How can the maker and deviser of The Image of Irelande, containing six designs which are described as ‘probably the finest woodcuts made in a sixteenth-century English book’ be so little known? Where did this artistry come from and where could one hone such woodcutting skills? What was the influence of the publisher, John Day, England’s ‘most important publisher of illustrated books in the second half of the sixteenth century’, and how did the artist(s) become part of the entourage of Sir Henry Sidney coming to Ireland and recording the events of his lord deputyship during the mid-1570s? This chapter addresses these questions to argue for Derricke’s connection to the creation of the woodcuts.

From Princeton, Sydney or Nairobi, the world which Hanif Kureishi describes might well appear cosmopolitan. The temporal reach of Kureishi's writing rarely extends further back than the 1970s and his settings are confined largely to London and the South-east. The short story collection Love in a Blue Time (1997) typifies Kureishi's consistent perception that even the most trivial details of everyday British life indicate how imbricated in this imperial past the nation nonetheless remains. Kureishi recognises that Britain's demise as a world power is not a consequence of decolonisation but of political re-alignments and economic restructuring on a global scale in the period since 1945. Kureishi's use of language also bears little resemblance to the practices of many postcolonial writers. One consequence of both the histories of British imperialism and current American domination of the world's media has been the entrenchment of English as the 'world language'.

From Princeton, Sydney or Nairobi, the world which Hanif Kureishi describes might well appear cosmopolitan. The temporal reach of Kureishi's writing rarely extends further back than the 1970s and his settings are confined largely to London and the South-east. The short story collection Love in a Blue Time (1997) typifies Kureishi's consistent perception that even the most trivial details of everyday British life indicate how imbricated in this imperial past the nation nonetheless remains. Kureishi recognises that Britain's demise as a world power is not a consequence of decolonisation but of political re-alignments and economic restructuring on a global scale in the period since 1945. Kureishi's use of language also bears little resemblance to the practices of many postcolonial writers. One consequence of both the histories of British imperialism and current American domination of the world's media has been the entrenchment of English as the 'world language'.

A political crisis had erupted over the House of Lords; two general elections were fought and the King's Government could not be carried on unless the problem of the House was addressed. This chapter elucidates both the failure to bring about fundamental reform, of the kind envisaged in the preamble to the Parliament Act, while also explaining the changes that transformed the House from being a leisurely aristocratic chamber of power to a much more hard working chamber of influence, where aristocracy was leavened with meritocracy. It examines how the House changed, and considers a selection of the schemes put forward at various times for major reform of the second chamber. The chapter also considers how the House came to terms with the loss of power. The activity of the House has expanded greatly, especially in the second part of the twentieth century.

The system for electing British members of the European Parliament was altered to a closed-list proportional representation system based on regional constituencies. Within parliament a programme of 'modernisation' was embarked upon, which included the removal of hereditary peers from the House of Lords. In a superficial sense reforming the House of Lords obviously sat well with a modernisation agenda. Here was a body whose formal membership was still dominated by hereditary peers. The constitutional changes made since 1997 are best understood as piecemeal, specific and pragmatic. This may sound like a criticism. But it is not necessarily so. Such a style of change has, it can be argued, suited the development of the British constitution rather well. It is worth reflecting on the fact that several changes subsequently requiring legislation could have been made by the House of Lords itself had it so wished.

This chapter analyses the constitutional consequences of the United Kingdom joining the European Communities (EC), later the European Union (EU), creating a new juridical dimension to the UK constitution, and how Parliament adapted to membership through adapting its structures to enable it to scrutinise and influence proposals for European law. It identifies the problems deriving from the result of the 2016 referendum on leaving or remaining in the EU, the challenges encountered by the May and Johnson governments in seeking to negotiate a withdrawal agreement and achieve parliamentary approval for that agreement and the clash between the outcomes of the 2016 referendum and the general election of 2017.

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores why the boldest initiative in the sixty-year quest to achieve a borderless Europe has exploded in the face of the EU. A close examination of each stage of the EU financial emergency offers evidence that the European values that are supposed to provide solidarity within the twenty eight-member EU in good times and bad are flimsy and thinly distributed. The book aims to show that it is possible to view the current difficulties of the EU as rooted in much longer-term decision-making. It examines the different ways in which the European Union seized the initiative from the European nation-state, from the formation of the Coal and Steel Community to the Maastricht Treaty. The book concentrates on the role of France and Germany in the EU.

The first chapter sets the scene, explaining why there were black American servicemen in Britain during the war, where they were based (largely in south and south-west England, East Anglia, Lancashire and South Wales), how they were segregated (villages and towns were designated ‘white’ or ‘black’), how they met local women (largely at segregated dances and in pubs) and how they were prevented from marrying them. It contrasts the British government’s negative attitude towards the presence of black GIs with the general public’s largely positive welcome, particularly the attraction felt by young British women faced with relatively wealthy, music- and dance-loving, ‘exotic’ strangers. It demonstrates the racism facing those in interracial relationships and points forward to the birth of children from these encounters.

The Introduction to the book offers a historical and literary contextualization of the Image. The editors address the text’s rich historical connections; the little-known background of the author, John Derricke; the brief, but impactful reception of the work; the immediate and contemporary reaches of the Image. Lastly, the editors summarize the collection’s chapters, linking many of the ideas contained in the work. In general, the Introduction seeks to present information about the work, its characters, and its sordid history, ultimately arguing for its early modern significance to a variety of disciplines.

Germany has risen to assume the leadership of the EU. Although it enjoys immunity from the pain of much of the rest of the eurozone, the future of the single currency and perhaps of the wider Union itself seems largely to be in its hands. For much of the crisis, Germany has wished to direct Europe's financial affairs through a form of eurozone governance that primarily benefits Germany irrespective of the damage done to a mounting list of eurozone countries unable to insulate themselves from it. Europhile leaders may have pioneered a European unification concept in the 1950s which gave the EU momentum until the end of the Cold War. But financial crises from that of the Balkans in the early 1990s to the extended financial one have revealed how deep its limitations are in carrying out its own projects or resolving difficulties arising from chronic design faults.

The conclusion summarises the key theme running through the book: the direct link between the structure of the corporation and its limitless capacity for destruction. It asserts that, if the argument developed in this book is even partly right, this means breaking open the organisation that gives material force to the social relations of capital: the corporation. We need to find the most effective means of ending the corporation’s death grip over us. The corporation is not a problem merely because it captures natural resources, pollutes and accelerates the carbon economy. As this book has argued, the corporation eradicates the possibility that we can put the protection of the planet before profit. A fight to get rid of the corporations that have brought us to this point may seem like an impossible task at the moment, but it is necessary for our survival. And it is hardly radical to suggest that if something is killing us, we should over-power it and make it stop. We need to kill the corporation before it kills us.