If I were forced to proffer a view on what to do about controversial colonial statues, I would back a suggestion from Robert Winder – that we establish an annual, Spanish-style festival where we pelt the statues we most dislike with tomatoes. It would be fun, therapeutic, educational, those participating wouldn’t stand accused of ‘deleting history’, and we could invest more serious intellectual energy into these bigger issues and into navigating the vicious culture war that has more recently developed around the topic of empire.
