17 APRIL

MI6 WARNS OF UDA TERROR BUT THE UK REFUSES TO PROSCRIBE THE ORGANISATION. On 12 February, 1981, David Wyatt of MI6 warned the Northern Ireland permanent secretary that “UDA/UFF (loyalist) gunmen, with the full blessing of Tyrie (head of the Ulster Defence Association), are going to continue murdering identified Republicans.” Please feel welcome to post…

BRITISH TREASURY HALTS RELIEF TO FAMINE STRUCK IRISH PEASANTS [ 17 July 1846 ] On this day in 1846, Charles Trevelyan, Assistant Secretary of the British Treasury, on learning of the ‘very unfavourable’ reports on the potato harvest’,  wrote to Sir Randolph Ralph, head of Ireland’s Relief Commission, warning him that ‘the only way to…

[ 10 February 1846 ] On 10 February 1846, British troops slaughtered thousands of Sikhs attempting to flee the Battle of Sobraon in the Punjab. After a fierce two hour engagement, Redcoat infantry and cavalry, under the command of Major-General Sir Hugh Gough, concentrated their attack on the surviving soldiers, who were hemmed into a…

DISBELIEF AMONG TROOPS THAT THEY MIGHT HAVE TO DIE FOR FALKLAND ISLANDS [ 1 May 1982 ] Labour MP Tony Benn published a letter, although withholding the name, from the fiancee of a marine on the British task force which had been sent to seize the remote Falkland Islands, with a tiny population of some…

BRITISH EXECUTE AFGHAN VILLAGERS AS A “LESSON” 8 November 1879 – A British cavalry detachment surrounded the Afghan village of Indikee where shots had been fired at the invading British army the previous month. They gave the village headmen five minutes to round up thirty suspects. The correspondent of the London Daily News explained that…

MI6 OVERTHROW MOSSADEGH – THE POPULAR MODERATE PRIME MINISTER OF IRAN. [ 19 August 1953 ] (Shorter version) On this day in 1953 British intelligence, helped by the CIA, staged a coup to oust Muhammad Mossadegh, the moderate nationalist prime minister of Iran, who had been a firm believer in liberal values, democracy and the…