David Starkey versus Michael Wood: Popular History for Today

Television history, and history more generally, tells us as much about the time in which we live, as about the period and events under consideration. Nowhere is this tendency more pronounced than in the former, where the tyranny of the present is expressed in the retro-projection of current political themes and obsessions in accordance with the tastes and prejudices of commissioning editors. Whereas the printed word affords the opportunity for historians to give expression to a wide range of opinions and perspectives, the compass of views deemed to be acceptable on the small screen is somewhat more constrained. What viewers are presented with therefore, is a distorted impression of historical consensus: the dominance of presentism.

This week witnessed the concluding episodes of two television history series: David Starkey’s ‘The Churchills’, and Michael Wood’s ‘The Great British Story: a People’s History’. Stylistically and attitudinally, as would be expected from two popular historians of divergent preoccupations and characters, the series were quite distinct, both in terms of their style, and in their subject matter: Starkey focused upon key elite figures who helped to fashion the modern world, whereas Wood took a bottom-up slant in line with the Asa Briggs approach to popular history. Whilst Starkey did seek to emphasise connections between the past and the present, albeit in the form of two pasts intersecting in the life and writings of Winston Churchill, it was Wood who rounded off his series with a direct and heavily politicised summation of our history with specific reference to the present and its realities. Whereas Starkey sought to draw lessons from the past, Wood was happy for the past to yield to the present, and to selectively distort the former to propagate the official myth that we are “a nation of immigrants”.

Starkey and Wood are of the same post-war generation, the two men being born in 1945 and 1948 respectively, with Starkey’s specialism lying in the Tudor period and Wood’s in the Dark Ages. However, whereas Starkey excelled at Cambridge, obtained his doctorate and has enjoyed a career encompassing stints at his alma mater, the LSE and now as a visiting professor at the University of Kent, Wood failed to complete his doctoral research at Oxford, turning instead to journalism before going on to make a number of popular history programmes for television. Whereas both – as well as Simon Schama, born in 1945 – came of age in the 1960s, their reactions to the cultural revolution initiated in that decade – specifically to its insistence upon the transcendence of the nation-state and of national identities rooted in descent and continuity – have been quite different. Starkey clearly bemoans the negative effects that this attitude and attendant policies have brought in their train, whereas Wood perceives them as positive and something to be “celebrated”.

Wood’s Vision: Multiple Identities as the Norm

It was telling that in his introduction to the last instalment of his series, even Wood was compelled to acknowledge that in the decades immediately preceding World War I “Together at work and play, the British knew who they were.” Moreover, he conceded: “It was working class patriotism that made the volunteer armies in the first total war.” Thus, despite what was to follow, Wood had conceded that British identity during this period was not problematic, for we did not have to examine who we were, for we knew. Today, those of us who lost members of our families, those “working class” volunteers who fell in Flanders fields and on the Somme, still know who we are. For us, our identities are not “problematic”.

Wood charted our decline which set in with the profligate waste of human and material resources in the First World War, followed by the failure of our industries to keep pace with the innovations of emergent competitors in the interwar period, the Great Depression, the devastation of World War II, and thence onwards to the post-war evisceration of our industrial economy with the decimation of shipbuilding, textiles, mining and steel, leaving Britain as the “first post-industrial nation”. Accompanying these changes was a radical reshaping of the country’s – specifically of England’s (although this was not mentioned) – demography brought about by mass immigration from the Commonwealth. He mentioned the Commonwealth Conference of 1947 which shaped the British Nationality Act of 1948, a piece of legislation that redefined what it was to be a British citizen, being in his words “ecumenical, cosmopolitan and liberal . . . an astounding vision of the future.” 

Wood claimed that without the half a million immigrants from the Caribbean and Africa “a war battered economy would have ground to a halt” owing to a “chronic labour shortage.” This influx was stimulated by slogans such as “Your mother country needs you”, and Wood fell back upon making spurious historical comparisons between post-war immigration and earlier and far smaller migratory waves including those of Huguenots, Flemings and Jews. The name of Enoch Powell was invoked to provide the presenter with an opportunity to underscore his multiculturalist credentials by denouncing the deceased statesman as having made “inflammatory” and “inconsidered” remarks about immigration. He did not stop to consider whether or not they had been correct. Starkey would have done.

Whilst Wood celebrated the rise of immigrant “communities” and the re-emergence of distinctive Scottish, Welsh and Cornish identities, about the English he remained silent, preferring instead to refer to regional identities. Wood, the Englishman, does not appear to be at ease with Englishness, thus conforming to the stereotype of the national self-loathing exhibited by a certain type of English intellectual. For Wood, the transformation of Moss Side into Somali, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and other ethnic enclaves was a reason to beam and to make reference to the culinary enrichment that such a presence brought in its train. However, he somehow managed to omit any reference to misogyny, honour crimes, forced marriages and paedophile grooming from his considerations. Wood sees only what he wishes to see, and whereas he grew up in Moss Side, he no longer lives there. If it is so wonderful, why not?

Wood appears to be ignorant of much recent historical and genetic research, and thus feels free to make reference to the Welsh as “the original British”, thus somehow implying that the English are interlopers – just another set of tribal immigrants amongst the many who now inhabit England. For Wood, it is mass immigration that makes our times “so dynamic and so interesting” leading to what he terms “another radical reshaping of our identities” in which “our destinies are inextricably bound together”. Thereafter, he dreamily wafted off into the credits, preceded by a collection of people from around the country declaring what they saw themselves to be.

Starkey’s Vision: a rudderless Nation

The focus of Starkey’s series was quite different to Wood’s, dealing as it did with two specific historical figures and their associated roles in history. It was however, also about the role of the writing of history in the shaping of history; the belief that Winston Churchill’s historiographical endeavours enabled him to better comprehend the situation in which he found himself, and to act in a manner that would extricate the nation from peril.

John Churchill would have made a fascinating subject for a series of his own, but presumably Starkey correctly adjudged that this would have rather less viewer appeal than the name of his illustrious and rather better known distant descendant. The device of coupling the lives of the two Churchills was therefore an interesting one, providing as it did a means of acquainting viewers with the War of the Spanish Succession and the 1^st Duke of Marlborough, subjects that they may otherwise have ignored.

Starkey’s history was therefore the stuff of high politics and geopolitics, an elite history from the top-down, that whilst suggesting links between different historical figures and periods, also understood each individual and period in their own terms. Although it was a series that valued the past for its own sake, in the concluding section of the final episode Starkey addressed his thoughts to the present, noting the central defining role of Churchill in national and international politics from the 1940s to the collapse of the Soviet Bloc in 1989:

He had given a shape to how we see the world. In 1989 it finished. And we haven’t got anything else. There has been no other Churchill. We really don’t know what we’re doing. We grope. And we’ll continue to grope until, if, another one arises.

In these words, the sense that he was damning our current crop of politicians was palpable. Starkey, unlike conformist popular historians such as Wood and Schama, is willing to make pronouncements on political issues of the day that are critical of official dogma, as exemplified in his remarks on the racial and cultural composition of the 2011 rioters and the role of culture from the sub-continent in the Rochdale paedophile grooming case. Starkey, unlike Wood, does not celebrate the demise of our nation or subscribe to its recasting as a multicultural “nation of immigrants”, and that his voice is still allowed to be heard on Channel 4 does credit to the broadcaster. Can anyone imagine the BBC commissioning a series from Starkey?   

Michael Wood: celebrating our national decline

David Starkey: searching for a new Churchill

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Sympathy for the Devil: the BBC's love affair with the 2011 rioters

Regular readers will know that extensive coverage of last summer's riots was provided on this blog as events unfolded, and the intervening months have done little, if anything, to change my opinion that they represented an outburst of opportunistic criminality. Although the motivations of each individual rioter may have differed to some degree, the decision to engage in violent disorder was embedded in a fundamental disconnection from the rest of society, an impulse nurtured by the knowledge that sections of the diversity-compliant mass media would look upon the rioters with indulgence. Who, after all, would be so callous as to view these poor benighted creatures, these 'victims' of a cruel capitalist system and social exclusion, and pronounce guilt upon them?

Those who attacked the police, who set light to properties, destroyed businesses and livelihoods certainly do deserve our attention, and our understanding; they deserve to be recognised as adults imbued with free will; to be recognised as arsonists, life-threatening criminals, thieves and agents of general destruction. What is to be gained, after all, from burning down your own neighbourhood? We are lucky that the rain intervened and brought the riots to an end, for without this, rather sterner measures may have been required to bring the situation under control. The police had an unenviable task.

A great contributory factor to the riots, as mentioned above, was a sense of disconnection from the rest of society. From whence did this spring? Yesterday's census statistics provide a clue, for we now possess a large, rootless resident population that originates from outside of our country, indeed, from outside of our continent, which thus literally possesses no bonds with the rest of society, for it belongs elsewhere and cares not for our welfare. Not all involved in the riots were of such alien extraction and descent of course, but the latter were greatly overrepresented amongst the body of the rioters, which is why the likes of the BBC, The Guardian and the LSE were happy to collaborate on a cri de coeur on behalf of the rioters: The Riots: in their own Words, the first part of which was to be screened tonight. The broadcasting of this programme however, states The Daily Telegraph, has been prevented by a court order.

In a way, it is a pity that this two-part documentary has been cancelled, for although it would have provided an apologist version of events from the criminal perspective, it would have highlighted the exceptional bias in the BBC's editorial position. Given the identities of the collaborating parties in this enterprise, it can be guaranteed that these programmes would have been larded with allegations of 'racism', that naturally would have been deployed to intensify the 'victim' status of the criminals. The documentary is said to be based upon interviews with 270 people involved in the riots, few of whom, presumably with the exception of a few police, were in the eyes of the BBC guilty of anything. For some strange reason, there seems to be something in the BBC's DNA that predisposes it towards sympathy not so much for the underdog, but, metaphorically speaking,for the Devil.

An interesting Year

It cannot be denied that it’s been an interesting year politically and economically. Indeed, it’s also been rather revelatory astronomically, given that the Kepler Space Telescope has discovered distant alien worlds of a similar size to Earth, with it only being a matter of time before somewhere is found of the right dimensions and composition orbiting its parent star at the correct distance for life to potentially thrive. Who knows, they may find somewhere even more pleasant than Peckham. I hope so.

Unfortunately, interesting times in politics and economics are rarely comfortable ones, and it could well prove to be the case that 2012 will be as interesting if not more so than 2011. As the year is drawing to a close, the time has come to take my annual festive break and enjoy good company, food and drink: the true meaning of Christmas. The time away from the keyboard will also hopefully remove the threat of developing carpal tunnel syndrome, at least for the time being. Thursday’s Solstice will soon be upon us, swiftly followed by Christmas and the New Year (all good excuses for celebration), so before leaving you with a contemporary (well, when I say “contemporary” I mean 1970s) pagan Christmas carol, perhaps you might appreciate some of the following amongst this year’s articles that you may have missed.

Mediaeval Mummers

 

What do you think may have been the topic that attracted the most interest from this blog’s readers in 2011? The August riots? The EDL leadership announcing its support of the British Freedom Party? The Emma West affair? Well, popular as these topics proved to be, it was actually a piece that dwelt upon what is the most perennial pressing concern about which the British obsess (no, it’s neither the economy nor sex). Can you guess what it is? Why, the weather of course! As of today the piece UK Winter Forecast 2011-2012: Blowing Hot and Cold had attracted an astonishing 4,147 page views. Now, regular readers will know that I wouldn’t simply write something about weather forecasting without looking at some of the wider political issues that it raises, so if you should be one of the few who has not cast your eye over it, you may wish to do so (unless you’re not British of course, in which case you may be baffled as to why this may be of any interest whatsoever).

On a more humorous note, some strange creatures have been spotted in northern England over the past year, one of which was captured on camera in Blackburn. The other, sighted in Shepley near Huddersfield, proved to be even more mysterious, and may represent a contemporary manifestation of something that has roots stretching back many hundreds of years.

The ethno-demographic changes in our society are well documented and proceeding at a startling speed, prompting some unexpected well-known voices to comment upon their sense of alienation from what contemporary England, particularly London, has become. Bradford witnessed a particularly unpleasant incident relating to this very phenomenon in September. Events further afield have had and will have consequences for our country, and yet despite the evidence of social and economic tensions caused by the mass immigration of culturally incompatible peoples, our Government and the EU are intent upon more of the same. In the long run therefore, the Arab Spring could well presage a European Winter, insofar as the continent’s peoples could be demographically overwhelmed by those from the predominantly Islamic Euromed countries. Islamisation of course, is not something unique to the member nations of the EU, but alas is also affecting other countries such as Russia, where in September this year parts of central Moscow were brought to a standstill by tens of thousands of Muslims praying in the streets.

Well, I do not wish to end on a negative note, and therefore wish all readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and for those who prefer their midwinter celebrations to possess some rather older pre-Christian roots, I include the following song by Jethro Tull: Ring out Solstice Bells. Blogging will resume in early January 2012.  

David Starkey’s Observations on the Riots

Some excellent observations by historian David Starkey on the nature of the recent riots to sweep a number of England’s cities: the corrosive impact of “black culture” and its adoption by wiggas. The interview below was initially screened on BBC2's Newsnight.

Are the Riots over?

Following the unprecedented orgy of violence which was initially unleashed on Saturday evening, it would appear that last night there was very little unrest on the streets of the cities of England. Beefed up policing and public calls for rioters to be dealt with harshly, together with a general sense of shock and disgust, probably combined to bring about this halt to the disorder. Many of the perpetrators of the unrest are likely to be fatigued, and in Manchester and Liverpool, the rain must have deterred many from venturing out to cause mayhem. The question that everyone will be asking today is: are the riots over, or are we witnessing a temporary lull? We shall know soon enough.

Innocent lives have been lost; businesses, homes and livelihoods have been destroyed, and most of us are left with a distinct sense of unease. What does this destructive outburst say about the state of Britain, more specifically England, today? That is a question to which I will suggest some answers this evening, and they do not chime with the frankly nauseating attempt to make party-political capital out of the riots displayed by Harriet Harman on Newsnight yesterday. This violence was not about ‘Tory cuts’, but something far deeper and altogether more serious and worrying.

Below are two videos. The first relates to a tragic incident in Birmingham, in which a car was deliberately driven at a group of men, killing three of them. The father of one of the deceased speaks of his loss and calls for calm. One can only express sympathy for him and his family, as well as for the relatives and friends of the other young men who lost their lives. The second video displays a reporter steadfastly attempting to persuade a man to alter his story to fit with her ideological preconceptions. This attitude on the part of the reporter is alas, mainstream, for journalists have to subscribe to the NUJ code on the reporting of ‘minority’ racial and religious issues which demands systematic distortion of the truth if it does not accord with dogma.

EDL Vigilantes in Eltham Videos

The EDL have responded to the riots and looting by calling upon members in some locations to prepare to defend their neighbourhoods, homes and families. This elicited a good response in Eltham, where about 50 members of the EDL came down to help the locals nip any trouble in the bud. With local non-EDL, their total numbers came to somewhere between 200 (according to the Daily Telegraph) and 500 (according to the Casuals United blog). The Daily Telegraph report on the joint EDL and local attempt to defend Eltham was not framed in a complementary manner, and neither was it accurate, describing the EDL as a 'political party' which anyone who has heard of the EDL knows that it is not, as well as 'far right', which is a straightforward baseless slur upon the good name of the movement. The movement should be congratulated in taking the initiative to help English communities to defend themselves at a time when the police find themselves overstretched and unable to respond to every call for assistance.

Vigilante groups have sprung up elsewhere in London, with another instance of English vigilantism being in Enfield where 350-400 people turned out on Tuesday night to keep rioters and looters out. Another notable new instance of this phenomenon was in Southall, where Sikh men gathered to defend their gurdwara. All of these instances follow on from the formation of 'local protection units' by Turkish and Kurdish shopkeepers in the Wood Green area of London over the weekend following an overspill of the initial violence from Tottenham. 

The first of the videos below shows EDL vigilantes on the streets of Eltham looking to ensure that the looters don't trash their community. The second video is from the Daily Telegraph and features an interview with the EDL's south-east regional organiser, Jack England. Unfortunately, this video demonstrates that the Metropolitan Police seem to have fallen for the smears about the EDL and sent a significant number of officers to kettle the EDL and other local residents who had come out to defend their neighbourhood. This is a great pity, as obviously these desperately-needed police resources should have been deployed elsewhere in the capital where they were needed.

Riots hit Manchester

A fourth night of riots witnesses the first significant disorder in Manchester, which so far as can be gleaned from current reports, is following the opportunistic pattern of wanton vandalism and attempted looting witnessed in many other urban locations. Channel 4 News reports that Miss Selfridges on Market Street in Manchester city centre has been set alight and the police are advising people to stay out of the area. Let’s hope that this act of arson so early in the evening does not presage a turbulent night to come. This district was of course regenerated in the wake of a massive IRA bomb planted in Corporation Street in 1996, and it would be tragic if the people of Manchester should once again be compelled to pick up the pieces following another destructive act aimed at the heart of their city. 

The Daily Mirror also reports that several hundred riot police have clashed with hooded 'youths' in Piccadilly Gardens. Other reports state that arsonists have hit a community centre in Salford and that there have been 'skirmishes' between police and approximately 20 'youths', and the Metro claims that rioters have been attempting to break into the Arndale Centre and smashing shop windows across the city centre. A later update from the Mirror claimed that up to 2,000 'thugs' had taken to the streets of Manchester, which by any reckoning is a disturbingly high number. Shops ransacked included Bang and Olufsen, Diesel and High and Mighty.

The Daily Telegraph remarks upon the tender age of a number of those involved, with some as young as 9, 10 and 11 taken to the streets with scarves drawn across their faces or wearing balaclavas. These children, it claims, have been used by organised crimincal gangs as lookouts during their looting spree. 


The video below features a BBC report on events in the city this evening. 

Leeds City Centre braced for Unrest

Riot police are out in force this evening in Leeds city centre in the hope that any prospective violence can be nipped in the bud. Within the past couple of hours, police are reported as having dispersed 40 or so hooded ‘youths’ in City Square. With it being sunny and fine, the forces of law and order must be hoping for heavy rain (which surely can’t be that far away in an English summer!).