ALL history is instructive for those who wish to be instructed, but I can’t see that the history of the Indian army, distinguished though it is, having a special relevance for Brits today (Andrew Hitchon, January 20).

The history of Britain’s second empire is complex and astonishing, but if it is to be taught at the level of being considered either “a good thing” or “a bad thing”, it had better not be taught at all.

We should be wary of those who descry a purpose in history. I doubt if teaching immigrants a smattering of flag-waving story-book history will achieve the aim of social integration.

However, if they were to learn something of the Highland Clearances, the displacement of the population of Camden Town, the cruelty of rack-renting landlords and the misery of the 19th century workhouse, they might bear their own grievances more stoically. Perhaps the one historical subject which should unite us all is the sluggish growth of British democracy from the days of Richard II until its late, uncertain flowering in the 20th century and its wilting in the 21st.

William Dixon Smith, Welland Rise, Acomb, York.