Speaking out: David Olusoga, historian and broadcaster, at the Hay Festival in 2018
(Picture: Getty Images)EDWARD COLSTON’s statue being dumped in the Bristol harbour was the defining moment of anti-racism protests in 2020, but a historian has suggested if it had been located in the City of London, the statue would never have come down.
“Had Edward Colston been memorialised in the city where he worked rather than the city where he was born it’s difficult to imagine his statue… would not still be standing today,” historian and broadcaster David Olusoga said.
Olusoga, author of Black and British, took aim at the City and the Square Mile for their failures to reckon with their past links to slavery and the slave trade.
Delivering the 35th World Traders Tacitus Lecture in the Guildhall, Olusoga pointed out statues of Sir John Cass and William Beckford were “with us tonight”. Both men made fortunes from slavery.
The statues, Olusoga said, “have in the phrase promoted by politicians been ‘retained and explained’”. Caroline Kordai Addy of the City of London later interjected to point out that City had tried to remove the statues but were “boxed in by national government and English Heritage” and had to make do with explanatory plaques. A reckoning still to come?
Faulks: Us oldies don’t need awards
SEBASTIAN FAULKS is a fan of new literary prizes — but only for some. The author and chair of the Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year award joked to guests last night that gongs were good for the young but “I don’t really think old 60-year-olds need another prize or… another shortlist, it just makes them all bitter and competitive”. Writer Cal Flyn won for her book Islands of Abandonment. She told us a trick of the trade: “A lot of writing books is one foot after another.” Persistence.
Is Jet TV’s success storm in a teacup?
BIG JET TV briefly captivated the nation with its commentary and footage of planes landing at Heathrow in Storm Eunice’s high winds, but other broadcasters don’t feel threatened. We bumped into commentator Paula London this week and asked her about the channel. London, who often appears on GB News, told us “GB News is clearly going from strength to strength”, and explained: “I thoroughly enjoyed watching Big Jet TV too but storm Eunice will clearly only happen once.” In a technical sense, she’s not wrong.
‘Time to let women be as inept as men’
AUTHOR Kathy Lette is upbeat about the new “female-centred” Australian version of The Office. “It’s still sadly rare to see a female boss, or a female lead role in TV,” the Aussie-Brit writer tells us. “So what joy to see a woman in the role of David Brent, or Davina Brent really — bullying, bragging, belittling… but getting away with it. It’s time women are allowed to behave just as badly as blokes.” She continued: “A woman’s work is never done — not by men, anyway, especially in the office.” And true equality will arrive when women “can be as inept as men… and get promoted for it”. Goals.
Oscar hopefuls have all the answers
STARS Kodi Smit-McPhee and Benedict Cumberbatch popped up at the Ham Yard Hotel in Soho for a Q&A about their hotly Oscar-tipped film The Power of the Dog last night. Elsewhere Londoners partied. In Covent Garden, presenter Hayley Palmer and model Summer Monteys-Fullam attended the 1989 Clubhouse launch, while presenters Vick Hope and Nicki Shields were at the GQ Car Awards at The Berkeley Hotel.
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DON’T believe the hype about Boris Johnson’s failures to pay attention. Tory peer Lord Moylan is to hand. He offers this helpful, if revealing, assessment. “He’s perfectly capable,” Lord Moylan explained to the Left Whingers podcast, “of doing detail on things he’s interested in.” Accidentally damning with faint praise.
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RACHEL MACLEAN tells us she made an exception to her rule of the last three years of only buying “clothes second-hand from eBay or charity shops” for the outfit, above, she wore in the Commons this week. Was it for fashion week? No, the Safeguarding Minister replied, “I just like bright colours”
