Thread by @pmdfoster

So. Two pieces on the culture wars to read this weekend. One about the man behind them Dougie Smith via @ShippersUnbound and one by @alexebarker and me for @FinancialTimes ancialtimes on what it’s like being on the receiving end. /1

First the profile of Dougie Smith, the culture warrior who has culture Sec @OliverDowden “on a string” and puppeteers ministers — cf Dacre to Ofcom, Williamson on Queen pic, etc. Part of a Uni club “even Norman Tebbit thought too right wing”!!/3

thetimes.co.uk/article/8f8587…

Then this FT Weekend Front which take a long (and balanced) look at how this is playing out in the 'rebalancing' of boards of museum trustees as the govt, backed by Tory-leaning press, relentlessly and openly wages the culture war/3

ft.com/content/7c9c06…

We meet @cath_fletcher the Manchester history don who was applied to be a museum trustee but found herself being grilled on her views on statues (she guesses because a facetious tweet she sent out during the Colston statue saga) /4

@cath_fletcher And @corinne_fowler the Leic Uni historian who co-wrote the National Trust report on the slavery links with the NT's historic property portfolio...and found herself in War on Woke crosshairs /5

@cath_fletcher @corinne_fowler Also @MercyMuroki the self-professed culture warrior, and rising media star soon to be on @GBNEWS who was appointed to the board of Museum of the Home...and who argues it's the Left that does just as much of the 'piling on'... /6

@cath_fletcher @corinne_fowler @MercyMuroki @GBNEWS This was a fascinating piece to write, not least because I learned how the ructions of the legacy of slavery have their origins/foundation in a massive body of academic work, built on mining government compensation records to slave owners/7

@cath_fletcher @corinne_fowler @MercyMuroki @GBNEWS And that great repository of knowledge is why academics like Margo Finn believe, for all the hollering, efforts to suppress deeper understanding of the legacies of slavery and colonialism ultimately won't work /8

@cath_fletcher @corinne_fowler @MercyMuroki @GBNEWS Couple of other quick points on this notion of 'contested history' -- first as one trustee points out to me, this is a very *English* phenomenon....it's not what is happening in Scotland or Wales/9

@cath_fletcher @corinne_fowler @MercyMuroki @GBNEWS So whilst 'explain and retain' might work for some objects, in others it doesn't...like the statue of Thomas Picton in Cardiff City hall that was taken down. Who is Picton? He's a hero of the Battle of Waterloo...but also the torturer of 13 year old girls/10

@cath_fletcher @corinne_fowler @MercyMuroki @GBNEWS You can read about the Picton case below...it raises two key points. 1) there are some thing that should obviously NOT be retained 2) this kind of conduct caused outrage AT THE TIME. Picton went on trial in 1806 at the King's Bench and was convicted/11

blog.library.wales/hidden-histori…

@cath_fletcher @corinne_fowler @MercyMuroki @GBNEWS So that lazy argument you often here about some colonial 'heroes', that they must be judged by the mores of their day...well, that overlooks the widespread anger/rejection at the excesses of colonialism that occurred at the time. /12

Worth reading Sathnam Sanghera @Sathnam very good (and concise) book on this subject. I just finished it.

Good weekend all. ENDS