5 AUGUST

MINISTER IN PHOTO OP WITH COLOMBIAN DEATH SQUADS GENERAL [ 11 February 2008 ] On 11 February 2008, The Guardian published a photo of a smiling Foreign Office Minister, Kim Howells, posing alongside General Mario Montoya, head of the Colombian Army, along with soldiers from the High Mountains Battalions (HMB). These were infamous elite units…

SCOTTISH REBEL WILLIAM WALLACE STRANGLED, CASTRATED AND DISEMBOWLED. On this day in 1305, William Wallace, the legendary Scottish rebel, was found guilty of refusing to recognise English rule. He was drawn behind horses for five miles, then strangled, castrated, disembowled while still, although barely, alive before being finally beheaded and quartered. His severed head was…

BRITISH OPIUM EXPORTS TO CHINA SOAR. [ 31 December 1879 ] By this day in 1879, 105,000 chests of opium had been exported by Britain to China during the year.  Each chest contained 63 kg of opium. The volume of trade in the lethal drug had increased exponentially from 4,000 chests at the start of the…

LET THE SAUDIS BEHAVE AS THEY WANT TO, SO LONG AS THEY REMAIN AN ALLY. 4 October 1993 – Addressing a conference entitled “Inside Saudi Arabia” at London’s Chatham House, Margaret Thatcher declared that she considered the country “a strong force for moderation and stability,” that she was “a great admirer of Saudi Arabia and…

THE BRITISH STAGE A COUP IN SHARJAH. 24 June 1965 – The British orchestrated a coup in the emirate of Sharjah to remove Sheikh Saqr, who was considered to have too great an interest in independent development and had even allowed the Arab League to have a role in the small kingdom’s decision making, at…