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Colonisation. Empire. British History - are the things we never learned holding us back?
Our first episode of 2021 welcomes the author and broadcaster Sathnam Sanghera. With the recent release of his new book, Empireland: How Modern Britain is Shaped by its Imperial Past, we look to Sathnam to help us understand how the things we aren’t taught about Britain are holding us back from a more inclusive future.
Sathnam talks unapologetically about our right to criticise the country we live in order to learn, accept and progress, and how to reach this point, our education systems must make radical changes to the way they approach British history.
We also discuss the perceptions of Britain from the outside, which aren’t as starry-eyed as they used to be. With major shifts in prosperity, Sathnam points out that - although it may come as a shock - people in India are not obsessed with the UK. A past notion which we are yet to shake.
Building on this, we discuss the right-wing’s war on wokeness, the role of business in picking up where government fails and how criticism of language can distract from what actually matters. Plus a lot more which it just wouldn’t be fair to condense into one paragraph.
Throughout the episode, Sathnam shows why an inclusive Britain can only be built by uncovering the multicultural foundations which are already there. We just haven’t been taught about it yet.
The Speakeasier is available on all podcast platforms.
Pick up a copy of Empireland: How Modern Britain is Shaped by its Imperial Past through your local bookstore.
You can also keep up with the conversation by following Sathnam on Twitter @Sathnam and Instagram @sathnamsanghera.
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