In praise of history

Penelope Corfield made a very strong case for the study of history (Opinion, July ). As Winston Churchill put it: "The further back you look, the further forward you see."

The study of history should be driven by an underlying desire to try to learn from the past to help us make a better future. Historians who focus on exploring underlying patterns ought to form a key group to underpin "future studies".

But I wonder how many of those 100,000 academic historians are involved in making those vitally important connections?

Bruce Lloyd

Professor of strategic management

London South Bank University