There are many parallels between Britain today and Britain during the 'long' nineteenth century. Both societies were coping with substantial and sustained population growth and the tensions this creates between different ethnic groups. Both had to cope with profound changes. Our current fixation with the environment was paralleled by the Victorians who sought, and largely failed, to take remedial action necessary to counter the impact of industrial change and urban growth on society. Education, crime and the nature of leisure are equally issues on which the attitudes of Victorians have much...