The Big Ben Bong for Brexit Appeal continues to demonstrate how divided we still are about our place in the world. Personally I would toll the bell for 24 hours to mourn our leaving the EU. The bullying by the USA and China and the other big blocks has already started as stand-alone UK, with its international begging bowl, tries to get the best deals it can. But us Remainers lost the argument and let’s get on with life and make things as good as they can be in our new circumstances.

History will no doubt judge which side of the argument was right and which wrong, or maybe not.  For our view of history is itself coloured by our attitudes to nationhood.  Do we have a positive view of our nation’s contribution to the world? After all, we are the nation which stood up to Fascism, fought to outlaw slavery and has championed the rule of law around the world. We are still one of the most tolerant and enlightened nations on the planet.  Or is our view generally negative?  We might have helped to abolish the slave trade but we were the nation that promoted it and built an Empire on the back of it. It was us that exploited communities around the world bringing their riches back to the UK. It was upon these plundered assets that we built our economy and wealth. Moreover those who are negative, worry that our tolerant attitude to diversity and inclusion is under threat as never before.

So how do we deal with this historical background? I am sure that we should celebrate our successes as a Nation which are many and substantial.  We have given our legal system and our notion that governments too are under the rule of law to the world at large.  Our Parliamentary Democracy under pins this and we have many institutions we can be proud of including the NHS. On the other hand we also need to be aware of parts of our history that are less savoury. There are many battles over Hong Kong and the legacy which our rule for 100 years brought about; but we need to remember the Territorial Lease itself was granted as a result of a victory to control the opium trade.

So it is with slavery. Whilst I am very proud of my own City of Liverpool, we need to remember that its wealth and prominence owe much to the slave trade. Evidence of this is not just contained in the excellent exhibition in the Maritime Museum here on the Albert Dock (which is well worth a visit) but in the very names of Liverpool Streets. At the time of the expansion of the city in the 17th and early 18th Centuries, Slave traders were among the City’s most prominent citizens. No surprise then that some of our most famous streets bear their names.

 Last week the City Council unanimously back a resolution that it should publicly acknowledge its links to slavery by publicising the history relating to key City road names such as Rodney St, Parr Street, Earle Road and Penny Lane. New plaques located in these streets will tell the role that the person whose names the street bears played in the salve trade and how it contributed to the building of the City itself.

The City formally apologised for its role in the Slave Trade in 1999 but since then, little else has been done to acknowledge the history or tell the stories. Laurence Westgaph is an academic and Television Presenter who has researched the history of the City from a Black perspective. He has welcomed the move by the Council.  But as he says, lack of action and acknowledgement of the history of slavery and also the positive contribution of its black citizens has been somewhat lacking in the past.  Perhaps at last this acknowledgment of its more murky history will begin to change all that.  We can only hope so.