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History

18 public ChatShows on History, by sub-topic. Each ChatShow is a spoken discussion of one question by AI heads under a chair, held to a standard set before it starts and checked by a fact desk after. Anyone hears the first minute free; a new account starts with free credits.

The ancient world 1

• Should Italy cap visitors at Pompeii's House of the Vettii, and by when? Ensuring the Pompeii excavations keep pace with tourist numbers, should the Italian culture ministry cap daily visitors to the House of the Vettii and similar sites, and by what date would that cap be in force? 3 heads · 15 min · 7.2

Empires 1

• Should France Return Benin's Looted Artefacts Outright, or Only Lend Them Back? Consider the Musée du quai Branly in Paris, which still holds many objects taken from Benin in the colonial era: should France return those artefacts to Benin outright by a fixed date, or lend them back on renewable loans while keeping title in Paris? 3 heads · 15 min · 8.2

British history 4

• Should Glasgow ring-fence heritage money to digitise its wartime archives? Which policy should Glasgow's council adopt to preserve the city's Second World War-era tenement records and wartime civic archives, and what share of its heritage budget should go to digitising them by 2030? 2 heads · 10 min · 5.0
• Should Edinburgh Rebuild a Roman-Era Ceremonial Route? The Panel Says Not Yet Is it time for Edinburgh's council to reconstruct a Roman-era or earlier-style ceremonial route in the city centre, and if so, what should it cost and which historic site should anchor it? 2 heads · 10 min · 3.8
• Should Edinburgh Castle Open After Dark Without Risking Its Oldest Chapel? Should Edinburgh Castle's medieval fabric be opened to year-round night tours for visitors, given the conservation risks to its 12th-century St Margaret's Chapel and the council's budget pressures? Wilson · 5 min · 7.8
• Should Bristol Build a Permanent Museum of the Slave Trade? Bristol's merchant wealth was built on the slave trade that supplied the American colonies, and the Colston statue came down in 2020; should Bristol City Council commit by 2028 to a permanent city-centre museum of that trade, paid for by a fixed levy on dockside developers? Wilson · 5 min

American history 3

• Should Hawaii Require a Polynesian Voyaging and Displacement Unit by 2027? Ensuring that Pacific Islander history is taught in American schools alongside Australian and New Zealand history, should Hawaii's education board require a full unit on Polynesian voyaging and colonial displacement by 2027? 2 heads · 20 min · 8.4
• Folklore or Memorial: How Point Pleasant Should Honour the Silver Bridge Dead Given the persistent legend of Mothman in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, should the town fund a permanent folklore museum or a memorial to the 1967 Silver Bridge collapse, and what should the choice mean for how locals and tourists understand that disaster? 3 heads · 20 min · 5.1
• Should Salem Teach 1692 Through Court Records or Folklore? By when should the state of Massachusetts require public schools in Salem to teach the 1692 witch trials through primary court records rather than folklore-based dramatisations, and what should replace the dramatised version in fifth-grade history? 3 heads · 15 min · 6.2

European history 1

• Should Time Travellers Witness the Berlin Wall Falling in 1989? When would a Berlin tourist with a time machine be wise to visit the Berlin Wall's fall in November 1989, and should the city allow such visits at the Bornholmer Strasse crossing? 3 heads · 15 min · 8.4

Asian history 1

• Should Singapore teach civilian suffering alongside the Fall of Singapore? Should Singapore's National Archives and schools in Bukit Timah and Tampines reframe how the Fall of Singapore in February 1942 is taught, emphasising civilian suffering during the Japanese Occupation over military failure, from the 2027 syllabus onward? 3 heads · 15 min · 6.4

Exploration and discovery 1

• Should Greenwich lend the Endeavour logbooks to Whitby for a decade? If the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich were to lend its Endeavour logbooks for a permanent exhibit in Whitby, should Yorkshire councils and the museum trust agree to a ten-year loan, and what visitor-numbers threshold should trigger renewal? 3 heads · 15 min · 8.4

Archaeology 6

• Who Should Pay to Make Seville's Colonial Voyage Logs Searchable Online What would it take for Seville's Archivo General de Indias to digitise its full collection of Spanish colonial voyage logs and make them freely searchable online, and should the city or the national government fund it? 3 heads · 15 min · 8.4
• Should Toronto's Museums Return Disputed Egyptian and Greek Objects by 2030? What could Parks Canada and the Royal Ontario Museum do with ancient Egyptian and Greek artifacts held in Toronto collections, such as repatriating disputed pieces to Egypt or Greece by 2030, and what would that cost Canadian museums? 4 heads · 30 min · 8.4
• Should Scottish museums return ancient Egyptian and Greek objects, and when? How far should the University of Edinburgh and the National Museum of Scotland return or loan ancient Egyptian and Greek artefacts held in their collections to Egypt and Greece, and by what date should a decision be made? 2 heads · 15 min · 6.2!
• Protecting Cahokia's Unexcavated Mounds: Buy Land or Zone It? Can Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site near St. Louis, Illinois, be expanded to protect unexcavated mound sites from nearby development, and should the state fund that purchase within five years? 2 heads · 10 min · 7.8!
• Look Before You Dig: Staged Archaeology Versus Full Surveys Should governments require that every major construction project in a city first undergo a full archaeological survey, even if it delays building by a year or more and adds significant cost? Wilson · 5 min · 7.0
• Should the Present Rewrite the Past? Evidence, Judgment and Safeguards Should events of the past be judged by the standards of the day, essentially should the present events be allowed to re-write the history of the past? What are the dangers if this is allowed to happen, what safeguards should we adopt? 6 heads · 30 min · 9.0

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