Scottish history

I've been watching neo-Nazis attacking the police in London today. Hundreds of them. Spitting, throwing bottles and fireworks and giving Nazi salutes (something that is illegal in Germany). Some wearing football colours. Not that I even begin to understand the mindset that equates neo-Nazism with football. 

Apparently, they went to London to defend the statue of Winston Churchill from anti-racism activists. The Black Lives Matter people had already called off their planned demo, but that didn't stop the far right or a small group of young people claiming to represent Black Lives Matter. The fact that Boris Johnson tweeted 8 times about the 'national hero Winston Churchill' - but not once about Black Lives Matter - may not have given extremists the encouragement they needed but what are the odds? These thugs are said to have been joined by 'far-left protestors' but I can't find out who they were - if they existed.

But neo-Nazis, statues and even Boris Johnson are not of any interest to me. The media will exploit the hell out of all that in the name of selling newspapers and attracting viewers. 

Let's talk about the suggestion I saw today that Glasgow needs an anti-slavery museum and it should be in the Egyptian Halls. This, I have to say, is about the worst idea I've come across in a while. 

I've been to a lot of museums in my time. Some good, like Bayeux, and some absolutely dreadful.   

Years ago, I visited the so-called Museum of Africa in a leafy suburb of Brussels. This is where King Leopold kept the loot he had stolen from the Congo, where his troops committed  genocide for years. He even had a zoo, filled with Congolese people, that visitors could come and 'pet'. I was stunned into silence in this 'museum' and not at all surprised to find there were only a half-dozen visitors in what was a palatial mansion. It was good to hear that the Belgian government later came up with a new idea, and the re-configured museum now focusses on the experience of the people of the Congo.  

Shoving some statues of Tobacco Lords and famous men who exploited slaves into the Egyptian Halls runs the same risks as that of the original Museum of Africa: that of glorifying slavery and acting as a magnet that attracts racists. 

Instead, I'm going to suggest something much more radical. This is not new but it's been resisted for years. 

Let's go through all the museums in Scotland, read the inscriptions on artifacts, pictures and statues and re-label them so that they tell the real history of Scotland. Let's have a look at what curators instruct volunteers who work in the museums to tell visitors and make sure the information for visitors is historically correct. 

We could even have a commission charged with deciding if the choice of exhibits in our museums reflects the real Scotland - for example, tells the truth about the life of the rural and industrial poor down the centuries. 

This might - probably would - result in a less colonialist - British, if you like - view of Scotland. One that would include the Tobacco Lords but only as a part of our history. 

But no statues. Please.