[rosetremiere]

One thing I am slightly wary about after listening to quite a few episodes is Melvyn Braggs seems to be a bit too patriotic oftentimes. It's nothing really obvious, but you hear a lot of "we" when talking about positive aspects of english history, and a lot of focus on all english innovations compared to other countries. Maybe I'm wrong though.

[petesergeant]

Seems pretty reasonable for a national broadcaster, no? Also British encompasses more than just the English, unless you specifically mean he’s excluding the other Home Nations…

[rosetremiere]

Sorry, I didn't mean English more than British (the distinction being a bit too subtle for me to make). It's "par for the course" I guess for a national broadcaster, but:

* That doesn't mean it's not less than ideal.

* It's something one might want to bear in mind, when listening, since it might introduce some kind of a bias to the whole thing (maybe the other comment about number of episodes about european vs african history is a good argument in that direction)

[mellosouls]

Wrt bias it's actually a refreshing change for some of us to hear the voice of a traditional (old-school) leftist, as they tend to be more interested in actual social problems rather than the made-up ones that infest modern discourse, and - perhaps - shift the centre so much that plain common-sense is now perceived as "bias".

[DC-3]

I am also an english patriot so that doesn't bother me.

[gadders]

He's a Labour peer in the House of Lords. They're not known as a group for rampant patriotism.

My criticism of him his how much he struggles with anything of a maths or scientific nature.

[rosetremiere]

Good to know, it might be me putting such thought in his mouth then!