Over the past few weeks, I have been travelling around the UK speaking to diverse groups about the future of Europe and the prospect of Brexit. Most of these public meetings are fun. Some are truly inspiring but a few are a puzzle. Conway Hall is a famous London landmark, historically a venue of civilised debate on ethical issues. I spoke there on the topic of “the normalisation of lies in public life”. We all tell lies occasionally and we know it is wrong, yet sometimes we do it so as not to cause offence.
“Yes,” we say, “I loved that shirt you gave me for my birthday.” Or: “Yes, your new hairstyle suits you.”
We are also often not truthful when purchasing something online when forced to tick a box showing we have read the terms and conditions. Have you ever read the terms and conditions? Me neither. I cannot ever remember reading thousands of words of T&C legalese.
At the Conway Hall meeting, when talking about lying in public life, I was asked a question by a woman who said she had voted for Brexit in the referendum of 2016. When someone says: “I voted for Brexit”, I always ask which version of Brexit they voted for, since more than three years later, we still cannot agree what Brexit means.
“I voted for a ‘clean Brexit’,” the woman said confidently, explaining that meant “leaving the European Union with no deal on October 31”.
Unfortunately nearly every part of that sentence is impossible.
The words “clean Brexit” only became fashionable after a book of that title was published in August last year - not when we voted two years earlier. Moreover, the words “clean Brexit” have no real meaning, rather like previous Brexit slogans of having deals called “Canada-plus”, “Norway-plus” or “managed no deal”. Once you add in the word “plus” or “managed” to any “deal”, it can mean anything you want it to mean.
The term 'historical negationism' was first coined in 1987 by the French writer Henry Rousso to describe histories of the Nazi occupation and the puppet Vichy government in Second World War France
But the woman could not have voted as she now thinks she did for other reasons too. No deal was never an option on the 2016 Brexit referendum ballot paper. Prominent politicians wanting Brexit – Nigel Farage, Michael Gove and Boris Johnson – explicitly stated that Britain would leave the European Union with a deal and, so they claimed at the time, a very good deal because, as they put it, “we hold all the cards”. Finally – and most obviously – in June 2016, no date was fixed for leaving the EU, so the woman could not possibly have voted to leave on October 31, 2019. That date was only fixed in March this year, and even now it might not happen.
The puzzle is how a decent, articulate human being like this voter could so profoundly delude herself about easily verifiable facts. Perhaps it is a tiny example of a phenomenon known more grandly as “historical negationism”. It means humans give accounts of the past by selectively (and sometimes deliberately) ignoring or denying troublesome facts which undermine their case.
Read More from Gavin Esler
Napoleon Bonaparte once wryly observed that history "is a set of lies agreed upon". On the day I had the discussion in Conway Hall, British newspapers began running extracts of the autobiography of the prime minister who got us into the Brexit mess in the first place, David Cameron. His "factual" account of our recent history did not please either side in the Brexit debate. The Brexit supporting tabloid newspaper The Sun called it "Mills and Boon for Remainers," referring to a particularly soppy kind of fantasy love story. A newspaper in the Remain camp, the Guardian, excoriated Mr Cameron for a self-serving account pretending that the referendum mess for which he was responsible was really a "boon" for Britain if the Leavers' dastardly tactics hadn't stopped him from getting his message across to the great British public. Mr Cameron's account avoids the uncomfortable fact that until he forced a referendum upon us in 2016, membership of the EU was an issue of little concern to the vast majority of the British people, and the vote was largely to appease Eurosceptic elements in his own party, with the expectation that the Remain camp would win. He led a woeful campaign, lost the vote and his job to boot.
The term “historical negationism” was first coined in 1987 by the French writer Henry Rousso to describe histories of the Nazi occupation and the puppet Vichy government in Second World War France. Rousso argued that many of these accounts ignored what the French call “collabos” – French men and women who collaborated with the Nazis and helped enable the deportation of Jewish citizens to the death camps.
The British historian Sir Richard Evans was called to give evidence in another very famous case of wartime historical negationism, that of David Irving. Irving was described as a “Holocaust denier” by the American historian Deborah Lipstadt, and he sued her for libel. Thanks in part to Sir Richard, Lipstadt won the case and Irving has been utterly discredited. Sir Richard argued that “reputable and professional historians do not suppress parts of quotations from documents that go against their own case, but take them into account, and, if necessary, amend their own case accordingly”.
It is difficult enough for historians to agree in drawing objective conclusions about the past, without those who are engaged in creating history right now attempting to rewrite it, even as we are living it
His words should resonate in our political debates of today. It’s not only historians who sometimes fail to “take into account” facts and documents which undermine their own views or prejudices. Politicians sometimes do the same. Tony Blair, otherwise a very successful prime minister, failed to take into account facts which suggested intelligence on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was flawed. Most recently, US President Donald Trump defended his claims that a hurricane was predicted to strike Alabama. When he was corrected by climate experts, he refused to admit he had made a mistake and persisted in sticking to an account that was clearly not true, to the extent of brandishing a map in a White House briefing that had clearly been altered to back up his version. And British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been repeatedly confronted with controversial past statements he has made and responded with his own historical revisionism. He has simply denied he made certain controversial remarks, when television footage clearly shows that is not true.
There will come a time when Britain’s current struggles with leaving the European Union will result in historical essays on Brexit and perhaps a learned book or two. But historians will find it difficult to agree on any set of “lies” or “truths” when they look back over current events in Britain. We cannot agree on “truth” right now. This disagreement about truth and lies, fact and fiction, extends from politicians at the very top of governments to ordinary people. European Union leaders and diplomats, who have given Mr Johnson until the end of the month to come up with a solution, have made clear they do not believe he has a plan for Brexit or is even actively seeking an agreement. Mr Johnson says he is energetically working for a deal with all sorts of inventive plans – although what these might be, we still do not know. Perhaps we will agree the Brexit “truth” or “lies” in the end, but this kind of dispute extends much further.
It is difficult enough for historians to agree in drawing objective conclusions about the past, without those who are engaged in creating history right now attempting to rewrite it, even as we are living it. Their dishonesty is like a virus infecting public life, right down to the woman in Conway Hall who, no doubt, genuinely believed what she was saying, even though it is demonstrably false.
Mr Cameron joins a long line of leaders trying to justify himself for the historical records by attempting to write them himself. Julius Caesar did the same in his self-aggrandising account of military campaigns against the tribes in what is now France, in his eight-tome De Bello Gallico. Winston Churchill wittily suggested that "history will be kind to me, for I intend to write it", then proceeded to do so in more than 40 books and memoirs. His six-volume account of the First World War was sniffily dismissed by former prime minister Arthur Balfour as "Churchill's autobiography disguised as a history of the universe". But even if Churchill and Caesar made some factual errors (as we all do), they at least attempted to offer the truth as they saw it.
Our modern-day quandary is that historical negationism and denial of the past are only part of the problem. The real issue today is that those in positions of power and authority negate the truth about what is happening, right here and right now.
Gavin Esler is a journalist, author and presenter
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The Details
Article 15
Produced by: Carnival Cinemas, Zee Studios
Directed by: Anubhav Sinha
Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Kumud Mishra, Manoj Pahwa, Sayani Gupta, Zeeshan Ayyub
Our rating: 4/5
The fake news generation
288,000 – the number of posts reported as hate speech that were deleted by Facebook globally each month in May and June this year
11% – the number of Americans who said they trusted the news they read on Snapchat as of June 2017, according to Statista. Over a quarter stated that they ‘rarely trusted’ the news they read on social media in general
31% - the number of young people in the US aged between 10 and 18 who said they had shared a news story online in the last six months that they later found out was wrong or inaccurate
63% - percentage of Arab nationals who said they get their news from social media every single day.
The biog
Prefers vegetables and fish to meat and would choose salad over pizza
Walks daily as part of regular exercise routine
France is her favourite country to visit
Has written books and manuals on women’s education, first aid and health for the family
Family: Husband, three sons and a daughter
Fathiya Nadhari's instructions to her children was to give back to the country
The children worked as young volunteers in social, education and health campaigns
Her motto is to never stop working for the country
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
Price: From Dh180,000 (estimate)
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged and supercharged in-line four-cylinder
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 320hp @ 5,700rpm
Torque: 400Nm @ 2,200rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 9.7L / 100km
The specs: 2018 Renault Megane
Price, base / as tested Dh52,900 / Dh59,200
Engine 1.6L in-line four-cylinder
Transmission Continuously variable transmission
Power 115hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque 156Nm @ 4,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 6.6L / 100km
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
If you go
Flight connections to Ulaanbaatar are available through a variety of hubs, including Seoul and Beijing, with airlines including Mongolian Airlines and Korean Air. While some nationalities, such as Americans, don’t need a tourist visa for Mongolia, others, including UAE citizens, can obtain a visa on arrival, while others including UK citizens, need to obtain a visa in advance. Contact the Mongolian Embassy in the UAE for more information.
Nomadic Road offers expedition-style trips to Mongolia in January and August, and other destinations during most other months. Its nine-day August 2020 Mongolia trip will cost from $5,250 per person based on two sharing, including airport transfers, two nights’ hotel accommodation in Ulaanbaatar, vehicle rental, fuel, third party vehicle liability insurance, the services of a guide and support team, accommodation, food and entrance fees; nomadicroad.com
A fully guided three-day, two-night itinerary at Three Camel Lodge costs from $2,420 per person based on two sharing, including airport transfers, accommodation, meals and excursions including the Yol Valley and Flaming Cliffs. A return internal flight from Ulaanbaatar to Dalanzadgad costs $300 per person and the flight takes 90 minutes each way; threecamellodge.com
My Country: A Syrian Memoir
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Slow loris biog
From: Lonely Loris is a Sunda slow loris, one of nine species of the animal native to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore
Status: Critically endangered, and listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list due to growing demand in the global exotic pet trade. It is one of the most popular primate species found at Indonesian pet markets
Likes: Sleeping, which they do for up to 18 hours a day. When they are awake, they like to eat fruit, insects, small birds and reptiles and some types of vegetation
Dislikes: Sunlight. Being a nocturnal animal, the slow loris wakes around sunset and is active throughout the night
Superpowers: His dangerous elbows. The slow loris’s doe eyes may make it look cute, but it is also deadly. The only known venomous primate, it hisses and clasps its paws and can produce a venom from its elbow that can cause anaphylactic shock and even death in humans
Retail gloom
Online grocer Ocado revealed retail sales fell 5.7 per cen in its first quarter as customers switched back to pre-pandemic shopping patterns.
It was a tough comparison from a year earlier, when the UK was in lockdown, but on a two-year basis its retail division, a joint venture with Marks&Spencer, rose 31.7 per cent over the quarter.
The group added that a 15 per cent drop in customer basket size offset an 11.6. per cent rise in the number of customer transactions.
UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
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Brighton 1
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Tottenham 1
Kane (48)
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