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Still the bad guys: the British empire after WWII
Despite the shockingly high number of Britons who are proud of the empire, even the BBC’s own recent radio documentary exposes the malevolent reality of British foreign policy, writes IAN SINCLAIR
British soliders training in Oman in 2017

IN the introduction to his first book, The Ambiguities of Power: British Foreign Policy Since 1945, historian Mark Curtis notes two broad approaches are available to those attempting to understand British foreign affairs.

“In the first, one can rely on the mainstream information system, consisting primarily of media and academia,” he explains. This approach frames British foreign policy as “fundamentally benevolent,” promoting grand principles such as peace, democracy and human rights.

No doubt this narrative informed the results of the recent Ipsos MORI poll, which found 34 per cent of Brits believe the British empire is something to be proud of, with just 16 per cent saying it is something to be ashamed of (around 40 per cent think it is something neither to be proud nor ashamed of).

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