October 17 saw thousands of people writing a blog of a normal Tuesday as part of the ‘History Matters’ campaign. There was great media interest in the event and the papers were full of the blogs of the famous and not so famous; people were keen to write up their actions as part of a potential piece of social history. However, Richard Harris asks a vital question: how have things got to the stage where we need a campaign such as ‘History Matters?’ He suggests ways in which the very significance of history as a school subject (rather than simply significant history) can be developed in the classroom, by making history meaningful.