The Right Dishonourable

Journalists have lately become acutely aware of the narrow slice of life they showcase. Tom Chivers of UnHerd represents the best of this trend, covering a range of statistical bloopers, biases and other media shortcomings. In short, the news is not reality, but a view on it.

Others are less concerned with rigorous accuracy, instead focusing on whether it’s good for their ‘narrative’, as the pseuds say. As a result, this summer we’ve been treated to news reports about “mostly peaceful” riots across the Western world, sometimes accompanied with footage of smashed buildings, or even smashed people.

It’s a standard complaint in the progressive critique of Britain’s collective memory that we are fixated on the Second World War. Schoolchildren know this already; anyone else can step into a bookshop – mask on face – and head to the history section, which covers little else.

This year’s statue toppling was a particularly visual reminder of our contested history, but many of the same arguments were aired during a squabble over the history curriculum in 2013. Michael Gove, then education secretary, had outlined a British-centric timeline of world events, but later recanted under protest.