14 January 2022 The Guardian Weekly49
that frames the Colston statue incident – and indeed all
arguments about British history – is spun broadly around
the clash of two schools of thought. One, an innocent,
stoic, impartial one, not invested in any particular
ideological narrative, and another that is aggressive and
politically motivated. In this world of neutral arbiters
and wild vandals, we are led to believe that Colston was
toppled by people who have no respect for dialogue, or
interest in peaceful resolution.
The truth is that the protesters were motivated
by frustration. All the peaceful avenues had been
exhausted, because those who kept Colston up were
pugnaciously committed to the elevation of a statue
of a slave trader, rather than considering what he
represents in a modern Britain that is as delusional about
the moral integrity of its colonial heroes as it is about the
health of its race and ethnic relations.
It is a trick that is constantly played by those who
view British history as an objective and inoff ensive
series of facts that must be preserved for the record,
rather than a living legacy of supremacy, both racial and
national, that many are still invested in, and that resides
in the UK’s streets and squares , politics, education and
economy. Most crucially when it comes to Colston’s
statue, it resides in government.
There is no better example of how quickly history
is rewritten to suit the establishment than the
aftermath of the Black Lives Matter protests in the
summer of 2020. What seemed like a moment of
profound change was quickly miscast as a marker in
the sand for what happens when
demands for racial equality are
taken too far, when they become
violent, militant and vandalistic. In
that framing, there can be no place
for the reality that Colston’s name was already being
expunged from Bristol’s public spaces, a process that
was citizen-campaign-led, consensual and consultative.
There had been frequent rows dragging in historians,
schoolchildren, councillors, the mayor and Bristol’s
Society of Merchant Venturers – the guild and body that
is accused of creating Bristol’s “ cult of Colston”. And yet
the council says it never considered removing the statue
despite “ signifi cant community concerns ”.
If those who are so critical of the toppling of Colston
were really interested in forging a state of community
cohesion, they would acknowledge the moral sins that
built Britain’s wealth and empire – past cruelties that still
reverberate across social mobility, life expectancy and
job prospects. Instead, they fan the fl ames of a hysterical
moral panic that claims the toppling of Colston was
about destroying historical fact, rather than being a
victory for that truth they work so hard to deny.
Britain will only move forward when the organs of
government, from Downing Street to local councils
to education boards, resolve to take people’s
demands seriously. Otherwise the state, which has
now been unmasked as a partisan mediator through
its intransigence in Bristol, loses all legitimacy and
therefore control. That really would be, as Conservative
MPs describe it, a licence to vandalise •
I
f the Tory party could be
summed up in a word,
it would be power. The
Conservatives have
dominated the 19th, 20th and- so far – 21st centuries. Their
most successful leaders have
anticipated the national mood
and shaped their party to profi t
from it. For example, Boris
Johnson on Brexit.
But there is a fundamental
disagreement at the heart of
the Tory party as to what the
UK economy outside the EU
should look like. This question
urgently needs an answer.
In the next six months
Britain will almost certainly
face a cost-of-living crisis. High
infl ation may go even higher.
Mr Johnson is in denial while
people go cold and hungry
in their homes. Prices are
driven up by global cartels
such as Opec or gas producers
such as Russia. However,
the price at which electricity
and gas are supplied could
be capped and a windfall
tax on energy companies
used to reimburse suppliers.
State intervention could help
households – but ministers say
this would be at the expense
of Britain’s “reputation as a
hub of international capital
and investment”.
The government could also
insulate homes or redesign the
electricity market so that gas
no longer sets the price. Yet
nothing is done as the prime
minister is hemmed in by
a growing anti-green bloc of
backbench ers determined to
stop a net zero transformation
of the economy.
When the pandemic
started , the competition
watchdog asked ministers for
price-gouging powers. Instead
of being able to eff ectively
penalise off enders, the
regulator has had to rely mostly
on the limited competition
and consumer laws. Many
companies are putting up
prices because they can.
Banks, housebuilders and oil
companies have all reported
bumper profi ts while many
voters have sunk into debt.
Britain is experiencing not
an unemployment crisis but
a participation crisis. There are
a million fewer workers than
there would have been had the
previous trend of more people
entering the labour market
continued. Some of that is
down to Brexit, but mostly
workers, especially low-paid
ones, are dropping out because
of inadequate transport or
a lack of aff ordable childcare.
Mr Johnson seems incapable
of resolving the tensions
that he created to win the
last election so convincingly.
He seems uninterested that
people can’t aff ord the basics
in life. A decade of Tory rule
has reduced the infrastructure
of people’s lives so that it can
barely support them. Instead of
solutions, Britain has to endure
the pin-striped populism
of Jacob Rees-Mogg , who
disguises his agenda of keeping
wealth untaxed with a call to
bestow a tax cut on workers.
Equalising capital gains
with income tax would be
a tax increase that would not
contribute to a cost-of-living
crisis. But no one in cabinet
would agitate for that.
Mr Johnson sold voters on
the idea that he was going to
create a high-wage economy
using the market’s ability to
root out ineffi ciency. But he
has not delivered. Meanwhile
the UK is lurching from crisis to
crisis with no plan •While Johnson’s Tories
squabble, British people
are going cold and hungry
Founded 1821 Independently owned by the Scott Trust Nesrine Malik
is a Guardian
columnist