13 AUGUST

THATCHER WELCOMES APARTHEID LEADER P.W. BOTHA [ 2 June 1984 ] On this day in 1984, British prime minister Margaret Thatcher greeted the apartheid leader of South Africa, P.W. Both, at her official country estate at Chequers.  An estimated 40,000 protesters, furious at the government’s implicit endorsement of the regime, took to the streets of…

GENERAL ERSKINE WARNS AGAINST INQUIRY INTO BRITISH CRIMES IN KENYA 10 December 1953 – In a letter to the War Office, General Erskine admits that he is all too aware that the police and army in Kenya have frequently resorted to summary executions and torture against Mau Mau insurgency suspects. “There is no doubt that…

  MI6 AGENTS NOT REQUIRED TO INTERVENE TO PREVENT TORTURE. 12 January 2002 – London sends a note of legal clarification to MI6 agents in Afghanistan, who had been sent out to interview Afghan prisoners and might witness signs of abuse or torture on anyone held by the Americans. “Given that they are not within…

BRISTOL CELEBRATES THE DEFEAT OF BRITAIN’S FIRST ANTI-SLAVERY BILL [ 19 April 1791 ] On this day in 1791, the House of Commons, many of its members having close business ties to the trade and the West Indies plantations, overwhelmingly rejected a bill proposed by William Wilberforce to outlaw the slave trade. The margin of…

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BRITISH SACK THE CRIMEAN CITY OF KERCH [ 24 May 1855 ] On this day in 1855, thousands of terrified citizens of the Crimean city of Kerch had their homes broken into and their possessions looted, while men and even children were slaughtered and hundreds of women raped. The local population had begged general Sir…