Lessons from history that inspire and unite

EXPLOSIONS of outrage break out from time to time about the paucity of knowledge of British history possessed by the youth of today.

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They come, generally, from politicians to the right of centre who fear 'lefty' teachers and a flawed national curriculum are contributing to a damaging lack of understanding about what makes Britain great. Often they tell us more about the politician than the state of history teaching in our schools and colleges.

But Shadow Lord Chancellor Robert Jenrick's discovery, from a poll he commissioned, that almost two out of three Britons under 40 had no idea what the Battle of Britain was, is more worthy of closer examination than many similar findings.

With Battle of Britain Day on Monday this week - September 15 - falling just a couple of days after up to 150,000 people attended a Unite the Kingdom Rally in central London, the results of the survey bring into sharp focus questions about nationhood and the way the British population views its past.

There is a powerful argument to say that one of the things that binds a people together is a sense of its shared history. World War II - which ended 80 years ago this year - is one of those world-defining events that should give all of us living in the United Kingdom a sense of who we are, what we believe in and what defines us.

So the fact that, as Mr Jenrick reports, a child can attend 12 years of school in Britain and not once learn how Britain - with the support of others - prevailed over the Nazis ought, at the very least, to be a matter for reflection and concern.