New history lessons for us from Simon Schama

Although he’s resided in New York since 2014 Auntie obviously feels he has his finger still sufficiently on the pulse of modern Britain to helm a three-part series ‘The History of Now’ which started on Sunday. I shan’t be watching since Simon Schama’s views on contemporary events just don’t ring true for me. Others may also recall his bust-up with Rod Liddle on Question Time about the refugee crisis:



This is the one where Schama used the S-word in berating Liddle for his views on immigration and refugees. His stunning hypocrisy and that of others of his ilk was neatly skewered by Douglas Murray in the Spectator:

“…In that use of ‘suburban’ Schama showed something a lot of us had suspected – which is that for a certain type of globe-trotting international celebrity, any concern for borders, national identity and cultural continuity are not just beneath them, but actively ‘common’. Of course, like so many other advocates of mass immigration, Simon Schama can probably live pretty much where he wants. And if the area around him goes somewhat downhill because the neighbours all start to come from the rougher corners of Eritrea then Simon Schama can move. And he will probably move to a very nice area. But of course not everybody has that choice. And one thing we can all be certain of is that Simon Schama will probably never choose to live in Bradford, Malmo or any of the (dare I say it) ‘suburbs’ outside Paris. Yet all the time he will urge other peoples’ neighbourhoods to more closely resemble those great success stories, and look down at people from an ever-loftier height when they dare to object.”

Douglas came very close to using the term ‘rootless cosmopolitan’ in referring to Schama's worldview but wisely drew back from the brink (or was edited for his own safety).