Take kids’ books. I used to love Roald Dahl’s stories.
I know Fantastic Mr Fox by heart, Matilda is one of my favourite books.
My party trick used to be naming all the giants out of The BFG in alphabetical order.
But then it was pointed out to me the creator of Willy Wonka was not just anti-semitic – he was incredibly, proudly anti-semitic. So what can you do?
I still have those books but I can’t call myself a Roald Dahl fan any more.
They’re tucked away now, still a part of my life but a problem.
All of history is like that. Selective. If I asked you how your day had been, you wouldn’t – hopefully – tell me everything that had gone on.
You wouldn’t start with, “Well, I woke up at 7am, brushed my teeth, boiled an egg, thought about buying some new pyjamas…”
You’d pick out the bits you thought were important, leave some bits out, condense things. You’d edit it.
It’s impossible to produce a totally comprehensive history. No one could write it, no one would read it.
You tell a story with just the bits you think are important or interesting. Same with proper history.
Choices are made reflecting conscious or unconscious bias. The books that are published, TV shows that are made, the museums that are opened, what’s taught in schools, and – yeah – the statues that are put up.
As I write this they’ve just put a box round Winston Churchill and there are threats to throw Baden-Powell into the sea. Now I knew a bit about Churchill’s less appealing views, I didn’t know about Baden-Powell and Hitler Youth.
I did know about Churchill’s help in defeating fascism and for the other fella teaching generations of kids to tie knots and hate camping.
Should they be torn down? I don’t think so. Like many people I’m uneasy with mobs of any political persuasion or otherwise. But I like us talking about taking them down. Or talking about not taking them down. Or talking about why they were put up in the first place.
The Prime Minister has just weighed in on this: “We cannot now try to edit or censor our past. We cannot pretend to have a different history. The statues in our cities and towns were put up by previous generations.”
They were. But times have changed. It’s time to make room for different statues. Different people reflecting the country we are now. Think of it like redecorating. It is time to spruce the old place up. Get rid of some out-of-date stuff and put up new pictures.
Mr Johnson has to act properly here. Gestures are one thing but there are long-term structural problems that finally need to be addressed. Political parties and businesses proudly announcing hastily arranged “diversity programmes” have a decades of damage to undo. Gestures won’t cut it.
BAME people have been, and still are, unfairly treated in education, the criminal justice system, in police custody, employment and across the economy as a whole. We all have to act to change things.
Finally, I’m busy this weekend, so let me pre-empt a few emails I’ll get.
Yes, All Lives Matter. Agreed. But we have to face the truth: For too long some lives have not mattered as much.
Boris hasn't helped
It is all very well Boris Johnson urging us all to shop till we drop to rescue the British economy.
Too many will have seen their household finances fall off a cliff. For many it will be a struggle to put food on the table, let alone splash out at the post-lockdown sales.
The PM’s message after the biggest-ever crash wiped out a fifth of the economy was characteristically simple.
Britain will “bounce back”. As long as we all do our bit – and go shopping.
Getting out of a crash that makes the Great Depression of the 1930s look like a minor blip just isn’t going to be that easy.
There needs to be a better plan. Any plan.
Boris hasn’t helped. The Government’s wrong-headed, dithering and confusing decision-making deepened the economic damage. It will make coming out of it harder.
Mr Johnson makes his first public outing since the lockdown next week. To a High Street. To show us the way.
He hopes to tap into the yearning of all of those trapped indoors for weeks.
But only just over a third of shoppers would feel safe, says the Office of National Statistics. A fifth say they’ll never visit a clothes shop again.
As the shops open tomorrow, the virus is still with us and the rules on social mixing are now so muddled it is impossible to know what is safe.
The burden should be shared more fairly.
If we really ARE all in it together, the PM should ensure the rich and companies such as Amazon pay their fair share of the taxes they craftily avoid.
The public deserves to know the truth
The big coronavirus news this week was that going into lockdown earlier would have halved the number of deaths.
Prof Neil Ferguson, whose advice was crucial for the “stay at home” measures, said the outbreak had been doubling in size every three or four days before measures were taken. Shocking, really. But financial reports show why Boris was so keen to keep us all at work.
GDP falling 20 per cent is just the first marker in the unfolding economic nightmare.
A full independent inquiry will be held later this year, but two things are obvious. First, this has been a balancing act between the physical health of the nation and its monetary well-being.
Second, there is no way the Government has “followed the science” all the way through.
The public deserve to know the truth.
Leeds United fans
How Leeds United fans have become gentrified, exhibit number 1,098.
A friend rang as the new away kit was leaked online.
“Have you seen it?” he said, “It’s a work of art. The most beautiful thing ever made.”
It’s nice, I agreed. I might get one.
“I’m definitely getting one,” he said, “And it’s vertical stripes, so it’s slimming.” Good grief.