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Notes on Current Politics , 1944-1975

 Sub-Series

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Dates

  • Creation: 1944-1975

Language of Materials

  • English

Full range of shelfmarks:

PUB 221/1-33

Biographical / Historical

Notes on Current Politics (and its successor from 1975, Politics Today) was a direct continuation of, and until 1946 was published in the same 'flip-up', loose-leaf format as, the two pre-War series Hints for Speakers (1925-1939) and Notes for Conservative Workers (1933-1939), which provided doorstep canvassers and speakers with the detailed and up-to-date information on the political battle, including accurate statistics with which to rebut Opposition statements.

From January 1944, Notes on Current Politics was published monthly, formalising the series of ad hoc papers published between 1942-1943 on specific subjects and bound together as Speakers' Notes (for which, see above). Some issues of Notes focused on a single, major topic, while others summarised political activity in the previous quarter. As with Hints for Speakers and Notes for Conservative Workers it included statistics and extracts from major speeches, and cited sources, and an annual index was compiled.

From January 1946 the 'flip-up' style was replaced by the more standard book style and it was produced fortnightly rather than monthly, but content otherwise remained the same.

From January 1949, responsibility for producing Notes on Current Politics transferred to the Conservative Research Department. It was described in an advertisement in Right Approach [Autumn 1961: PUB 147/1] as: '…edited by the Conservative Research Department, is widely recognised as a unique source of reference and covers the whole range of politics. Facts, figures and quotations all come from original sources. A periodical index is issued.'

The last edition appeared on 22 Sept 1975 (Issue no. 15): 'This is the last issue of Notes on Current Politics. From 6th October, there will be a new Research Department publication, Politics Today, which will incorporate NCP, Overseas Review and the occasional Old Queen Street Papers.'

Repository Details

Part of the Bodleian Libraries Repository

Contact:
Weston Library
Broad Street
Oxford OX1 3BG United Kingdom