Unionist | Jotup

Too often learning 'British history' means learning 'English history' – but overburdened schoolteachers are not to blame

Retrieved on:

Thursday, September 28, 2023

What passes for “British history” is, all too often, merely the history of England with bits of the histories of Scotland, Wales and Ireland tacked on when they affected events in England.

Key Points:

What passes for “British history” is, all too often, merely the history of England with bits of the histories of Scotland, Wales and Ireland tacked on when they affected events in England.
“You wouldn’t say it if you were in Belfast.” It only takes a short stroll through Belfast to see why.
The events of 1690 are still a sensitive topic in Northern Ireland, but they’re largely unknown in the rest of the UK.

School constraints

It is quite normal for any country’s educational system to give priority to its national history.
This has remained central to government thinking ever since the introduction of the national curriculum at the end of the 1980s.
Teachers in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have long tried to balance the history of these nations with that of England.
But for teachers in England, the problem is compounded precisely because England dwarfs the other nations in size and population.

The role of broadcasters

The Northern Ireland Brexit Protocol and the continuing saga of demands for Scottish independence remind us that these histories should not be of interest only to nerds: we all need to know them.
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Grayson Perry: exploring what it is to be human with humour, irreverence and excess

Retrieved on:

Thursday, August 10, 2023

Smash Hits, the new Grayson Perry retrospective at Edinburgh’s National Galleries, spans the 40-year career of the recently knighted artist.

Key Points:

Smash Hits, the new Grayson Perry retrospective at Edinburgh’s National Galleries, spans the 40-year career of the recently knighted artist.
This makes a satisfying contrast with the highly polished style of his vases and the intricacy of his prints and tapestries.
Access to adult education, arts funding and affordable housing – some of the conditions that helped make Perry – have all been eroded.

Sympathetic heretic

His brand of self-mocking “iconclasm” is on parade in the print Map of Nowhere (2008).
This depicts Perry “as a God … A heavenly light shines out of my anus onto a mountaintop shrine”.
These lie at the heart of his work and are named in his discussion of his transformation through therapy.
It was about me putting on the clothes that gave me the feelings that I wanted.

Made in Britain

Another is the embroidery Britain is Best (2014) which depicts five men crammed on one horse, based on interviews with Unionists in Northern Ireland for his television series Who are You?.
“They seem to be holding out for an imagined Golden Age,” Perry muses.
Imagination, depicted as a river in Perry’s wonderful A Map of Days (2013) uproots oppressive states, inner and outer.
But to understand how the many might join him and thrive, rather than merely survive, we must look beyond the maps that Perry provides.

US Army Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas' journey from enslaver to Union officer to civil rights defender

Retrieved on:

Thursday, June 1, 2023

Are white Southerners condemned to think of themselves as the bad guys, the ones who were willing to destroy the Union to preserve slavery?

Key Points:

Are white Southerners condemned to think of themselves as the bad guys, the ones who were willing to destroy the Union to preserve slavery?
As an adult, I read more widely about the Civil War and became fascinated with Union Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas, who grew up in Virginia but joined the Union army.
Hundreds of thousands of African American Southerners supported the Union by escaping slavery and serving in the Union army.
George H. Thomas, known to history as “the Rock of Chickamauga,” is the most prominent of them.
When the Civil War broke out, nearly all the Southern career officers left the U.S. Army to serve in the Confederacy.

Led African American troops

At Nashville, Thomas commanded thousands of African American troops.
His colleagues in the military later recalled that Thomas viewed African American troops as inferior soldiers, not suited to offensive operations, and he relegated them to a part of his line that he thought would see no fighting.
Touring the battlefield after his victory, Thomas saw the African American dead piled in heaps before the Confederate fortifications.
The Negro will fight.” The sacrifices of African American soldiers at Nashville and elsewhere were a heroic and tragic act, with meaning and significance that went far beyond their effect on the opinion of a single person.

Enslaver turned civil rights defender

There he protected newly freed Blacks from racist local officials and the Ku Klux Klan.
Here, my biography traced new ground, drawing upon military records in the National Archives to discover Thomas’ role.
Once a racist enslaver, he distinguished himself after the war in his active protection and promotion of the rights of formerly enslaved persons.
In my view, as the military assesses new names for bases formerly named after Confederate generals, Thomas’ name deserves consideration.

LORD ASHCROFT POLLS : NORTHERN IRELAND VOTERS LEAN TOWARDS REPLACING MONARCHY, CORONATION POLL FINDS

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, May 3, 2023

(Voters in England would keep the monarchy by 57% to 22%, Wales by 54% to 23%, and Scotland by 46% to 32%).

Key Points:

(Voters in England would keep the monarchy by 57% to 22%, Wales by 54% to 23%, and Scotland by 46% to 32%).
59% of Northern Ireland voters said they had a positive view of Princess Anne, making her the most popular royal in the Province.
68% of Northern Ireland voters said they thought the King and the royal family cared a lot about the country.
Northern Ireland voters were divided as to whether the royal family (47%) or elected politicians (53%) did a better job of connecting with ordinary people.

Ulster and the Union: New Northern Ireland Polling From Lord Ashcroft

LONDON, Dec. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Northern Ireland would vote to stay in the UK in a referendum tomorrow but most believe a border poll in 10 years' time would result in a united Ireland, according to new polling from Lord Ashcroft.

Key Points:

LONDON, Dec. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Northern Ireland would vote to stay in the UK in a referendum tomorrow but most believe a border poll in 10 years' time would result in a united Ireland, according to new polling from Lord Ashcroft.
His latest report, Ulster and the Union: the view from the North is published today.
The research includes a survey of over 3,000 Northern Ireland voters together with focus groups throughout the province.
At the same time, only 52% of all voters thought the Irish government in Dublin would like to see unification between Northern Ireland and the Republic.