Forget statues and help modern slaves – Letters

Protesters should be addressing today’s problems, says a reader

The Winston Churchill statue in Parliament Square, London, before it was covered up to save it from protesters (Picture: PA)

Current protests over slavery/slave trading/empire/colonialism move me to share some lessons I learned when I used primary sources in the National and Northern Ireland Archives to research an ancestor who served in the Royal African Corps in West Africa 1804-1813. First, most maritime European countries engaged in slave trading, but in 1807 Britain was the first to ban it. The gap left by British slave traders was filled by France and Spain, which did not ban it until 1818 and 1820 respectively. Despite the demands of the Napoleonic wars Britain immediately allocated warships to try to enforce its ban. In 1808 the British government took over responsibility for Sierra Leone, established in 1788 by British abolitionists as a home for freed and escaped slaves. Large groups came from America via Canada and Jamaica. In this wider context, does Britain not deserve greater credit than some other countries?

Second, in 1809 Britain ejected the French from mainland Senegal, then in 1810 my ancestor was appointed Assistant Commissary, responsible for Army supplies. He inherited a 23-page list of the names of “the kings and princes of the continent” and what they were to be paid annually “to ensure harmony and facilitate commerce”. The sources of slaves were the regular and frequent wars between the African princes, after which the victors sold their captives to slave traders. The profits were such that British merchants’ proposals for alternative sources of income from such things as indigo, cotton, cocoa and coffee failed. Today, do we hear enough about the role of African kings and princes in selling their countrymen into slavery or is this information inconvenient for some people?

Slavery and people trafficking are recognised as a major problem in the modern world. Why don’t protesters direct their efforts at solving today’s problems? What does removing historical street names and statues do for victims of modern slavery?

Hamish Johnston

Macleod Road, Balloch, Inverness

Pyramid scheme

Clark Cross’s claim that slaves built the pyramids (Letter, 15 June) is without evidence or merit. That idea began with the Greek historian Herodotus and was later propagated by Hollywood films.

The expert view is that the builders came from poor Egyptian families from the north and the south, who were respected for their work, so much so that those who died during construction were bestowed the honour of being buried in the tombs near the sacred pyramids of their pharaohs. They were not slaves but free Egyptian citizens, paid for their work and well looked after.

Steuart Campbell, Dovecot Loan, Edinburgh

Whose hero?

I disagree strongly with the sentiments expressed in your editorial “Unionist or nationalist” (11 June).To suggest that “ unionists are in trouble” because Billy Connolly, “a national treasure” is now supporting Scottish independence is preposterous.

For many Scots, including myself, Billy Connolly is far from being a national treasure. He is a crude, stand-up comedian who likes to shock by swearing and has made a lot of money by exploiting his working class roots.

Like actors, Sean Connery, Alan Cumming and Brian Cox, who are feted by SNP leaders for their avowed support of Scottish independence, Billy Connolly chooses to live in the US and seems unlikely to return to Scotland.

I refuse to accept Nicola Sturgeon’s assertion, referred to in your editorial, that the kind of nationalism she and her party peddle in Scotland is “far removed” from the nationalism that some “ rightly fear”.

Because of the SNP, Scotland has degenerated into a hate-filled, bitterly divided country where aspiration and achievement are denigrated and hatred towards England, where many of our relatives and friends live, is encouraged.

Any opposition politician or member of the public holding the Scottish Government to account is labelled a bully or a traitor and subjected to vicious cybernat abuse. Nicola Sturgeon’s vocal support for the Black Lives Matter and the LGBT movements amount, in my view, to little more than a cynical attempt to hijack any minority movement to gain more votes for independence which, for her, “transcends” everything.

Sally Gordon-Walker, Caiystane Drive, Edinburgh

Not OK computer

I see that the BBC sketch show Little Britain has been in the news recently regarding the racial nature of one of its sketches. The name Little Britain, or to be more precise Little Scotland, just about sums up where we stand at the moment.

It also brings to mind a rather appropriate sketch from that same show. A young couple are in an office waiting for some positive news, but the soulless respondent comes back with “computer says no”. That is just about what passes for government in Scotland these days.

Can I go back to work? Computer says no.

Can my kids go back to school and get a proper education? Computer says no.

Can I have my life back? Computer says no.

Decisions which affect the whole nation are being made by a machine, a computer which spits out a number. Not any decisions based on scientific or medical facts, but a computer-generated number.

Our elected representatives could do well to remember that not only can the computer say no, but so can the voters.

David Mackenzie, Fairfield Road, Inverness

Dying to shop?

It used to be a common saying, “shop till you drop”. Viewing the pictures of the queues at the possible premature re-opening of unessential shops in England, it appears in many cases that two-metre rule outside was not being adhered to, possibly due to the rumours of reduction to one metre!

The government in England for English internal affairs is eager for folk to spend and open up the economy, not primarily to ensure that the pandemic is reduced enough before easing.

The poor hapless citizens, (or are they “subjects” in England?), should beware of rushing out. Shop till you drop could lead to their simply dropping, having succumbed to the virus.

Is your life worth a few baubles at this time to satisfy the increase in government tax yields for Boris Johnson, Gove and Co?

John Edgar, Langmuir Quadrant, Kilmaurs

Retail therapy

It’s fantastic to see, after many weeks, decent numbers of shoppers being calm and sensible, maintaining social distancing and, hopefully, kick-starting the economy – in England, that is. In Scotland, where Nicola Sturgeon fondly claims to treat us like grown-ups, shopping is largely forbidden.

Martin Redfern, Melrose, Roxburghshire

... and statistics

Mary Thomas (Letters, 15 June) states that deaths from Covid-19 in Scotland as of Friday 12 June were 2,439.

Why does she choose to use Public Health Scotland (PHS) statistics as opposed to statistics from the National Records of Scotland (NRS), which stated that deaths from Covid-19 were in the region of 4,000?

Nicola Sturgeon also uses the statistics from PHS as opposed to NRS – I am perplexed as to why and look forward to clarification.

Douglas Cowe

Alexander Avenue, Kingseat, Newmachar, Aberdeenshire

A milder Macbeth

You review a version of Shakespeare’s play (“Brief and bloody Macbeth is a triumph for Citizens”, Scotsman Sessions, 15 June). As fiction the play may be a masterpiece but it is unfortunate that many take it as history. Macbeth had a largely peaceful reign of 17 years. His predecessor, Duncan, died in battle. Macbeth was on the other side in that battle. Whether or not he personally killed Duncan it was certainly not in the way depicted by Shakespeare. Can or should we try to correct such misconceptions? We could replace Henry Dundas on the monument in Saint Andrew Square with Macbeth, as a person more worthy of commemoration (to be serious, a statue of Saint Andrew might be more appropriate).

David Stevenson, Blacket Place, Edinburgh

For shame

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said that the scenes in George Square over the weekend were “shameful”. However, her predecessor and party opened the Pandora’s box of divisive identity politics in Scotland in the early years of the last decade and have never attempted to remedy the situation, with demands for another indyref every year since 2014, with only a global pandemic stopping them temporarily.

Like all identity-based organisations, the SNP asked us all to make a messy binary choice.

I’m sure most of us were relatively content and secure before this. Telling the majority of the population what to think and say while denigrating their history and achievements has not worked out as planned but has stifled any potential conciliation.

The SNP have tried to erase parts of British identity and history in Scotland with a slow-burning and semi-planned vehemence. They continue to jump on any popular, virtue signalling, social-justice bandwagon where convenient and politically prudent, while ignoring endemic human rights issues in genuine authoritarian regimes.

Such anger wasn’t a feature on the Scottish political and cultural landscape a decade ago. What changed? Who’s in charge?

David Bone, Hamilton Street, Girvan, South Ayrshire

Oh, do be quiet

I’m getting on a bit so it takes a lot to disgust me but am I the only one nauseated by the constant letters from supporters of both sides of the independence argument trying to prove which government has done best or worst? Thousands have died so why don’t they give political point scoring a rest?

Ian Lewis, Mayfield Terrace, Edinburgh

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