67 historians, many of them H&P members, signed a letter to The Times (18 March) on the misuses of history in the AV debate, in response to a previous letter by 29 historians. This inspired Anuksha Asthana, of The Times, to write a new story. OpenDemocracy editor, Daniel MacArthur-Seal, one of the signatories, explains the rationale in a commentary. 'The object of our response,' writes Daniel, 'is to show that history and historians are not one block legion to be commanded by he with the loudest voice. Rather, we wanted to remind people that no-one represents the force that is history, and to take individuals' arguments on their merits, not their allusions to the canon of what Michael Gove sees as our glorious "island story"'.
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