The historian talks about the attacks on history taking place across the world, both in totalitarian states and in democracies as stable (or once as stable) as the USA and the UK. The idea that history exists to perpetuate national myths – and spread what President Trump called ‘patriotic education’ – is a feature of culture wars in the UK and elsewhere. He discusses how statues have become the lightning rods for these new history wars.

David Olusoga is a British historian, writer, broadcaster, presenter and Bafta-winning film-maker.