English identity?

[Andy_Faber]

It was the Scotch colonialists that asset stripped India maybe?

The Scottish were the most thorough asset strippers of all, regrettably the assets were their own

[ramAnag]

I think you’ve hit on something that makes us English. The tendency to beat ourselves up or allow others to beat us up about something that transpires to be less our responsibility than thought or not solely our responsibility

Is that it then? The English…a nation of apologists?

Seriously though…the perspective of history does shift. Steering clear of Colston, Rhodes and company, I was brought up, via sixties primary school, to think of Christopher Columbus as a brave and heroic figure. Turns out he was anything but…a real nasty piece of work and possibly not the best of navigators either.

[Geoff Parkstone]

Sorry to disillusion you rA but Christopher Columbus wasn't English, not even the filmmaker version

[Geoff Parkstone]

Why steer clear of Colston, Rhodes etc? What happened happened. You may disapprove but it was the methodology of the time. Vlad the impaler don't impress me much in terms of technique but denial is in many ways as bad as facing it head on.

I went to school courtesy of a Wills family (another well known Brizzle slaver) scholarship, We played (and almost always lost) to Colston School at most sports.

As a nation we do carry a sense of guilt about "our glorious past" - both the past and this guilt do define Englishness in equal measure although that balance is shifting as wokeness comes to the fore

[ramAnag]

Why steer clear of Colston, Rhodes etc? What happened happened. You may disapprove but it was the methodology of the time. Vlad the impaler don't impress me much in terms of technique but denial is in many ways as bad as facing it head on.

I went to school courtesy of a Wills family (another well known Brizzle slaver) scholarship, We played (and almost always lost) to Colston School at most sports.

As a nation we do carry a sense of guilt about "our glorious past" - both the past and this guilt do define Englishness in equal measure although that balance is shifting as wokeness comes to the fore

That was my point, GP. I was ‘steering clear’ of Colston and Rhodes in order to avoid being accused of being anti-English and chose probably the most famous of ‘discoverer-navigators’, albeit a ‘foreigner’, to show that history isn’t displaying nationalistic bias.

How are you feeling. Have you ‘escaped’ yet?

[Geoff Parkstone]

No I'll be here a few more days yet. I'm feeling ok just waiting for antibiotics to complete their job and an MRI

[Andy_Faber]

Is that it then? The English…a nation of apologists?

Seriously though…the perspective of history does shift. Steering clear of Colston, Rhodes and company, I was brought up, via sixties primary school, to think of Christopher Columbus as a brave and heroic figure. Turns out he was anything but…a real nasty piece of work and possibly not the best of navigators either.

Apologists isn’t quite the right word but yes that’s the right ballpark