daily work of billions of invisible slaves

The last two centuries of extraordinary economic growth in high-income countries are largely due to the availability of cheap fossil fuels. It makes sense when you break it down: the energy contained in a single gallon of oil is equivalent to 47 days of hard human labour, making current global oil production equivalent to the daily work of billions of invisible slaves.

K. Raworth, Doughnut Economics (2017), 263

Introducing a monetary fine effectively wiped out any feelings of guilt

Ten children's say-nurseries all introduced a small fine for parents who were more than ten minutes late collecting their children at the end of the day. The parental response? Rather than arriving more promptly, twice as many parents started arriving late. Introducing a monetary fine effectively wiped out any feelings of guilt, and was interpreted as a market price for overtime care.

K. Raworth, Doughnut Economics (2017), 120

When most people skip the meeting, those who are left tend to be more extreme, because they care more about the outcome

If participation in political debate declines - if fewer and fewer voices engage in democratic debate - our politics will become more shrill and less balanced. When most people skip the meeting, those who are left tend to be more extreme, because they care more about the outcome... The correlation between ideological "extremism" and participation strengthened over the last quarter of the twentieth century, as people who characterize themselves as being "middle of the road" ideologically have disproportionately disappeared from public meetings, local organizations, political parties, rallies and the like. In the 1990s, self described political middle-of-the-roaders were about one-half as likely to participate in public meetings, local civic organizations, and political parties as the mid-1970s... The declines were smallest - averaging less than one-fifth - among people who described themselves as "very" liberal or "very" conservative.

D. Putnam, Bowling Alone (2000), 342

Prescient.

If you belong to no groups but decide to join one, you cut your risk of dying over the next year in half

The bottom line from this multitude of studies: As a rough rule of thumb, if you belong to no groups but decide to join one, you cut your risk of dying over the next year in half. if you smoke and belong to no groups, it's a toss up statistically whether you should stop smoking or start joining. These findings are in some way heartening: it's easier to join a group than lose weight, exercise regularly, or quit smoking.

D. Putnam, Bowling alone (2000), 331

My fate rests depends on not only whether I study, stay off drug, go to church, but also on whether my neighbours do the same.

In Chicago young black men who live in neighborhoods with lots of white-collar professionals are more than three times as likely to graduate from high school than are comparable young men who live in neighborhoods with less educated residents. These and dozens more studies suggest that people are profoundly motivated not merely by their own choices and circumstances, but also by the choices and circumstances of their neighbors. My fate rests depends on not only whether I study, stay off drug, go to church, but also on whether my neighbors do the same.

D. Putnam, Bowling Alone (2000), 312

Faith communities in which people worship together are arguably the single most important repository of social capital in America

Faith communities in which people worship together are arguably the single most important repository of social capital in America. "The church is people," says Reverend Craig McMullen, the activist co-pastor of the Donchester Temple Baptist Church in Boston. "It's not a building; it's not an institution, even. It is relationships between one person and the next." As a rough rule of thumb, our evidence shows, nearly half of all associational memberships in America are church related, half of all personal philanthropy is religious in character, and half of all volunteering occurs in a religious context.

D. Putnam, Bowling Alone (2000), 66

I thin this really sums up the two sided nature of US religiosity. It is their dominant vehicle for cohesion, but it's do resistant to institutionalisation that it can easily just go off the rails.