Who Do You Think They Were?: Creating Our Own History

'How will people of the future look back at this time period?'

Yesterday, after the mention of the West Midlands being the region that has suffered the highest levels of unemployment in recent times, Peter Mandelson said that all will improve because 'what Midlands people do is help themselves'. This creates an image that suggests everyone will be able to get up as though they're in an American film from the 1950s and march out on the streets hunting down work. Perhaps by heading off to the local ranch in the Wild West of Birmingham to become a 'grafter' and make horseshoes while singing the blues.

Now, Peter Mandelson has contributed to a book called 'The City in Europe and the World' and he has also written his own book called 'The Blair Revolution' - soon to be followed by 'The Blair Revolution 2: The Brown Ultimatum' and then 'The Blair Revolution 3: I Know What You Did Last Decade...and I've Already Chosen The Curtains I Want When I Move Into Number 10, So Move Over Mr Brown'.

It's not uncommon to hear about people in government or those closely associated with politics to release books adding their own spin on the situation. Alistair Campbell published the book about his time with Tony Blair and Vince Cable, more recently, published a book called 'The Storm: The World Economic Crisis and What it Means'.

But if those publishing books about the state of our country are politically biased, what does that mean for the portrayal of our current society to those generations to come?

How will people of the future look back at this time period - especially if all the information and supposedly reliable sources become distorted over time?

There will probably be a future GCSE syllabus explaining that children should have to learn about how William Hague, George Osborne and Ann Widdecombe scored a hat trick each in the 2010 FIFA World Cup final.

Or how Davina McCall became the British Prime Minister and waged a civil war against Bristol.

History classes of the future would definitely be affected if our politicians are the ones writing the history.

'Today class, we're going to be learning about how Gordon Brown saved the British public from Swine Flu back in 2009. Please take out your copy of "How I Saved the British Public from Swine Flu in 2009" by Gordon Brown and turn to chapter 7.'

That's unless the sources the future students use in their classes are going to be more from the far left.

'In 2009, many MPs were criticised just for borrowing money from their constituents. The MPs only wanted to make their homes more comfortable as a reward for the hard work they do. How do you think the public's criticism made those poor MPs feel?'

And then there's the chance that information sources can get a little confusing over time. Like Chinese whispers.

'This afternoon, we're going to watch a documentary about the Queen of England, Queen Helen Mirren, in 1997.'

'Guy Fawkes broke the conditions of his ASBO when he attempted to destroy Parliament.'

'William Shakespeare's plays were a complete flop as he was refused funding from the Arts Council for not making his plays appeal to all generations and for not being modern and politically correct. (They did not feature a disabled, self-harming Lesbian from Thailand as the lead role.)'

Today's society is obviously a lot different from any other time in history and it's also totally different from what it will be like in 100 years in the future.

We're of the modern age. We're free trade, organic and smoke-free. We're bite size, wireless and in high definition. We're pre-packed, interactive and scientifically proven. We're uploaded, downloaded and prematurely post traumatic.

We worry about the onset of baldness and cellulite to the same extent that those in the 1700s worried about cholera.

How are we going to ensure that future generations know about us and all the things we did and liked?

How are we going to keep the stories going and let the future residents of the world know about all of the great British icons like Charles Dickens, Winston Churchill and Mr Bean?

How are we going to let people know about the Monarchy and how the Queen was head of state before the authentic power was handed over to Rupert Murdoch?

How are we going to let everyone know that people in England didn't really live in castles and spend all day drinking tea with Hugh Grant?

We need to ensure that creating the perception of society today for tomorrow's history books is not left to those who have a warped sense of reality. It's important that people of the future know about what it was truly like to be living in 2009 - surrounded by economic turmoil, the fuel crisis and repeats of Antiques Roadshow.

Even when the current generation are old and withered, their grandchildren will be asking, 'What was it like living in the old days with all those great minds such as Stephen Fry, David Attenborough and Katie Price? And tell me about Facebook and Twitter again.'

With politicians writing the books on social commentary, how is anyone in the future going to find out about all the things that are important to today's popular culture? Strictly Come Dancing, The X Factor, or the one where the entire house is filled with dim, self-important people who have nothing better to do than sit around all day talking about voting, moaning and arguing: The Houses of Parliament.