More on manipulation of our history

John Elledge is only partly right when he says that "the centrality of the Second World War to the national myth warps our view of history" (Left Field, 18th August, 2017). There is another very important factor contributing to the mythology which goes by the name of "national history", and that is the destruction of millions of files, and the continued secreting of millions more, by governments intent on manipulating the story of this country`s past. Only when thousands of Kenyans sued the British government in 2013 for damages after the Mau Mau rising of the 1950s did British historians become aware of Operation Legacy, and the deliberate destruction of evidence relating to the UK`s imperial past. The truth about the atrocities, looting and other varied acts of imperial barbarism have to be kept hidden!

    Elledge is totally right, however, in stating that Churchill`s role in the 1943 Bengal famine "rarely comes up in biopics", but the trouble is, it doesn`t appear either in the best selling biographies of the wartime leader, like the one by pseudo-historian, Boris Johnson. Nothing must, it seems, damage the version of our "glorious past", and judging by the Brexit vote, that mythology still reigns supreme. The sooner the 1.2 million files hidden at Hanslope Park are released for scrutiny, the better!

"Skin-crawling" is catching!

It`s no surprise that Hillary Clinton has admitted that Trump made her "skin crawl" during a televised debate, as he must have a similar effect on millions every time he appears on television (Hillary Clinton says Trump made her "skin crawl" during TV debate, 24/08/17). What makes it disappointing, however, is that it makes May`s efforts to court friendship with him as soon as he was elected even more embarrassing.

   Are we to believe our country is in such dire straits, and so desperate for trade deals, that our prime minister will never have the courage to criticise this most arrogant and despicable of American leaders? The answer appears to be in the affirmative, as any leader, regardless of the lack of democracy and civilised behaviour in his country is fair game for British envoys. The fact that huge food shortages in Yemen, coupled with the inevitable disease, does not stop either the Saudis bombing, or the British selling them the means with which to do it, must go down in history as one of the most callous action by any country since World War Two.

   Trump makes my "skin crawl" too, but others closer home have the same effect!

Osborne: Brexit and ambition

There were many reasons 37% of those eligible to vote did vote to leave the EU , ranging from believing the lies about £350m a week going to the NHS, and getting back control, to anger over immigration, and a desire to return to our "glorious past". George Osborne was heavily involved in bringing about the Brexit result on at least two counts, so when he warns the Tory cabinet that Britain is "not ready to crash out of the EU", and that the EU now has the "upper hand" in the negotiations, one has to be suspicious about his reasons (Brexit: UK "not ready to crash out of EU",George Osborne says, 22/08/17).

   Osborne had instigated the austerity policies which hit the least fortunate hardest, harmed the rich not an iota, and did nothing to decrease the North-South divide, so many voted for Brexit to get back at Tories like him and Cameron. Then, in desperation over the 2015 election polls, Osborne came up with his "Northern powerhouse" idea, something which might attract votes, but which he thought would never be implemented in a coalition government, which at the time was the Tories` best hope. By 2016, voters knew Osborne had lied about it, so when his warnings came about the dire effects on the economy Brexit would cause, no one believed him.

  How typical of this duplicitous Tory to step in again with another warning. Nothing to do with leadership ambitions, surely?

Guardian letter on university reform

Sonia Sodha in her article on university reform was absolutely right to say that "the value for money question is critical", not only because of the idiotically high fees and interest rate on the loans, but because of the ever-decreasing teaching and tutorial times  (Journal:turn the universities into comprehensives, 18/08/17). "University reform should start", not only with reducing fees but with making it compulsory for all degree course publicity to include the number of hours, both of teaching time in each year of the course, and in tutorial time where any academic problems can be dealt with. Whether personal tutors are available or not should also be included.

      Sodha`s suggestion of "introducing a quota for working-class students" might run into problems relating to definition. An insistence that no university is allowed to recruit more than seven per cent of its undergraduates from private schools, in line with national figures, would be preferable.

New Statesman letter on foreign policy

Stephen Bush makes the debatable points that the Tories "might be able to win an argument about Venezuela", and that most of the British voters don`t have "a flicker, let alone a quantum, of interest in foreign affairs", with the implication that the latter is good news for Labour, as the Tories are hopelessly divided on domestic issues (Politics, 11th August, 2017). The patronising idea that the people don`t mind their leader sucking up embarrassingly to Trump, Erdogan and dictatorial leaders in the Middle East is, quite frankly, insulting; Bush will be writing next that the public think it perfectly acceptable for the UK to sell weapons to the Saudis to be used in Yemen, adding to the misery of millions already suffering horrendously from the effects of famine and disease.

   If Britain`s right-wing-dominated media concentrated their efforts more on showing the crisis in Yemen rather than trying to embarrass Corbyn over Venezuela, more on May`s failure to urge a more conciliatory and diplomatic approach from America over North Korea than comparing Labour`s nationalisation policies on railways and energy to Maduro`s economic troubles, political commentators like Bush would soon realise their mistake. 

 In this age of sabre-rattling politicians and dictatorial autocrats, leaders who stand by their principles and urge caution, and an end to belligerent rhetoric, stand out a mile. Thank goodness the British public has begun to realise Labour has one.

Rees-Mogg for Tory leader (i letter)

According to Katy Balls, Jacob Rees-Mogg has "shown that traditional conservative values - yes to fox-hunting, no to gay marriage - can have a place in modern times" (Where Moggmentum goes next, 17/08/17). There must have been a "typo", with the capital letters and speech marks omitted! The Chaplin movie, made in 1936, certainly appeared at a time when such "values" might have had "a place", but there certainly would not be one on an election-winning Tory manifesto in the 21st century.

Mind you, if Tories want to choose Rees-Mogg as their leader, that`s fine with me. The sooner we have a Labour government, the better!

 

Full Guardian letter on schools

I was pleased to see a contemporary of Bowie, Howard Scholey, defending their old school, in the wake of Hanif Kureishi`s attack (Letters, 15/08/17). I taught for over thirty years in a comprehensive school in a deprived area, and whilst some pupils probably thought of it as such, it never deserved to be classed as a "shithole"; to be fair, some pupils would never have had the chance to witness what went on in the examination classes, or see the delight and relief on results` day. There were certainly numerous unruly pupils and many lessons disrupted, even a small number of "hopeless" teachers, but, like in Bromley I suspect, most were hardworking, not just "okay", and many colleagues were "inspirational".

 Hundreds of pupils did "progress to a university education", about a dozen to Oxbridge, so whilst many will doubtless still have unhappy memories of their school years, hopefully many more will not.

   Schools tend to get labelled, with local press and gossip not helping, resulting in the "label" being difficult to change. Had the school I taught in, for instance, not had such a reputation, many hundreds more parents would have enrolled their children there, and more students would have stayed on for A levels, improving the results and educational experience even further.