Discussion was a bit Marmite

Sathnam Sanghera in conversation with Gary Younge
Marquee at Phyllis Court
Friday, October 10

SATHNAM Sanghera’s talk was well attended and generally well received. But it was 100 per cent Marmite. There was little scope for thinking that what was said was merely okay — some people would have found it really great and others thoroughly awful.

Sanghera spent years researching his book, Empire World, so it is full of interesting facts and anecdotes about the British Empire.

He is quite hard on the UK Government and, surprisingly, also on the Monarchy. He points out that the UK population was never 100 per cent behind colonialism and that, over the long years of Empire, there were many important voices in this country who spoke out against it.

According to Sanghera, there is still much resentment against the British around the world due to the Empire.

The end of the talk slipped into a discussion of current identity issues in the UK

Sathnam pointed out that some members of audiences to whom he has spoken in the past have been very aggressive towards him and that he has sometimes needed protection.

He said the likelihood of this happening depended on the price of the attendance ticket. He felt that when an audience had to pay more than £5 to attend, the likelihood of an attack on him was lower.

In the event, there was no attack on Sathnam. The talk was well received by the audience, with loud applause.

Dan Remenyi