Lammy to start Slavery Reparation talks…
Discussion
Reported in the Telegraph this morning after a source has claimed the Foreign Office is to meet with a delegation from the Caribbean.
Apparently they never tried to meet the Tory government over 14 yrs because they made it clear they wouldn’t consider it.
I guess Starmer government is seen as a soft touch after the Chagos Islands but the govt says the position has not changed.
So I guess they’ll give in then.
Archived https://archive.ph/d0qic
Apparently they never tried to meet the Tory government over 14 yrs because they made it clear they wouldn’t consider it.
I guess Starmer government is seen as a soft touch after the Chagos Islands but the govt says the position has not changed.
So I guess they’ll give in then.
Archived https://archive.ph/d0qic
This government make me angry.
I hope they see sense but very much doubt it.
How much of our money will they give away before realising it can’t be paid back into the public coffers without cutting services and funding to vital state infrastructure.
They are going to cause untold trouble if they continue down this reckless path of free money to all they feel guilt towards.
I hope they see sense but very much doubt it.
How much of our money will they give away before realising it can’t be paid back into the public coffers without cutting services and funding to vital state infrastructure.
They are going to cause untold trouble if they continue down this reckless path of free money to all they feel guilt towards.
This appears to be something Labour are open to discussing.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02/07/foreig...
Selected quote: ‘ Ms Mottley has stated that Britain owes her country £3.9 trillion, while a 2023 report put the figure owed to former Caribbean colonies overall at £18 trillion.’
Interesting figures, how on earth do they make these up? Of course, the UK being so rich and a utopian paradise, this is mere pocket change and we can pay this to keep the peace.
One other question; why is it seen to be so awful to have to grow up in Barbados? It may be far from the ancestral home but its hardly a terrible place.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02/07/foreig...
Selected quote: ‘ Ms Mottley has stated that Britain owes her country £3.9 trillion, while a 2023 report put the figure owed to former Caribbean colonies overall at £18 trillion.’
Interesting figures, how on earth do they make these up? Of course, the UK being so rich and a utopian paradise, this is mere pocket change and we can pay this to keep the peace.
One other question; why is it seen to be so awful to have to grow up in Barbados? It may be far from the ancestral home but its hardly a terrible place.
hstewie said:I think it probably is rage bait but it does still be a thing that some folk are expecting a few quid.
Where can I claim ? my grandad grew up in biting poverty in Angel Meadow in Manchester, sounds delightful, it wasn't !
https://ilovemanchester.com/angel-meadow-rememberi...
Where can I claim ? my grandad grew up in biting poverty in Angel Meadow in Manchester, sounds delightful, it wasn't !
https://ilovemanchester.com/angel-meadow-rememberi...
It's such a nonsense - yes, Britain was responsible for some of the slave trade and profited from slavery.
So did all the major powers at the time, and so did various groups in Africa who went and captured the slaves in the first place. But this was a very long time ago.
Britain also banned the slave trade before pretty much anyone else (and tied up a lot of the Royal Navy, using them to disrupt the trade - though ultimately it was beneficial to Britain, seizing our rival's assets as we deemed them illegal)
Britain also spent an absolute fortune (and were in debt from it until recently) basically by buying the freedom of all slaves in British territories. Maybe giving big bucks to the owners doesn't look great now but it was the most effective and expedient way of getting them freed.
Not everything went well, for example the well-meaning but misguided attempt to resettle slaves in Sierra Leone.
But my point is that Britain is hardly the real villain in this whole thing!
Basically, Britain allowed private individuals to trade in slaves, and assisted them to set up plantations - which were then worked by slaves, bought from traders mostly in West Africa. But the British government, at enormous cost also banned the slave trade, banned slavery, and paid for the freeing of slaves.
If we start going too far back it starts getting ridiculous.
Maybe Italy should pay us reparations for the Romans invading, and then leaving us with infrastructure we couldn't maintain!
Or France, for Napoleon's antics
So did all the major powers at the time, and so did various groups in Africa who went and captured the slaves in the first place. But this was a very long time ago.
Britain also banned the slave trade before pretty much anyone else (and tied up a lot of the Royal Navy, using them to disrupt the trade - though ultimately it was beneficial to Britain, seizing our rival's assets as we deemed them illegal)
Britain also spent an absolute fortune (and were in debt from it until recently) basically by buying the freedom of all slaves in British territories. Maybe giving big bucks to the owners doesn't look great now but it was the most effective and expedient way of getting them freed.
Not everything went well, for example the well-meaning but misguided attempt to resettle slaves in Sierra Leone.
But my point is that Britain is hardly the real villain in this whole thing!
Basically, Britain allowed private individuals to trade in slaves, and assisted them to set up plantations - which were then worked by slaves, bought from traders mostly in West Africa. But the British government, at enormous cost also banned the slave trade, banned slavery, and paid for the freeing of slaves.
If we start going too far back it starts getting ridiculous.
Maybe Italy should pay us reparations for the Romans invading, and then leaving us with infrastructure we couldn't maintain!
Or France, for Napoleon's antics
Plymo said:
It's such a nonsense - yes, Britain was responsible for some of the slave trade and profited from slavery.
So did all the major powers at the time, and so did various groups in Africa who went and captured the slaves in the first place. But this was a very long time ago.
Britain also banned the slave trade before pretty much anyone else (and tied up a lot of the Royal Navy, using them to disrupt the trade - though ultimately it was beneficial to Britain, seizing our rival's assets as we deemed them illegal)
Britain also spent an absolute fortune (and were in debt from it until recently) basically by buying the freedom of all slaves in British territories. Maybe giving big bucks to the owners doesn't look great now but it was the most effective and expedient way of getting them freed.
Not everything went well, for example the well-meaning but misguided attempt to resettle slaves in Sierra Leone.
But my point is that Britain is hardly the real villain in this whole thing!
Basically, Britain allowed private individuals to trade in slaves, and assisted them to set up plantations - which were then worked by slaves, bought from traders mostly in West Africa. But the British government, at enormous cost also banned the slave trade, banned slavery, and paid for the freeing of slaves.
If we start going too far back it starts getting ridiculous.
Maybe Italy should pay us reparations for the Romans invading, and then leaving us with infrastructure we couldn't maintain!
Or France, for Napoleon's antics
It sure is a ridiculous proposition, as you point out we should get an absolute fortune from scandiavia and europe (Italy). Will Barbary Corsairs be taken into consideration?So did all the major powers at the time, and so did various groups in Africa who went and captured the slaves in the first place. But this was a very long time ago.
Britain also banned the slave trade before pretty much anyone else (and tied up a lot of the Royal Navy, using them to disrupt the trade - though ultimately it was beneficial to Britain, seizing our rival's assets as we deemed them illegal)
Britain also spent an absolute fortune (and were in debt from it until recently) basically by buying the freedom of all slaves in British territories. Maybe giving big bucks to the owners doesn't look great now but it was the most effective and expedient way of getting them freed.
Not everything went well, for example the well-meaning but misguided attempt to resettle slaves in Sierra Leone.
But my point is that Britain is hardly the real villain in this whole thing!
Basically, Britain allowed private individuals to trade in slaves, and assisted them to set up plantations - which were then worked by slaves, bought from traders mostly in West Africa. But the British government, at enormous cost also banned the slave trade, banned slavery, and paid for the freeing of slaves.
If we start going too far back it starts getting ridiculous.
Maybe Italy should pay us reparations for the Romans invading, and then leaving us with infrastructure we couldn't maintain!
Or France, for Napoleon's antics
Labour are once again showing their protest party mentality with some prime posturing. This particular folly, like climate 'reparations' is essentially a form of redistribution of wealth, as the UK, a deeply indebted nation with ever lower living standards, looks to make things worse in any way worthy of a virtue signal.
I read in the Telegraph that Labour are also going to insist that everybody takes the knee as a way of apology for our role in the Slave Trade. That's terrible, it's certainly going to stop me voting for them. in fact I'll set up one of those online petitions asking for another election IMMEDIATELY 
Does anybody else remember the "Yes Prime Minister" episode about the "Great British Banger". Apparently the EU were going to ban the English sausage which caused huge uproar in the media until Jim hacker stepped in at the last minute to tell Johnny Foreigner to take a walk and saved it from the perfidious plans of the EUSSR? that's what this is - a nothingburger designed for clicks
Does anybody else remember the "Yes Prime Minister" episode about the "Great British Banger". Apparently the EU were going to ban the English sausage which caused huge uproar in the media until Jim hacker stepped in at the last minute to tell Johnny Foreigner to take a walk and saved it from the perfidious plans of the EUSSR? that's what this is - a nothingburger designed for clicks
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