Because of the rise in empire nostalgia, knowing the truth about the brutality of empire is important. Our schools don’t teach empire and most Brits know little and what they do know is coloured by ideas of benevolent patriarchy. In view of the interventionist foreign policy of the USA & Britain in the Middle East and Afghanistan and France in Libya we need to keep repeating stories like these told in the M C. If not ‘How will we ever learn?’
I am currently working on an Anglo English novel. It won’t tackle subjects as distressing as this but I hope my characters will reflect the importance of respecting each other’s cultures and being influenced by them. Contact is good. It helps us see the faults in our nation and ourselves as well as the faults in other nations. The world can improve by learning from each other but you can only do that from a stand point of respect for each other.