28 JUNE

R.A.F. BIPLANES STRAFE AND BOMB DERVISH SETTLEMENTS AND SHEEP [ 21 January 1920 ] On the morning of 21 January 1920, five open cockpit R.A.F. biplane bombers attacked the Dervish settlements of Jid Ali and Medishi in the remote interior of British Somaliland. CHURCHILL – ‘THE MAJORITY OF THE (BOLSHEVIK) LEADERS ARE JEWS.’ [ 21…

THE FIRST CONVICTS ARRIVE AT BOTANY BAY [ 19 January 1788 ] On this day in 1788, the first batch of British convicts, about 498 men in three ships, arrived at Botany Bay, on the remote south eastern coast of Australia. BRITISH NAVAL SHIPS REDUCE ADEN TO RUBBLE [ 19 January 1839 ] On the…

OFFICER IN KENYA’S COLONIAL POLICE COMPLAINS OF A CULTURE OF COVERING UP ABUSES AND TORTURE [ 23 December 1954 ] Duncan McPherson, Assistant Commissioner of Kenya’s colonial police, was a rare exception to the norm of complete British indifference to the suffering of ordinary Kenyans. TONY BLAIR ACCEPTS HOLIDAY HOSPITALITY FROM DICTATOR MUBARAK [ 23…

BRITISH SLAVE SHIP THROWS ITS CARGO OVERBOARD AND CLAIMS ON ITS INSURERS [ 29 November 1781 ] On this day in 1781, Captain Luke Collingwood, commanding the British slave ship Zong headed for Jamaica, ordered his crew to murder one third of his cargo of African slaves by throwing them overboard. He had earlier gambled…

GENERAL ON HIS TROOPS ‘BURNING EVERY VILLAGE WITHIN REACH’ [ 20 August 1920 ] On 20 August 1920, Major General George A.J. Leslie, commanding the 17th Indian Division in Iraq, wrote to his wife Edith in India, informing her that Brigadier General H.A. Walker’s column, comprising two British and six Indian battalions was ‘slowly working…

WORRIES ABOUT THE WRONG SORT OF SPIN OVER GUANTANAMO. Writing in his diary on 16 January 2002, Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s Director of Communications, expressed his deep concern over the potential political fallout from a recent statement by US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld which had attracted unwelcome media attention. Please feel welcome to post comments…