Peaky Blinders has been remarkably effective at making normal people believe that Britain in the 1920s was incredibly corrupt and violent.
It is far better propaganda than any government sloganeering or fiddling with the national curriculum, because it is actually entertaining.
There are now Peaky tours and experiences, Peaky restaurants and even Peaky weddings.
Not since the Krays has organised crime been so popular, and whoever thought flatcaps would come back so hard and fast?
The reality is very different. The Britain of 1920, while materially poor, war-ravaged, and full of ideological strife, was remarkably staid and safe compared even to today. It may even have been one of the safest societies ever to have existed.
This is consistently true across all types of crime, including violent crime.
Britain today is, in fact, a pretty violent country not only compared to its past self, but even compared to its continental neighbours.
By the 1990's, Britain even had roughly double the amount of "street crime" as the US.
There were roughly 65 times as many violent crimes per police constable in 2015 (6.55) than in 1951 (0.1). It is little wonder they do not solve many of them anymore.
One fact that Peaky Blinder amusingly does get right is the easy availability of weapons. There were virtually no gun laws in Britain until the Firearms Act of 1920, while our police, of course, have always been unarmed.
This state of affairs, of a virtually crime-free country in which anyone might carry a gun but the police, should really astonish any remotely thoughtful person.
Whole university departments should be devoted to its study, and yet, all we have are the Peaky Fooking Blinders.
Portraying the past accurately is very difficult, and easy to do badly, often more through laziness than spite.
Peaky Britain is certainly sexed up for our entertainment. It would hardly be fun to watch otherwise, would it?
But it is not real, and while you should enjoy your Peaky Diner and your flat cap, you should not let your view of the past be coloured by this stuff.
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