Re: British standards ???
 

At no point have I ever displayed any desire to apologise for something that happened over a hundred years ago... that's not the point. There is a huge difference between apologising for something I had absolutely no connection with and having the compassion for my fellow man to realise that what we did, in the interest of profit was cruel, insidious and inhuman! Forget everything else, we, as a nation, made billions on the back of slavery and while we, above all others, saw the inhumanity of the trade in human life we also, as a nation needed to acknowledge that it was wrong.

The government was right to stand up and say sorry. It was right to turn its back on the trade at the time, regardless of how much the right wing element in the UK frothed at the mouth about how it would destroy "Britishness" and its ironic that much of the force behind the abolition came from the Whigs....

Re: British standards ???
 

:goodpost:

Re: British standards ???
 

@ Matt

Given your last response I still don't understand why you wrote...

'I frigging love this country but my god, we've got some crap to deal with'

why should we have crap to deal with TODAY?

Re: British standards ???
 

You are one of the worse sycophants on here! Sorry, do you need me to explain what that means?

Re: British standards ???
 

next

Re: British standards ???
 

Here is a definition of sycophant..a person who acts obsequiously towards someone important in order to gain advantage.

Thanks Matt I did not realize I was that important :-)

Re: British standards ???
 

Because we are or try to be a civilised nation with moral standards higher than many.
For as long as there are victims alive of past misdeeds carried out in the name of the UK we have a responsibility to apologise or put things right.
It is part of what makes us British.

Re: British standards ???
 

Because we need to understand what we did. We need to look at out own actions over the centuries and see where the mistakes were. Otherwise not only do we fail to learn from the mistakes but we allow the arrogance that exists on this thread about us British to perpetuate. We are an incredible country and I love it more than most but I am under no illusion that we are not only perfect but faultless or blameless in the worlds problems.

I am not a huge fan of Tory politics, their endless drive to profit over people goes against every principle I have in life but I actually admire Call Me Dave, and I am not scared to proclaim that, because of his conviction in the face of overwhelming pressure from not only his rightwing backbenchers but their supporters as well and the courage of his conviction when it comes to his support of gay marriage and his open apology of some of Britains colonial transgressions.

Re: British standards ???
 

LOL you are a strange on to debate with, we all know the expression that those who don't learn from past history or mistakes are destined to repeat them'

but... I personally have learned from the past mistakes made by other Brits and I certainly don't want to set up another empire, go and colonize some other country or indulge in a bit of Rape and Pillage here in Madrid.

I don't feel I have exhibited any arrogance at all on this or the other thread. As far as I remember I've said I think Islam is a Primitive religion and it's extremists are dangerous

I have lived in two Islamic countries way back in the early 60's which was before Radical Islam raised its head and the people of those two countries were super nice to me always, I personally have no problems with the majority of Muslims but I can't stand those on my side of the political fence who will not tolerate any criticism at all of Islam.

So I'm still unclear what 'crap' we have to deal with nowadays.

Oh and what has Dave's support of Gay marriages got to do with the subject at hand?

Like I say you are a strange one to debate with. It seems to me you are quite adept at raising straw man arguments

Re: British standards ???
 

Id say this is pretty much my view too

Re: British standards ???
 

*sigh*

We were discussing Britain's place in the world and it's former position and the whole gay marriage stance shows how Britain can.... You know what... I've just realised I got drawn into having to explain this to you and I'm a little unsure why...

Re: British standards ???
 

Just caught the end of Stephen frys docu and I put two and two together, it obviously was this series that caused his attempted suicide.

Re: British standards ???
 

I've lived in multi-cultural areas for most of my life; many years in London and quite a few in a Spanish area which has 144 different nationalities registered at the town hall.

I suppose I didn't have that much choice in London because that's where my working career took me, but I could leave my Spanish area at any time if I didn't want to live in a multi-racial area.

To say that the multi- racial aspect doesn't bother me is probably about right, it's also true that I abhor racism and homophobia doesn't rate highly on my wish list either.

I believe in live and let live and read the Guardian each morning before the Telegraph and El Pais. And the Daily Mail for the pictures.

But I have to say that Live and let Live appears contrary to Islam teaching and I'm wary of Muslims in my vicinity in case they're wearing suicide belts under their flowing robes.

Re: British standards ???
 

Like me, I am sure SOME (note, not all.) posters could not even name 144 different countries.

Re: British standards ???
 

Getting back on topic...which I think was the dysfunctional school:confused:

I read that the school received large amounts of extra money for special needs teachers etc. All schools who have a majority of children who do not speak English as a first language get huge extra grants.

I wonder when some are making sweeping statements about the benefits immigrants are supposed to bring if these extra costs are deducted:sneaky: