The battle for Britain's Statues

[John Arton]

This was the title of a Chanel 4 program last night and if anyone else viewed it are you, like me and the wife, spitting nails at the presenter? The milk chocolate presenters premise was that stutues to some of our great heroes should come with riders showing the true nature of the person, such as Nelson supporting the slave trade, Churchill being a racist and refusing in1943 to divert food supplies to India where there was starvation going on, Cecil Rhodes exploiting Africa to make huge fortunes and she even assisted in defacing a stutue to a merchant in Bristol who had contributed to the building of many of the cities buildings. Anyone with any sense realises that these historical figures had their class but in their time they came to carry out such acts that in some cases saved our country or otherwise helped create an Empire that was not perfect in every way but at least brought peace, the rule of law and technology to vast areas of the world which to this day now allows person's of her ilka platform to spout their stupid and possibly treasonous views without fear of being thrown in jail or even worse.
Just why do we give air time to these people? Yes I know there is the off button on the telly and we are in a society of free speech but at no time did the presenter give acknowledgement to the great sacrifice or service that these people made to protect and build the country that had taken her and her ancestors in and given them a living that would eventually lead to her being able to spout the rubbish views she did.
Rgds
J.A. (disgusted of South Shields)

[j.sabourn]

Once governments give leeway away to extremists and to the minority, it is no different than giving in to a blackmailer, they will come back with further demands . This can be seen in most democratic countries today. Maybe Charles Dickens had this in mind when he invented Oliver Twist and him asking for more. Maybe the schoolmaster who said “ more ??”, was not the villain he was made out to be. JWS

[robpage]

I have friends of Afro-Caribbean decent , parents came over on the Empire Windrush , the fact that Britain was the first country in 5000 years to abolish slavery escapes them, the fact that the captors were their African cousins , also gets missed , apologies and compensation never gets overlooked . I explained the social history of my forbears , Staffordshire and Derbyshire miners , they had just as much a hard time , and had freedom , freedom to starve , freedom to work until death , freedom to eat coal dust , time to get over it , embrace history , learn from mistakes and stop whinging , encouraged by media .

[Captain Kong]

Doing my family History, my great Aunt Emily in the 1881 Census at the age of 8 is described as a Coal Miner

what kind of slavery is that??????

[robpage]

in reading of mining history of 1880s children led ponies and controlled door opening , for a ten hour day underground , my grandfather was lucky he went to school till he was 12, and worked till he died at 73 , like many working in those conditions of cancer.The Derbyshire mine owners tried to starve the men back to work from a strike , they lived for six months on soup made from stale bread and greens from the hedgerow , Slavery well all but the name

[Captain Kong]

"Beware the Bight of Benin, many white men go in, very few come out"

Does anyone know how many Sailors died in the slave trade, it is never mentioned.
apart from the usual death toll from Seafaring in Sailing Ships. they had to face, Malaria, Yellow Fever, Blackwater Fever, Typhoid, Cholera and many others from West Africa.
It is all about the poor slaves, they had to be in good condition so they got a good price for them, No one mentions the condition of the poor Sailors.
.
I went to Ascension Island and in a cove by the beach is a cemetery, and every grave is a Sailor from the Royal Navy who were on patrol to stop the slave ships, all died from the diseases prevalent in the West African coast.
no one mentions them. all forgotten.

[Bob Dunkley]

John,empire no more.Great Britain is now Little Britain, a slave state yoked to Brussels.Josh Jay Smythe.

Tommy Robinson was jailed last week in Leeds for 13 months ,he was reporting on the trial or sentencing of the grooming gangs ,I saw the live stream and he said nothing out of order, he was arrested tried and jailed within a few hours .Hundreds of people marched on Downing street. Even climbing the gates on Saturday Then speakers corner on Sunday. There has been a media blanket put on so nothing's been on the news. I think that on the 9th of June is going to be a big march to try and release this man. How long can the media keep this Quite. His freedom of speech has landed him in jail within a few hours of being arrested

[happy daze john in oz]

You are not alone on this one. Here in Oz we have cousins of your group who want to do the same.

Remove the names of some of the early settlers as they, according to those who do not know the history, think they killed some of the Aborigine population.
Thankfully our gov will not have a bar of it.


But when you consider it was a ships captain, who was so opposed to the slave trade he combined with man who brought slavery in UK to an end, and wrote the song/hymn 'Amazing Grace'.

[happy daze john in oz]

You are not alone on this one. Here in Oz we have cousins of your group who want to do the same.

Remove the names of some of the early settlers as they, according to those who do not know the history, think they killed some of the Aborigine population.
Thankfully our gov will not have a bar of it.


But when you consider it was a ships captain, who was so opposed to the slave trade he combined with William Wilberforce UK to an end, and wrote the song/hymn 'Amazing Grace'.

Just remembered who it was.