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The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Imperial Hangover: Dr SAMIR PURI on the legacy of Empire

The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Podmasters

News, Government, Politics, Society & Culture

4.61K Ratings

🗓️ 29 September 2020

⏱️ 28 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Although it’s over 50 years since most colonies achieved their independence from Britain, on these shores we still seem to living in the shadows of the Empire. Dr SAMIR PURI, author of ’The Great Imperial Hangover: How Empires Have Shaped the World’ talks to Arthur Snell about why Britain is so obsessed with its imperial past, what the ‘Anglosphere’ is, and whether the EU is the modern day empire. "For all the talk of globalisation, it's what we inherit from our immediate past that still has the greatest traction in setting us in motion." "Arguing for and against the benefits of empire is a circle that cannot be squared" "The imperial age is over, but its influence hangs over us, and sometimes threatens to darken our future" Presented by Arthur Snell. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producer Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

My name is Stan. I'm at. Nice to meet you. So you took up photography where? I've always loved

0:05.5

photography but I turn it into earning a living at 60. I enrolled on a day course.

0:11.8

Well college. I loved going to college. It's good you can retry. I'm enrolled on the day course. But college?

0:13.0

I loved going to college.

0:14.0

It's good you can retrain and do something.

0:16.0

Yeah, yeah.

0:17.0

Let's talk about working, learning, saving and making the most of living longer.

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0:32.0

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0:36.7

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0:55.3

look after theirs with dental life. Pick up dental life in the pet food aisle. Hello and welcome to the bunker I'm Arthur Snell. It used to be said that the sun never sets on the British Empire.

1:16.0

Its territories were so vast that it was always daytime somewhere in a British colony.

1:22.0

For anyone living in Britain in 2020 that sometimes feels true

1:26.1

although in a different way. Although it's now more than 50 years since most colonies

1:30.7

achieved their independence from Britain we still seem to be obsessed with the empire.

1:35.7

Just look at the utterly dispiriting row over whether people might sing the words to

1:40.5

rule Britannia at the last night of the proms or the fact that in 2012, which isn't that long ago,

1:47.6

the government decided to reintroduce something called the British Empire Medal,

1:55.5

as if that would be a meaningful way of recognizing somebody's achievements. So why is this? Why are we living in the shadows of Empire? To help us understand this,

2:01.9

I'm delighted to have Dr. Samir Puri here with us today.

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