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Apologies for past injustices - where do you stand?

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Doodledog Wed 23-Mar-22 18:03:31

There has been speculation about whether the UK (and other countries) should apologise for colonisation, slavery and the undoubtedly awful things that happened in our name in the past.

I don't know what I think about this. Part of me thinks it would sound hollow and insincere after all this time, but another part of me thinks that if the people of the countries is asking for the apology then it's the least we should do.

Sticking with Jamaica, as that is the country which is currently in the news in this regard - nobody who lived through the days of slavery is alive now, although there are plenty of people whose place in society is based on their ancestors' involvement in the slave trade. Would it be right to make some sort of reparations? If so, what should they be, and how would they be applied? Or should we all move on and see past atrocities as belonging in the past (or something different)?

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Chestnut Fri 25-Mar-22 13:59:25

Sparklefizz

My parents and grandmother were bombed by the Germans in WW2 and lost everything. Am I going to get compensation and an apology?

As we said before, so many atrocities were committed in the past, when will the apologies ever end?

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MaizieD Fri 25-Mar-22 18:47:02

^ but we were all paying for the compensation given to slave owners (large and small) until 2015. Believe it or not, a proportion of our taxes went towards that bill until as recently as that, (including the taxes of the descendants of the enslaved people themselves).^

You never know, it might have been paid with income from the Crown Estates, which all goes to the Treasury and has done since the reign of George 111. And, if you persist in believing that taxation funds spending, it could also have been from the taxes paid by the descendants of the people who received compensation in 1835.

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Doodledog Fri 25-Mar-22 19:22:33

That's not what David Osuloga said, as I remember.

I have no idea about his views on economics - but I guess that as a prominent historian he has a better grasp of them than I do, if that's what you're getting at.

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MaizieD Sat 26-Mar-22 01:11:31

Doodledog

That's not what David Osuloga said, as I remember.

I have no idea about his views on economics - but I guess that as a prominent historian he has a better grasp of them than I do, if that's what you're getting at.

What did Osuloga say?

I recall he quoted some modern day values of the compensation paid at a much higher rate than the usual 'multiplier' involved in converting historic money values. When I queried it on twitter he said I had to read his book... ?

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timetogo2016 Sat 02-Apr-22 13:01:53

Spot on Sarnia.

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