You have probably seen something on Twitter or the MSM about the ‘woke scone’ row which insists that a particular version of past history must be preserved. National Trust scones must be made with butter- an animal fat rather than a plant based fat. No matter that National Trust scones have been made with margarine in the past, the myth that they have always been made with butter is now the truth.
Clearly, the fuss has absolutely nothing to do with scones! The vegan scone has been used as a proxy for all things bad in modern life by the right who want to appeal to those who have a nostalgic affection for a rose tinted view of England in the past.
I was grew up at a time when Great Britain was great and always portrayed in a positive way. I was educated to believe that the British (English?) were the rulers of the world, a powerful nation with worthy values, courage and high ethical standards. We were proud to be British. This view was all pervading. I first questioned this was I was 15 and did an exchange with a French girl. I couldn’t understand why she didn’t envy me for being British. I gradually came to understand that the French had a different way of remembering history and that there are different narratives about the same events. Another 6 or 7 years passed and I began to become European as I had more opportunities to travel.
Last year I visited the National Trust property at Penrhyn. I have always had some reservations about visiting great houses because most of them were built on the back of profits from low paid workers in the UK, or the slave trade. I don’t buy the argument that we should judge the past by the standards of that time. Penrhyn is a key example of how wealth derived from slavery shaped the built environment of Wales and underpinned local working histories. The castle at Penrhyn was funded by money from slave labour in sugar plantations in Jamaica and from the local slate quarries. The slate workers were poorly paid and many workers died because of the hazardous conditions. Eventually they went on strike for 3 years in 1900. They were starved into going back to work. Over a hundred years later some local people on principle still refused to visit the great house.
Now the Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales, including Penrhyn Castle, has become the UK’s newest UNESCO World Heritage Site. The National Trust is providing the context to the building of the magnificent property by telling the story and by placing images of those who created the wealth beside those who benefitted from it. The research into a balanced history is ongoing. The community is healing after all this time; the quarry workers’ choir now sings at the Castle.
Which brings us back to scones and polarising row that the National Trust has been drawn into. Should we be proud to be British and proud of our past?
Yes, but not for the reasons that the right want us to be proud. Not for isolationist glory, past wars, past empire or great conquests and the accumulation of wealth.
We should be proud to be British for the great philanthropists of the past who did what they could to counter the prevailing ethos; those who advanced medical treatments and made scientific and engineering advances which benefited the world.
We want to be proud to be British because we are part of a society which is compassionate, welcoming and understands why we need a balanced version of history.
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