We live in a time when history is constantly being debated or reinterpreted. Russian President Vladimir Putin wrote an essay “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians” in 2021, and then invaded the neighbouring state that he believes is not a “real country” in February in order to bring it to heel. Attitudes towards the British Empire have changed completely during my lifetime – from a general feeling among the UK establishment and centre right that the ruddy-cheeked colonialists had mostly been well-intentioned good chaps, to horror at the misdeeds perpetrated in their imperial majesties’ names. After books by Shashi Tharoor and William Dalrymple, for instance, only the bravest of contrarians would attempt to make a positive case for British rule over the Indian subcontinent.
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