Alan Cumming has handed back his OBE. Not the first to hand back such awards over protests of some form of course but I think he has a point regarding the present day "toxicity" of the word Empire and it's connotations. Surely such awards could be renamed by now?

My youngest is currently studying the British Empire at A level and it is obvious that there are a lot of controversies around this subject at the moment. Just hacks me off with all the over-woke stuff that can be directed at it and the selectiveness of this approach. There may indeed be a danger of more right wing defences using its forum but sites like History Reclaimed are valuable in addressing this bias and offering a more balanced view. Those who argue that the industrial revolution and the British Empire were based purely on the wealth generated from the Slave Trade are missing a lot of more complex issues and they also conveniently forget that once Britain abolished slavery it spent quite a lot of money and effort in trying to eradicate it across its colonies and particularly in Africa. This cannot , of course, excuse the country of its long involvement in the trade itself, but surely it is also important to acknowledge and not ignore?

Was/is the concept of empire and colonialism wrong? Absolutely. Were there any advantages gained by those countries colonized? Limited but, whilst not politically correct, yes. Maybe Monty Python had it right all those years ago in Life of Brian when the Liberation Front debated "what have the Romans ever done for us?"😁