15 OCTOBER

BRITISH BOMBARD CANTON TO ENSURE SAFE PASSAGE FOR THE OPIUM TRADE [ 28 December 1857 ] On this day, twenty five British and French gunboats commenced a bombardment of the Chinese port city of Canton, after a British flagged ship had been detained by local officials. Although the registration of the ship had lapsed, Britain…

BRITISH TROOPS BURN THE MALAYAN VILLAGE OF KACHAU [ 2 November 1948 ] On 2 November 1948, British troops and colonial police burned down the village of Kachau in the Malayan state of Selangor. The four hundred inhabitants were given two hours to collect their belongings.  UN VOTES 64 TO 5 IN CALL FOR BRITAIN…

UK REVERSES ITS POSITION ON GUANTANAMO, ACKNOWLEDGING THIS MIGHT INCREASE THE TERROR THREAT. An internal government memo dated 22 June 2018, leaked to The Daily Telegraph, and marked “Official Sensitive” noted that UK ministers would not oppose the US government sending two British terror suspects, Alexanda Kotey and Shafee El-Sheikh, to Guantanamo,  although at the same…

HUNDREDS OF CIVILIANS AND PRISONERS KILLED AND TORTURED AT TAIT-SAN. [ 3 May 1863 ] On this day in 1863, Chinese imperial troops under the command of Major Charles Gordon (who was later to become the legendary General Gordon of Khartoum) killed hundreds of civilians and prisoners in the city of Tait-san, having captured it…

BRITAIN PROMISES TO PROTECT ISRAELI WAR CRIMINALS 3rd November 2010 – British Foreign Secretary William Hague, pledged that Britain would not allow any Israeli government official to be arrested for alleged war crimes while visiting Britain.