The fact that dutiful, righteous, Jacobites kept on failing to overthrow selfish, evil Whigs was thus an implicit paradox within the mental world of Jacobitism

The fact that dutiful, righteous, Jacobites kept on failing to overthrow selfish, evil Whigs was thus an implicit paradox within the mental world of Jacobitism. If they could not somehow resolve it they were liable to doubt God's blessing upon their cause. And without his blessing their opposition to the status quo in the British Isles was nothing more than an egregious sin.

D. Szechi, 'The long shadow of 1715. The great Jacobite rebellion in Scots Jacobite politics and memory - a preliminary analysis', Royal Stuart Journal 7 (2016), 24

They inflicted their mid-life crises on the nation

He [Ernest Maples] was among that dangerous generation of public servants who found themselves middle aged at the time of the 'youthquake'. They wanted to join in. If they'd simply bought fast cars or had sex with much younger women (Maples did both), the bad effects might have been confined to their families, but they inflicted their mid-life crises on the nation. If they inherited an old house they would purge it of such grotesqueries as high ceilings or fireplaces. If they were town planners they instigated 'comprehensive redevelopments', involving the building of car parks. If they were railwaymen, they thought Euston was beautiful, and they closed railway lines,

A. Martin, Night trains: the rise and fall of the sleeper (2017), 223

My parents were forced to abandon their home. They didn't make a fuss about it, but that is what happened.

I am wary of the word exile, which is overused and romanticised. My parents were forced to abandon their home. They didn't make a fuss about it, but that is what happened. My father was exiled in the sense that it was too dangerous for him ever to go home again, and he never did. It crushed his spirit, to find himself adrift at such a late stage in life. People do not leave home unless they have no choice. They made a life of sorts for themselves in Cairo, but it was never home, not really, just a temporary haven. Home was here, in this town, in that old house that has now been leveled to the ground.

J. Mahjoub, A line in the river (2018), 306

Jewish refugees from Portugal and Spain ... introduced Britain to the street food that would become their national dish - fish fried in flour

We might think the great double act fish and chips is as British as Torvill and Dean, Morecambe and Wise or wind and rain. But in fact it was Jewish refugees from Portugal and Spain, arriving in the seventeenth century, who introduced Britain to the street food that would become their national dish - fish fried in flour. It was French and Belgian Huguenots, coming shortly afterwards, who introduced fried potatoes in the form of frites. What the British did was bring the two together. And what led to the duo becoming a legend was the Industrial Revolution.

V. Franklin and A. Johnson, Menus that made history (2019), 38

Hunting can't be justified ... yet they are all good things

in July 1997 he [Runciman] fell into conversation with James Lees-Milne on the subject of the recently elected New Labour administration: 'We  agreed that  hunting can't be justified, any more than hereditary peers, or for that matter religion - yet they are all good things.'

M. Dinshaw, Outlandish knight: the Byzantine life of Steven Runciman (2016), 416, footnote

I fear I should never be a success at Oxford ... I should never talk or drink enough

'I fear I should never be a success at Oxford ... I should never talk or drink enough.' However, by the post-war period, Cambridge was beginning to develop a reputation - unfortunate in Steven's view - for narrower professionalism. Trevor-Roper diagnosed the same disease at Oxford, and was determined to lead the alliance that would purge it.

M. Dinshaw, Outlandish knight: the Byzantine life of Steven Runciman (2016), 365

'Can you write the King's English?' ... 'That is almost my only qualification.'

Almost all the history dons had served in at least one of the world wars, whether as soldiers or spies. For some, like Karl Leyser, the senior history tutor at Magdalen, a German-born internee turned naturalized British war hero, soldiering had, perforce, preceded the academic life. Others, like the Christ Church stalwart, Provost of Worcester and ubiquitous fixer J.C. Masterman, had surprised the establishment of military intelligence with the usefulness of their hitherto donnish talents, 'Can you write the King's English?' an SIS superior of Masterman's once demanded. 'That,' J.C. replied mildly, 'is almost my only qualification.'

M. Dinshaw, Outlandish knight: the Byzantine life of Steven Runciman (2016), 364