5 APRIL

Inglorious moments deleted from mainstream history – A daily reminder of how Britain has always acted ruthlessly to deter dissent and democracy. “The reason why the sun never sets on the British Empire is because God doesn’t trust the British in the dark“ — Anon Please return regularly as I continue to post more day…

CHANCELLOR ECSTATIC AS ‘INDIA’S HORDES’ FORCED TO SELL GOLD [ 20 February 1932 ] Today in 1932, Neville Chamberlain, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in a letter to his sister, happily acknowledged that ‘the astonishing gold mine we have discovered in India’s hordes has put us in clover.’ Please feel welcome to post comments below. …

  THATCHER REFUSES TO DISCUSS NELSON MANDELA’S RELEASE [ 15 July 1988 ] On this day in 1988, British prime minister Margaret Thatcher replied to Bishop Trevor Huddleston, who was asking her to pressure the South African government to release Nelson Mandela.  He had requested that she might meet himself and 25 activists who were…

BARELY A RAZED EYEBROW AFTER NAZI SALUTE AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE. There was almost no diplomatic, media or public criticism when Hitler’s ambassador, Joachim von Ribbentrop, greeted King George VI at Buckingham Palace, on 4 February 1937, with a Nazi salute. BRITISH SUBMARINE SECONDS AWAY FROM A NUCLEAR CATASTROPHE. In the early hours of 4th February…

BRITISH ARMY MAKES NO ATTEMPT TO PREVENT EXECUTION OF  IRAQI CHRISTIAN. [ 24 December 2003 ] On this day in 2003 British soldiers failed to intervene when local Shia militia executed a Christian man in the town’s main marketplace for the crime of selling alcohol. Over the preceding months, following the joint British-American invasion in…

When considering how we learn about and remember British history, it is worth considering some comments by the linguist and political activist Noam Chomsky, who is well known for being unusually critical of American foreign policy and its long record of military interventions overseas. He makes an incisive observation about the fate of historical anniversaries,…