Oxford University academics to vote on renaming Cecil Rhodes professorship
The Rhodes Professor of Race Relations could be rebranded amid claims Rhodes legacy is quietly being removed
Oriel College set up an inquiry to examine the legacy of Cecil Rhodes
Credit: Bloomberg
Oxford University is attempting to change the title of a professorship named after Cecil Rhodes, The Telegraph has learned, amid claims that Rhodes is “falling by the back door”.
The 900-year-old institution’s council, which is chaired by the vice-Chancellor, has backed an amendment to its statues that would see the Rhodes Professor of Race Relations renamed the Professorship of African Studies.
19 Feb 2021
Feminists have denounced proposals to honour war heroes who won the Victoria Cross and George Cross with hometown statues because not enough of them are women.
Awarded, often posthumously, for the “most conspicuous bravery, or some daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self-sacrifice, or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy”, each Victoria Cross is struck from bronze taken from captured enemy guns, and it is regarded as the highest military honour in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. So rarely is the medal given, there are just nine living recipients of them worldwide.
The George Cross is considered the VC’s equal in merit, and is awarded for similarly outstanding gallantry not in the face of the enemy, often to civilians. Famously the Queen’s father, George VI, collectively bestowed the honour upon the island of Malta for the heroism of its population while besieged by the Axis powers during the Second World War, and the island nation’s
A leading figure in a campaign to topple Britain s statues is a hard-left fanatic who previously expressed scepticism around the Pfizer vaccine, his social media posts have revealed.
Toyin Agbetu, 53, joined Sadiq Khan s new diversity commission this week to help investigate whether to remove statues and road names of prominent historical figures connected to the slave trade.
Mr Agbetu was previously known for his 2007 outburst in front of the Queen in 2007, when he shouted you should be ashamed during a service at Westminster Abbey.
In November he posted online expressing scepticism about the Pfizer jab s ability to deal with the spread of coronavirus. He wrote: We are being encouraged to relax our compliance with these relaxed restrictions because apparently a magical vaccine is around the corner from the Viagra specialists.
Last modified on Fri 29 Jan 2021 13.32 EST
Scores of tributes to slave traders, colonialists and racists have been taken down or will be removed across the UK, a Guardian investigation has found, with hundreds of others under review by local authorities and institutions.
In what was described by historians as an “unprecedented” public reckoning with Britain’s slavery and colonial past, an estimated 39 names – including streets, buildings and schools – and 30 statues, plaques and other memorials have been or are undergoing changes or removal since last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests.
The movement to remove contentious landmarks has involved a wide section of society, from schools and universities to private landlords, pubs, churches, charitable trusts and councils.
Roads to be named after Victoria Cross heroes in latest Tory plan for war on woke
Birmingham City Council was accused of ‘virtue signalling’ after it gave streets names including Diversity Grove and Equality Road
23 January 2021 • 9:00pm
Street names unveiled by Birmingham City Council
Credit: Birmingahm City Council/
New roads could be named after military and civilian heroes under plans backed by two Cabinet ministers in the latest salvo of the Conservatives war on woke .
Oliver Dowden, the Culture secretary and Robert Jenrick, the Communities secretary, are backing a plan put forward by a group of Tory backbenchers for new streets to be named in honour of holders of the Victoria Cross and the George Cross.