Like London AND [this week!] Manchester took buses BACK from private tender and made them 'in house' services, cloned carbon copies of what was once a well-run, profitable MPTE [Merseysude Passenger Transport Executive]? Or like Liverpool has SHOWN (Merseyrail) that LOCAL Admin will ALWAYS work better than a National Body 250 miles away in Westminster?
Gizza Job - I can do that... Yozzer isn't the ONLY one. Lots of talent in this city!
HS2 cuts. Improved rail links NORTH of Birmingham were only ever (AT BEST!) a paper exercise which was never intended to be built. The plans had to be sketched in on a piece of paper slightly bigger than the back of a packet of fags because it had to be "nodded through" before the CASH was made available - but nobody is prepared to commute further from cesspit London than Burr - mung - humm where they can find cheap[er] housing .........
The past has been acknowledged, but endlessly raking over it does nothing to change it. I, personally, was learning about the slave trade in the 1970's in junior school; it is hardly new information that the 'triangular trade' existed, nor what it involved. All great wealth inevitably comes from the exploitation of people, other creatures and the planet - and it continues today; which I personally think is more pertinent.
The International Slavery Museum in Liverpool does a good job of hosting temporary exhibitions which highlight the many instances were bonded labour, people trafficking and other forms of modern day slavery and exploitation are still perpetrated.
The big drive for reparations and 'de-colonisation' that we are currently witnessing has its roots in U.S Critical Social Justice Theory, and is a largely a product of American Identity politics and the great divides in American society at present.
I don't think it's the fault of the people pushing for decolonisation that are causing the divide in American society - rather the centuries of injustice and inequality that have always existed along racial lines in America up to the present day. It's well overdue that these problems are addressed, not just acknowledged.
White supremacy, which has never disappeared and is arguably more powerful now than in decades, is preventing the USA from addressing its issues - geopolitically it has a lot to do with us along with anyone who believes in justice and humanity.
The thing with Social Justice Activism is that it has radical deconstructive intent....which is by nature divisive. Certainly concepts such as 'Equity' too - which ultimately boils down to an over- emphasis on race, as well as a form of inverse racism. Societies are best, and most stable, when they evolve, not when an ideology is imposed.
Wow, imagine thinking it's social justice activism that is "devisive" and not the systems it rails against that have kept people oppressed based on their identities, and kept undemocratic structures in power.
It's really disturbing to me that people will log onto the internet these days and, under their own names, think "I'm going to tell people that you can care too much about slavery" and throw terms like "inverse racism" around. We've normalised these far right ideologies (because yes, you're an ideologue much more than those you criticise) way too much.
That first paragraph is straight from an Intersectionalist 'How To' guidebook, and is quite the irony, certainly when you want to "discuss" ideologues. I did a Sociology degree too.
Personally, I find it quite "disturbing" that grown ups feel they need safe spaces free from having to engage with the content of diverse and alternative views, and can only manage personal attacks. Though, unfortunately, this is incredibly common woith people who subscribe to social justice theories such as those that have been imported from the U.S. Your post is an excellent example of this kind of effect in action.
If you want to defeat a bad idea then the best way to do so is through engaged discussion with the actual content of an argument. How about you using your own name, rather than hiding behind a pseudonym - if accountability is as important as you claim?
It’s probably more instructive to look at how Germany dealt with the aftermath of WW2 as an example- the post-war leadership addressed what had happened, paid reparations and took an active role in ensuring that the horrors of the Nazi period were never forgotten throughout society.
WW2 us still within the living memory of people who were directly involved in it and who are still alive now ( the remaining people now are very few in number, though).
But as we see in wars around the world which continue to this day - great inhumanity and man's dark shadow still blight our lives. Somehow human beings don't seem to learn from the past - and it seems destined to endlessly repeat itself, just in slightly different configurations. If we could learn from the past the best place to implememt that learning would be in the context of current conflicts and atrocities.
Has its roots in the USA but also greatly amplified by Russia and China. While the reasonable and well meaning are self-berating over the conduct of (not even) ancestors, totalitarian dictatorships get to bring slavery and brutality back, and literally put the world under their jackboot.
The Cropper family of Dingle Bank South Liverpool kick-started the abolitionist revival that led to the end of slavery in the British Empire in 1833. James Cropper brought together the old abolitionists Wilberforce, Clarkson and Macaulay who rallied to his side. Cropper then personally recruited 'new blood' to abolitionism in the form of firebrand Irish politician Daniel O'Connell and Birmingham's Joseph Sturge. Finally Cropper personally invited the leading American abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison to Dingle Bank on the eve of the 1833 Act being read in Parliament. Cropper therefore united the British and American abolitionists in the decades before the American Civil War. John Gladstone personally blamed Cropper for inciting the 1823 Demerara (Guyana) slave revolt. The author Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin praised Liverpool and James Cropper as 'sacted ground' upon which the fight to end slavery in the British Empire first began. Cropper also worked with all the radial black American abolitionists including Nathaniel Paul and James McCune Smith at Dingle Bank. Smith was later the mentor of Frederick Douglass who the Croppers also sponsored. Joseph Deman who was Margaret Cropper's brother also led the West Africa squadron in extinguishing the hated Middle Passage. Hopefully the Croppers will feature in a revamped International Slavery Museum as there is far more to tell than this. In my opinion Cropper is far more important to the 1833 Act that freed 850,000 human beings than Wilberforce was to the 1807 Act which ended the trade in slave but freed no one.
I’m not sure apologising for slavery 200 years after abolition has any point - it seems to me to be the ultimate in virtue signalling. Much better to report the facts of history and let people judge for themselves.
"Following where Liverpool has led .."
Like London AND [this week!] Manchester took buses BACK from private tender and made them 'in house' services, cloned carbon copies of what was once a well-run, profitable MPTE [Merseysude Passenger Transport Executive]? Or like Liverpool has SHOWN (Merseyrail) that LOCAL Admin will ALWAYS work better than a National Body 250 miles away in Westminster?
Gizza Job - I can do that... Yozzer isn't the ONLY one. Lots of talent in this city!
HS2 cuts. Improved rail links NORTH of Birmingham were only ever (AT BEST!) a paper exercise which was never intended to be built. The plans had to be sketched in on a piece of paper slightly bigger than the back of a packet of fags because it had to be "nodded through" before the CASH was made available - but nobody is prepared to commute further from cesspit London than Burr - mung - humm where they can find cheap[er] housing .........
The past has been acknowledged, but endlessly raking over it does nothing to change it. I, personally, was learning about the slave trade in the 1970's in junior school; it is hardly new information that the 'triangular trade' existed, nor what it involved. All great wealth inevitably comes from the exploitation of people, other creatures and the planet - and it continues today; which I personally think is more pertinent.
The International Slavery Museum in Liverpool does a good job of hosting temporary exhibitions which highlight the many instances were bonded labour, people trafficking and other forms of modern day slavery and exploitation are still perpetrated.
The big drive for reparations and 'de-colonisation' that we are currently witnessing has its roots in U.S Critical Social Justice Theory, and is a largely a product of American Identity politics and the great divides in American society at present.
I don't think it's the fault of the people pushing for decolonisation that are causing the divide in American society - rather the centuries of injustice and inequality that have always existed along racial lines in America up to the present day. It's well overdue that these problems are addressed, not just acknowledged.
Nothing is stopping the USA from addressing their issues. They're just nothing to do with us!
White supremacy, which has never disappeared and is arguably more powerful now than in decades, is preventing the USA from addressing its issues - geopolitically it has a lot to do with us along with anyone who believes in justice and humanity.
justice and humanity are vastly over-rated
The thing with Social Justice Activism is that it has radical deconstructive intent....which is by nature divisive. Certainly concepts such as 'Equity' too - which ultimately boils down to an over- emphasis on race, as well as a form of inverse racism. Societies are best, and most stable, when they evolve, not when an ideology is imposed.
Wow, imagine thinking it's social justice activism that is "devisive" and not the systems it rails against that have kept people oppressed based on their identities, and kept undemocratic structures in power.
It's really disturbing to me that people will log onto the internet these days and, under their own names, think "I'm going to tell people that you can care too much about slavery" and throw terms like "inverse racism" around. We've normalised these far right ideologies (because yes, you're an ideologue much more than those you criticise) way too much.
That first paragraph is straight from an Intersectionalist 'How To' guidebook, and is quite the irony, certainly when you want to "discuss" ideologues. I did a Sociology degree too.
Personally, I find it quite "disturbing" that grown ups feel they need safe spaces free from having to engage with the content of diverse and alternative views, and can only manage personal attacks. Though, unfortunately, this is incredibly common woith people who subscribe to social justice theories such as those that have been imported from the U.S. Your post is an excellent example of this kind of effect in action.
If you want to defeat a bad idea then the best way to do so is through engaged discussion with the actual content of an argument. How about you using your own name, rather than hiding behind a pseudonym - if accountability is as important as you claim?
It’s probably more instructive to look at how Germany dealt with the aftermath of WW2 as an example- the post-war leadership addressed what had happened, paid reparations and took an active role in ensuring that the horrors of the Nazi period were never forgotten throughout society.
WW2 us still within the living memory of people who were directly involved in it and who are still alive now ( the remaining people now are very few in number, though).
But as we see in wars around the world which continue to this day - great inhumanity and man's dark shadow still blight our lives. Somehow human beings don't seem to learn from the past - and it seems destined to endlessly repeat itself, just in slightly different configurations. If we could learn from the past the best place to implememt that learning would be in the context of current conflicts and atrocities.
Has its roots in the USA but also greatly amplified by Russia and China. While the reasonable and well meaning are self-berating over the conduct of (not even) ancestors, totalitarian dictatorships get to bring slavery and brutality back, and literally put the world under their jackboot.
Talk about being played.
The government did apologise for its role in the slave trade, in 2007: https://www.antislavery.org/tony-blair-apologies-britains-role-slave-trade-2/
Charlie Gladstone's calls for an apology are in bad faith. We are not America.
The Cropper family of Dingle Bank South Liverpool kick-started the abolitionist revival that led to the end of slavery in the British Empire in 1833. James Cropper brought together the old abolitionists Wilberforce, Clarkson and Macaulay who rallied to his side. Cropper then personally recruited 'new blood' to abolitionism in the form of firebrand Irish politician Daniel O'Connell and Birmingham's Joseph Sturge. Finally Cropper personally invited the leading American abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison to Dingle Bank on the eve of the 1833 Act being read in Parliament. Cropper therefore united the British and American abolitionists in the decades before the American Civil War. John Gladstone personally blamed Cropper for inciting the 1823 Demerara (Guyana) slave revolt. The author Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin praised Liverpool and James Cropper as 'sacted ground' upon which the fight to end slavery in the British Empire first began. Cropper also worked with all the radial black American abolitionists including Nathaniel Paul and James McCune Smith at Dingle Bank. Smith was later the mentor of Frederick Douglass who the Croppers also sponsored. Joseph Deman who was Margaret Cropper's brother also led the West Africa squadron in extinguishing the hated Middle Passage. Hopefully the Croppers will feature in a revamped International Slavery Museum as there is far more to tell than this. In my opinion Cropper is far more important to the 1833 Act that freed 850,000 human beings than Wilberforce was to the 1807 Act which ended the trade in slave but freed no one.
I’m not sure apologising for slavery 200 years after abolition has any point - it seems to me to be the ultimate in virtue signalling. Much better to report the facts of history and let people judge for themselves.
Hi Paul - the comments were off for legal reasons as it was an active case! Don't worry- you won't be spammed with adverts.