With the number "doing history degrees falling 10% over the last decade", and English, Classics and Modern Language degrees not "serving students well in the contemporary job market", Will Hutton has grounds for being worried about our society "withering" (Turning our back on history studies fits with a society that`s losing its common purpose, 21.07.19). But this is not, as he says, a "society that has forgotten its history", simply one which has had its past manipulated by politicians anxious for the truth to be kept hidden.
Isn`t membership of the EU thought by many to have prevented the UK returning to its "glorious past"? Many even believe that our managing to survive "on our own" through two world wars proves that coping with a No-deal Brexit will be a doddle! The little progress made since the teaching of inaccurate, nationalist history in the early 20th century ensured millions volunteered in 1914 goes much of the way to explaining the Brexit vote in 2016.
A prime minister who has written pseudo-history books about Churchill, and contributed to the myopia which governs our history studies, is the last thing this country needs in these divided times.The next non-Tory government should immediately attempt to end this nonsense, with a possible start being the opening up the 1.2 million files hidden away in Hanslope Park to our historians and students. What better way to ensure studying history at all levels can be both exciting and valuable to a society that has been served badly by history for over a century? The problem, Mr Hutton, is not "forgetting", it`s never having been told the truth in the first place!
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