Searching for the world’s fastest snail
At the Norfolk Snail Racing Championship, I tried and failed to coax my slug to victory
By
This England
This column – which, though named after a line in Shakespeare’s Richard II, refers to the whole of the UK – has run since 1934. If there is a patch of the country you think we should write about, send an entry to thisengland@newstatesman.co.uk. Successful suggestions will receive a £5 book token
Latest in
This England
What did the Tudors ever do for us?
We haven’t stopped jousting, for one – and it’s clearly not just about their sex lives and pageantry
By
Aunt Sally, Oxfordshire’s secret addiction
Watching the world singles final of England’s strangest and most mysterious field sport
By
Football is a losing game
At World Cups, we celebrate and mourn
By
At Ashura, I contemplate grief, suffering and resistance
While some believers view Ashura as a purely cosmological event, many Shia Muslims see it as a story about good…
By
My obviously doomed attempt to run faster than a horse
Could a marathon across the Welsh hills be the cure for a fear of all things equine?
By
A modern Canterbury tale
What has become of Chaucer’s pilgrimage?
By
The guardian angels of the Thames
On patrol with the RNLI, along London’s sacred river
By