I was amused with corres-pondence (May 16) regarding the George Cross and it made me wonder who is obsessed most with this medal placed on the flag at the request of George VI in 1943, which was the same year that Outlines of Maltese History was first published by the colonial government for use in Maltese schools.

Both actions seem to have followed in the tradition of the instructions that Lord Bathurst had given to the first governor of Malta to “advance in the condition and information of the people and of identifying their affection and interests with the British connection with every method”.

It is no coincidence that, prior to World War II, the British governor, Charles Bonham-Carter, while outlining how to make “Malta completely British”, had advised British officers arriving on the island to make amends to the past and “repair the evil which our predecessors in Malta have wrought”.

When one reads authoritative literature dealing with colonialism one would be naïve not to realise that all colonial acts are ultimately political.

The issue of a growing number of former colonial citizens worldwide who are healthily debating their past is not to erase or change history but to address the symbolic public space in respect of national identity, as is the case of New Zealand’s referendum, scheduled for next year, on whether to swap the Union Jack on their flag for the silver fern.

While such topics would certainly fall within the realm of narrative history, which one often reads in commemorative articles, one also benefits from consulting interdisciplinary academic works on revisionist history and politics of identity.

These new studies offer research, critical evaluations as well as interpretative analysis on different themes such as symbolic places or cultural expressions of collective memory as well as political powers, movements and institutions.

I could propose a long list of local and foreign scholarly authors but, as an introduction, may I modestly recommend my book on perceptions, perspectives and identities after Bonaparte in British Malta, where sound arguments on memory and identity are scientifically referenced to such reliable sources.