The Radio 4 Today programme this morning had Max Hastings and the London Mayor’s Director of Equalities and Policing, Lee Jasper, “debating” the notion of apologising for slavery this morning. Jasper was arguing for an institutional apology for slavery and Max Hastings was not. Hastings said:
Ken Livingstone and the Mayor of London’s office are playing their usual political games. Political flatulence at the council taxpayers’ expense.
Quite so. Jasper’s salary was £117,882 last year.
The British state does not need to apologise for inventing the institutions that destroyed slavery, the British Parliament and the British Navy. Doh!
Phil Taylor 
3 replies on “Political flatulence”
doh!???? please explain
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I’m not always the greatest fan of Max, but that was a great turn of phrase for five to eight in the morning.
As for Jasper, as far as I can make out, he seems to have been sponging off taxpayers for most of his adult life (ex-advisor to ILEA, ex £500 per day “community relations” trainer to Met, etc etc). And his current salary is cause of deep hurt among the taxpaying community. A formal apology is needed from Mayor Livingstone.
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Bob,
During the 18th century a little set of thoughts called the Enlightenment came together. Concepts like human rights (although they were not called this then) were invented. In Britain this thinking coincided with a religious revival and the British parliament abolished the slave trade. Happily Britain was coincidentally the world’s greatest military power and it quite arbitrarily decided to impose its will on the entire planet and abolish the slave trade worldwide. None of this happened fast enough and slavery was a great crime against humanity but the last institution that should apologise for it is the British state. The Mayor and his expensive mouthpiece Jasper want the British state to apologise. It should not and maybe Jasper who speaks on both equalities and policing should spend more time trying to stop young boys being knifed to death in London today.
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