Comedian Al Murray is holding forth about the importance of the British Empire in people’s morning routines. “There are people who get up in the morning and brush their teeth and are annoyed that the British Empire doesn't exist,” he tells me over Zoom. “And then there are people who get up in the morning and brush the teeth and delighted the British Empire doesn't exist.”
Where does he fall? As with most things historical, he doesn’t take sides. “I call myself a culture war conchie, you know: a conscientious objector.” Just as conscientious objectors used to end up carrying stretchers on the battlefield, “I rather feel like we need a few people prepared to do that, rather than take sides: perhaps carry the bodies off.”
