#120 - Lord Nigel Biggar & Tirthankar Roy: Britain's Empire Was Not What You Were Taught — An Indian Historian Has The Evidence

Thinking Class · Mar 27, 2026 · 1h 5m · transcript

For decades, the British Empire in India has been reduced to a simple moral claim: that it was an extractive, exploitative system which left only damage behind.

But is that really the full story?

In this episode of Thinking Class, John Gillam is joined by Lord Nigel Biggar and Professor Tirthankar Roy to examine what the British Empire — and the East India Company before it — actually did in India, and how that history continues to shape the present.

One of India's leading economic historians, Professor Tirthankar Roy challenges the dominant narrative from within — and his conclusions may…