I was recently asked if I was proud to be English. I looked puzzled. "Of course," I said. The person questioning me seemed surprised, even curious. "Why?" they asked, as if the idea of national pride was outdated or shameful. I replied without hesitation: "Because we banned slavery worldwide." That statement landed like a lead balloon. They looked at me as if I had said something outrageous. To them, slavery was something we should be ashamed of, not something to take pride in. But that’s exactly why I’m writing this because the history of Britain’s abolition of slavery, led by the British working class, has been erased or distorted. It wasn’t the elites who led the charge; it was the ordinary people the miners, mill workers, and factory hands who put relentless pressure on the establishment to end the vile trade. And when we did, we didn’t just ban it in Britain; we spent vast amounts of our national wealth and deployed the Royal Navy to enforce abolition across the world. Some scoff at the idea of being proud to be English, pointing to our nation’s role in the transatlantic ...