| | | | Below today’s paywall is the “hero” who’s run more than 300 marathons, the dashing explorer John Blashford-Snell who dragged a grand piano through a South American jungle and up a mountain – and the strange new word Alastair Campbell wants to add to our dictionaries. | |
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| | |  | Thomas Cole’s The Consummation of Empire (1835) |
| The ideas that set the West apart | Last week, says Fareed Zakaria in The Washington Post, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged the West to rediscover the “strength, courage and pride” that makes it so exceptional. He’s right that the West has in some ways lost confidence, “and that it shouldn’t”. But military power and national pride aren’t what make Western civilisation extraordinary – Persian emperors, Russian czars and rulers of imperial China all had those in abundance. What truly distinguishes it is its intellectual and political traditions. From Greek philosophy and Roman law through Christianity to the scientific revolution and the Enlightenment, the West developed a set of ideas that “challenged the arbitrary exercise of power”. | The essential premise is that every human being possesses certain rights simply by virtue of being human, and that no ruler or tradition is above scrutiny. Consider slavery. Like other civilisations, the West practised slavery on a vast and brutal scale – but it also produced a unique and powerful abolitionist movement, drawing on Christian beliefs and Enlightenment ideals that allowed it to “condemn its own conduct”. For centuries, Western societies treated women and religious and racial minorities as second class citizens. But unlike in other civilisations, Western ideas about equality and individual rights helped generate movements for women’s suffrage, religious tolerance and civil rights. These movements didn’t reject the West’s highest ideals – “they demanded that the West live up to them”. And these ideals have endured because they can be applied to everyone. The British ruled India for nearly two centuries, often through exploitation, repression and violence. Yet when Indians won their independence, they maintained parliamentary democracy, constitutional government and an independent judiciary. The West conquered much of the world through force. “But it changed the world through ideas.” |
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| | | | | | Advertisement | | A special commemorative print edition of “Always Remembered”
Philip E. West is regarded as one of the world’s premier aviation artists, renowned for his atmospheric paintings of historic military and civil aircraft. | To support the Royal British Legion’s annual Poppy Appeal ahead of Remembrance Day, 350 limited-edition prints of his painting “Always Remembered” are available to readers of The Knowledge. A donation from each sale directly aids serving personnel, veterans, and families of the British Armed Forces. The piece honours the extraordinary sacrifices made on Normandy’s historic landing beaches – recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage site – ensuring their courage and legacy endure. | Print release date 11 November. £25 off for The Knowledge readers using voucher code “knowledge25” at check out. For price and pre-order, click here. |
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| | | | | | THE VICTORIAN HOME This six-bedroom, Grade II-listed home sits between luscious woodland and the Bristol Channel near Portishead, says The Times. On the ground floor is a large reception room with a log-burner, a kitchen and dining area with panoramic views up the estuary towards the Welsh mountains, and a separate utility. On the first floor are two big bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms, one of which also has a walk-in wardrobe and two terraces, while the second floor is home to four further bedrooms and a family bathroom. The gardens descend in three tiers: sheltered terraces for long lunches, lawn with mature trees, and open grass. Bristol is a 20-minute drive. £1.5m. Click here to see the listing. |
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| | | | | | That’s all you’re getting, but if you want today’s heroes and villains, as well as the other fabulous pieces trailed above (that explorer’s story will make you want to track him down just to shake his hand), simply subscribe. It’s four British pounds a month, or forty for the whole first year. A really absurdly manageable price for a really absurdly great read, every day. | |
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