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SubscriptionsColumn / Investigation: The Legacy of Empire
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The White Ear of Ofsted and the ‘Sonic Surveillance’ of Education
The focus on ‘language’ policing by the arbiters of educational standards exacerbates class and racial inequalities argues a new report
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‘Half Measures Will Not Decolonise International Development’
Genuine anti-racist internationalism calls for much greater radicalism, writes Sunit Bagree
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Irony: The Velvet Glove of Colonialism?
Did the Greeks invent irony? Rahila Gupta makes the case for Britain’s mastery and ownership of the device
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The Identity Trap: No One Narrative Can Encompass the Different Dimensions of Diversity
As Britain welcomes its first Asian Prime Minister, Hardeep Matharu explores how our pluralistic society is reflected in the multiplicity of its migrant experience – as demonstrated by the different reactions to Rishi Sunak’s rise
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‘Out of the Picture: After the Queen’s Death, Will Britain Finally Confront Itself?’
Britain has hidden a key part of our story from ourselves. With the Queen’s death marking a decisive shift, it’s time for us all to start building a better picture of our country and its past, writes Hardeep Matharu
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The Identity Trap: Race, Representation and the Rise of Conservative Diversity
Rishi Sunak is in the running to be Britain’s first prime minister of colour – but the debate around whether this will be a good thing for ethnic minorities has laid bare conflicting ideas about the ‘individual’ and the ‘collective’, writes Hardeep Matharu
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Boris Johnson: The Naked Emperor Exposed
The Prime Minister resigned in much the same fashion as he had ruled over the country, with lies and self-delusion, observes Otto English
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The Government’s Rwanda Plan is a Relic of a Colonial Age
Britain’s historic hostility towards migration – by politicians of all stripes – has laid the groundwork for Priti Patel’s controversial plan to send people seeking asylum to Rwanda, says Thomas Perrett
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Backwards Britain: Having Rejected a European Future, We Can Only Hark Back to an Imperial Past
Hardeep Matharu explores how the Russian invasion of Ukraine has exposed the UK’s perilous retreat – at a time when collaboration and a new vision of itself is required to navigate the dangerous realities of a changing world
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Are the Royals Trapped in a Gilded Cage – Or Is Britain?
Is the Royal Family trapped by Britain’s past or is the problem our inability to conceive of a social order without monarchy?
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Opening Our Eyes to the Cost of Empire: Why We Must Demand the Return of Nigeria’s Benin Bronzes
Paddy Docherty explains how research for his book on the 1897 invasion of the Kingdom of Benin left him ashamed – an emotion he believes must be converted into action
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The Colston Four: It is the Attorney General Who Seeks to Set a ‘Dangerous Precedent’
The four defendants were found not guilty of criminal damage for removing the statue of the slave trader in Bristol – the rule of law in Britain will be significantly eroded, says Gareth Roberts
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‘A Deeply Dangerous Power Grab by the Home Secretary’: Conservative Peer Calls for Plans to Strip Citizenship Without Warning to be Scrapped
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi told peers that immigrants’ fears that future generations would be treated like outsiders and second-class citizens are not unfounded
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From Conrad’s Kurtz to Enoch Powell: Conservatism Takes a Dark Turn to the Past
Under Boris Johnson’s leadership, the Conservative Party has reversed half a century of attempts at post-imperial reform and is now embarked on a campaign of ‘othering’ – targeting enemies within and without
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The Nationality and Borders Bill is a Legacy of Empire
We need to start calling British immigration policy and law for what it is: a form of post-colonial, racialised nation-building, says Dr Maria Norris
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Profiteering, not Philanthropy: How Public Schools Abandoned Public Service
Iain Overton traces the evolution of the Muscular Christianity of British Public Schools into post-imperial Muscular Capitalism and explains this is far from charitable
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Colonial Amnesia: The Forgotten Victims of Transportation
Katharine Quarmby explores why Britain’s story of transportation – the biggest forced migration in its history – has largely been buried
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A Royal Cover-Up: The Hidden Hand of Monarchy Blocking the Public’s Right to See Lord Mountbatten’s Diaries
David Hencke reports on the long-running battle of historian Andrew Lownie against the Government over the release of documents which were bought on behalf of the public for millions of pounds by Southampton University The hidden hand of the Royal Family is behind the Government’s determination to stop the publication of some of the diaries…
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Why We Need New Statues Reflecting Britain’s Diverse History
MP Preet Kaur Gill explains why she is backing a new campaign for public artwork commemorating people who are under-represented and forgotten in the country’s narratives about its past
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England’s Upper Classes – A Dangerous Cult
Otto English shares the story of his late mother’s ‘double life’ and explores how class continues to define British society in damaging, limiting ways
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Empire Men: ‘The Sweet, Just, Boyish Masters’
Jake Arnott reveals the repressions that drove British Empire Men such as General Gordon, Lord Kitchener, Cecil Rhodes, Robert Baden-Powell and T. E. Lawrence
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From George Orwell to Priti Patel: How Britain Brought its Colonial Policing Home
As the Metropolitan Police is judged to be institutionally corrupt, Hardeep Matharu and Peter Jukes explore how some of the biggest problems still plaguing British policing are embedded in the soil of British colonialism
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Colston Reconfigured: A Fulcrum for Future Understanding
Hannah Charlton explores what the journey of the statue of a Bristol slavetrader is revealing about the wider historical moment the country finds itself in
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British History’s Brutish Imperialism has Become a Global Talking Point
John Lubbock explores how the restitution of looted historical artefacts is being navigated by cultural institutions around the world
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‘Diversity’: A Smokescreen Not A Solution
As Buckingham Palace conducts a ‘diversity review’, Hardeep Matharu explores how the focus on ‘opportunity’, minority recruitment drives and Boris Johnson’s ‘most diverse’ Cabinet actually sidesteps the issue of tackling systemic racism in Britain today
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Another Country: From Cool Britannia to Nationalist Hubris
Professor Chris Painter wonders how Britain has turned into such a radically different country in the space of a decade
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Anti-Woke Crusade Igniting Threats to Safety and Careers: ‘There’s So Much Hatred Projected at Women in Public Life’, Warns Historian
Hardeep Matharu reports on how the history of the English countryside has turned into a dangerous battleground as various forces try to provoke an uncivil culture war
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Blinding Exceptionalism: The Insidious Attacks on British Democracy Are No Less Dangerous than Trump’s America
Hardeep Matharu explores why the attacks on the rule of law and accountability by Boris Johnson and his Government are not interpreted to be as alarming for the UK as the more overt destruction being waged by Donald Trump in America
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The Despicable History of Imperial Food and Drink Still Casts A Shadow Today
Stephen Colegrave delves into the dark colonial past and historic human cost of the products Brits can’t seem to live without
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The Racist History of South African Cricket Must Be Written Into the Record
Richard Heller and Peter Oborne set out how the past injustice of non-white players being excluded from the country’s Test cricket matches should be re-evaluated in the light of powerful new discussions about the legacy of white supremacy
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Beyond the Lure of Empire: The Door of No Return
Bonnie Greer, a former British Museum trustee, observes the role of African Empires in her own roots and looks beyond possession and subjugation for true post-imperial thinking
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‘You See What People Can Do to Other People, People they Lived Side-By-Side With’: Ending the Silence on Partition and Empire
As discussions of Empire and Britain’s imperial history have come to the forefront in 2020, Hardeep Matharu speaks to BBC journalist and author Kavita Puri to explore what she learnt from those who lived through the end of the colonial project in India about divisions tearing societies apart for her book ‘Partition Voices’
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Britain’s Descent: Supremacy Not Sovereignty was Always the Dark Heart of Brexit
The central myth of Britain leaving the EU reveals the country’s insecure imperial ambitions and unresolved identity crisis, says Hardeep Matharu
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Britain’s Rump Trumpocracy: An Imperial State – Without An Empire
As the US moves away and Brexit crumbles, former Prime Minister John Major has exposed the isolation and colonial nostalgia of Britain, argues Hardeep Matharu
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Imperial Amnesia Strikes Back: ‘Racism in America Nothing to do with Us’
In a debate on the UK’s Black History Month, Kemi Badenoch highlighted the Government’s colonial arrogance by deflecting attention and throwing its ‘special’ ally under the bus
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Imperial Power & Conservative Taboo: ‘Shutting Down Debate on Empire is Britain’s Ultimate Imperial Legacy’
Following the backlash over a ‘wokeist’ National Trust report on the links of historic buildings to colonialism and slavery, Hardeep Matharu speaks to one of its editors about how the predictable response is itself a hangover from the country’s colonial era
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UNCONSCIOUS EMPIRE: Saving ‘Britannia’ and Losing the Plot
Continuing to wage a Steve Bannon-style culture war, Boris Johnson’s Government will do nothing to confront the damaging legacy of our imperial past because its mythologised symbolism is all it has to sell to Brexit Britain, argues Hardeep Matharu
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Did Black Lives Matter to the British Empire in World War Two?
The often overlooked story of the African soldiers who risked their lives and left their families to fight for the British must finally be recognised – as the sacrifice of their white counterparts is
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Australia’s Convict Colony Past Produced the Interview that Wrecked Trump
CJ Werleman explores why the Australian journalist Jonathan Swan was able to sidestep deference and put the American President on the spot as others have been unable to do
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OUR LIVES MATTER: Eurocentrism & the Privilege of Not Having to Care
Airbrushing the crimes of European history fuels the structural racism and conscious apathy we see in modern Britain, argues Khadija Akhi Uddin
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Government Snubs Windrush Group’s Concerns Over Lack of Caribbean History Teaching
The Government’s inaugural Windrush summit led to a dispute over an absence of Caribbean history on the curriculum, reports Sam Bright
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Britain is Back on the Road to the Brexit Cliff-Edge: Is Anyone Even in the Driving Seat?
As the EU’s chief negotiator warns of a ‘no-deal’ crash-out, Jonathan Lis assesses whether the chaos is a villainous plot or pure incompetence
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Another Controversial Historian Uses Darren Grimes’ Platform to Pursue Right-Wing Culture Wars
After the furore over comments by historian David Starkey, Sam Bright reports on a second attempt to rewrite British imperial history in response to the Black Lives Matter movement
