Alan Lester

@alanlester.bsky.social

20K followers 8.7K following 3.2K posts

British Empire Professor, University of Sussex. Co-editor, MUP Studies in Imperialism series. Views here own.
Blogs on politics of colonial history here: https://alanlester.co.uk Editor https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/the-truth-about-empire/ .. more

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Alan Lester is a British historical geographer and author who has worked for Sussex University since 2000. He was appointed Professor of Historical Geography in 2006. He is known for his research on imperial networks, colonial humanitarianism and imperial governance. .. more

Political science 40%

Sociology 34%

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Alan Lester @alanlester.bsky.social · Apr 30

The podcast of David Olusoga and I discussing Empire & the rewriting of history:

howtoacademy.com/podcasts/dav...

HOW TO PODCAST | David Olusoga & Alan Lester - The Truth About the British Empire

David Olusoga and Alan Lester reveal the dark realities of the British Empire, and reflect on the importance of historians amid the resurgence of nationalism and misinformation.

howtoacademy.com

Alan Lester @alanlester.bsky.social · 12h

Trying to correct some myth is about reparations Radio 5 Live, (from around 0.7.40)

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Radio 5 Live - Listen Live - BBC Sounds

Listen live to Radio 5 Live on BBC Sounds

www.bbc.co.uk

Alan Lester @alanlester.bsky.social · 13h

Yes thanks Alan

Alan Lester @alanlester.bsky.social · 13h

4/4 This “mistake” has been pointed out to those who made it, & it’s made no difference. The figure keeps turning up, aired most recently here:

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/11...

www.telegraph.co.uk

Alan Lester @alanlester.bsky.social · 13h

3/4 … estimated opportunity costs of abolition - what the authors guessed Britons would have continued to make from slavery in the future. The real figure for suppression of slavery is just the first row - 0.05% of GDP.

Alan Lester @alanlester.bsky.social · 13h

2/4 This is the figure’s source. Anti-reparative activists took the total figure at the bottom of 1.7% of GDP & rounded it up to 2. But that includes the compensation paid to slave owners (not the enslaved), and …

Alan Lester @alanlester.bsky.social · 13h

1/4 With reparations in the news again, the assertion that Britain spent 2% of its GDP & half its naval budget suppressing slavery is being repeated again. IT’S NOT TRUE. I initially corrected the “mistake” here, yet it’s part of anti-reparative folklore:

alanlester.co.uk/blog/the-wes...

alanlester.co.uk

Alan Lester @alanlester.bsky.social · 1d

Prof Robert Beckford persuasive on reparations this morning, from about 38.00:

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Sunday - Patrick Stewart; US Midterms, Reparations Apology - BBC Sounds

Emily Buchanan takes a look at the ethical and religious issues of the week.

www.bbc.co.uk

Alan Lester @alanlester.bsky.social · 1d

2/2 in favour of dismantling the extractive mechanisms that continue to inhibit independent colonised peoples’ room for manoeuvre (The Wretched of the Earth). And it’s this kind of future-oriented reparative action that underpins most of CARICOM’s agenda.

www.newstatesman.com/thestaggers/...

The left case against slavery reparations

Black Britain should not be chained to the scars of the past.

www.newstatesman.com

Alan Lester @alanlester.bsky.social · 1d

1/2 @kenanmalik characteristically thought provoking on reparations. He’s quite right that, in Black Skins, White Masks, Fanon warned against reparations simply as a tool with which to rebuild Black identities damaged by colonialism. But Fanon also wrote …

observer.co.uk/news/opinion...

Slavery reparations won’t solve the class struggles facin...

On his Caribbean tour, King Charles will discuss the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade, but its complexity often leads to the wrong questions

observer.co.uk

Alan Lester @alanlester.bsky.social · 1d

In this marvellous essay Priya Satia applies the lessons of EP Thompson to AI: new technology can be harnessed for the greater good but it takes determined community mobilisation against rapacious investors & fir a moral economy to rein it in.

foreignpolicy.com/2026/10/30/a...