Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.It’s often said that we live in unprecedented times. But as the historian Simon Schama notes in his latest BBC documentary, what we might consider as the burning issues of today’s Britain “have their origins decades ago”. From polarising discourse about national and individual identity, to culture wars and violent protests, there’s nothing new under the sun. A three-part series, Simon Schama’s Story of Us looks back at the events and debates that have shaped and defined British society since 1945: the year in which a new, modern nation emerged from the devastation of the second world war, and Schama himself was born.In the span of his lifetime, Britain has been moulded and remoulded by social and sexual revolutions, secularisation and globalisation, a collapsing empire and boom in migration. Yet more than this flux and upheaval, what Schama is really interested in are the ideas that have endured and the divisions, disillusionments and existential doubts that have never fully dissipated. In doing so, he challenges both nostalgics who claim things were better in the past, and those who believe their progressive values and struggles are unique to the present.As a cultural historian, Schama builds his story through reference to artistic achievements that reflect the ideals, moods and conflicts of their day and continue to reverberate. Among the works explored are the class-conscious novels of Alan Sillitoe and Ian Fleming’s yearningly imperialist James Bond books; The Specials’ anti-racist ska anthems and the feminist pop art of Pauline Boty.Many of the works that Schama focuses on are not only those that say something about Britain, but ones that shaped his worldview or resonated with his own experiences as a British-born son of Jewish immigrants. His often touching observations are complemented by contributions from cultural figures including Jarvis Cocker, Ali Smith, Cliff Richard and Hanif Kureishi — although the procession of famous faces does slightly undermine the inclusivity implied by the show’s title.While Schama’s storytelling is as engaging and erudite as ever, the documentary feels more like a sequence of interesting snapshots and anecdotes than a cohesive history. Viewed as a “story of us” or as a portrait of postwar Britain, then, the series can feel a little too narrowly focused. But as a love letter to “the bottomless creativity of our culture”, it is unstinting and frequently inspiring.★★★☆☆BBC2, January 8, 9pm and BBC iPlayer. New episodes weekly
