Olusoga and our make-believe past

As David Olusoga rightly says, both royals and tabloids are "trapped in a fantasy version of Britain`s past" which is dominated by the concept of British exceptionalism (The royals are just like much of our press - trapped in a fantasy version of Britain`s past, 14.03.21). In a recent televised talk, the queen described the human traits of "self-discipline" and "good-natured resolve" as "national attributes", whilst the popular media`s fondness for our "glorious past" leads to the mistaken belief in Britain having to fight on "alone" in 1940. Whilst the French president recently announce the setting-up of a "memories and truth" commission to find out what really happened in their Algerian war, the British government, with its colonial amnesia, insists on refusing access for historians to the million-plus historical files locked away in Hanslope Park. The problem is that the truths revealed would almost certainly prove the non-existence of British exceptionalism, the myth responsible, in part, not only for Brexit, much of our institutionalised racism, our refusal to follow the WHO`s advice on testing last March, but the popularity of a prime minister who revels in it! Only when the truth about the UK`s colonial past is revealed, when the facts about our seizing and looting of colonies, whilst committing the most awful of atrocities, and our reliance on essential colonial aid to emerge successfully from world wars, are all openly admitted and taught, can the people and government of this country ever hope to have a non-distorted view of the future.