Nigel Biggar: ‘You cannot sensibly deny’ the Empire achieved good things | Quite right!

Michael Gove is joined by the theologian, Church of England priest and Conservative peer Nigel Biggar to discuss Our Islands’ Story, his new history of Britain co-written with Robert Tombs.

Nigel reflects on the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, which first convinced him that a distorted story of Britain was fuelling a political cause, before turning to empire, slavery and the Christians who led the fight to abolish it. Why do so many in Britain’s elite actively want the negative story to be true – and why does an A-level history student not know when the Civil War happened?

They also discuss free speech in universities, the debates on assisted dying and abortion in the Lords, and the ‘zealots’ Nigel sees on the Labour benches. And looking to the future, Nigel argues that Britain would be better as a more Christian country, and that liberal culture may need more religion than it thinks.

Produced by Henry Lloyd and Oscar Edmondson

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