The empire's dead and gone, and good riddance. One thing that should not be tolerated is the sort of revisionist claptrap that seems all the rage these days as 'Empire' is more and more frequently conflated with 'England'.

Accepting the role of all the home nations in the empire is the best way of making peace with the unpalatable actions of those in charge at the time. Rhodes should stay precisely where he is because of his unpleasant views, so everyone who glances up at him on their way to class might consider how to avoid being in the least bit like him. Erasing him from memory dooms us to forget, and there are still plenty of apologists for empire out there.


"the squalor and abuse suffered by millions in Northern towns during her reign"

Northern victimhood - yawn. Members of my family lived in the rookery of St Giles and the slums of Shoreditch, some dying in the workhouse there (it still stands). They were forcibly removed during the 1890's to Tottenham where my great-grandmother was born a couple of years later; I remember her well. No part of these islands have escaped the oppression of the empire on those least able to fight it; namely the poor. Our ancestors fought the battles of the rich, suffered in their factories and served on them hand and foot, tending their animals stables better than most houses of the time and in the posh dining rooms of the elite across these islands.

Incedently, a Bangladeshi friend of mine thought that the empire was for more of force for good then evil on the sub-continent. He cites the fact education was brought to his area of the country, the legal and administrative systems founded and these are still held as cherished institutions by him and his countryfolk. So there's two sides to every story.