Cleansed in the Waters of Britishness

Tour guides in the Lake District have been ordered not to discuss the area's former links to the Atlantic slave trade, on the grounds that sustainable passenger transport providers have no business educating people. The Windermere Lake Cruises company has edited its guidebook and its recorded commentaries to ensure that boat trips over England's biggest natural lake are not tainted by an excess of historical learning; although it nonetheless remains acceptable to mention drownings, deaths in high-speed boat crashes and, of course, the Nazis. The onset of tact concerning the slave trade occurred in the wake of numerous non-racist complaints, shortly after the de-pedestalling and dunking of Edward Colston's statue in Bristol and the doubtless almost equally reprehensible murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The Lake District has not so far attained any great notoriety as a danger zone for graven images; but one cannot be too careful.