"Martin James Kettle (born 7 September 1949) is a British journalist and author. The son of two prominent communist activists Arnold Kettle (best remembered as a literary critic, 1916–86) and Margot Kettle (née Gale, 1916–1995), Martin Kettle was educated at Leeds Modern School and Balliol College, Oxford University." - from Wikipedia
“What it is, though, is a reminder that public history is often based on selective myth. The Bristolians who commissioned the statue in the 1890s were part of a Liberal tradition that saw Colston and his like through rose-tinted lenses. They put the slave trade out of their mind. Today we do not. That’s why Colston’s statue went into the dock on Sunday.”
“British history continues to be a political battleground between those who insist that our historic greatness is self-evident and empowering, and those who cannot bring themselves to see much in our history beyond lies about crimes. In public policy, public rituals and public debate the old, island-story narratives of greatness still have the upper hand.”
