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The government has agreed to use British taxpayers money to pay for the first airstrip on the remote island of St Helena. The decision was welcomed by Tory party donor Lord Ashcroft, who has been campaigning for a runway for the British territory. It will mean that anyone wanting to get to the territory will no longer be forced to catch the "Royal Mail Ship" from Cape Town which takes more than week. Just over 4,000 "Saints" live on St Helena, an island so remote it was used to imprison Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815. Andrew Mitchell, the International Development Secretary, reversed a Labour government decision to scrap plans to connect the island, which lies more that 1,200 miles off the African coast. The decision to build an airstrip was forced by the imminent retirement of RMS St Helena, currently the island's only lifeline to the world. The cost of replacing the ship would be around £60 million while the airstrip is likely to cost in excess of £100 million. Mr Mitchell said: "It's time to stop the years of dithering and give the people of St Helena the decision they have been waiting for since an airport was first promised by the Government in 2003. "But these are tough times and we need to make sure we get the best deal for the UK taxpayer as well as for the people of St Helena." Lord Ashcroft has supported the campaign to get the air strip and last December he "buzzed" the island in his private jet and conducted an interview with a local radio station to lend his backing. He said: "I am delighted for the islanders that at long last it looks as though it is going to happen for them." The peer said St Helena had always held a "fascination" for him ever since, aged two, he stopped there with his family on the way to his father's first colonial post in Africa. He told The Daily Telegraph yesterday: "The story in my family was that when my parents' backs were turned, I fell into Napoleon's goldfish bowl. They carried me dripping with water back to the ship. "I have always wanted to go there, I have never really had the time or the opportunity, and I certainly hope I will be first or one of the first to land an aircraft there and visit." Lord Ashcroft, who has donated millions to the party through one of his companies, said he had been "aware" that the progress of the runway project was being reviewed. Last week he had a Parliamentary Question about the landing strip plans answered, Asked if he had contacted Mr Mitchell about the plans for the airstrip, he said: "I know Andrew, but not particularly over this matter. I was aware they were reviewing it." Sources close to Mr Mitchell said that Lord Ashcroft's interest in the project had not played any part in the decision. One said: "Lord Ashcroft has had nothing to do with this whatsoever. It will save money for the taxpayer in the long-term." Island officials believe a tourism boom helped by the air connection would wean the community off their dependence on Whitehall stipends. Financial aid from Whitehall to St Helena has risen to £20 million this year from £17 million last year. The island is the most costly of the 14 Overseas Territories retained by the Crown, which will collectively cost the taxpayer £59 million this year. It is run by a Governor appointed by the Foreign Office. Mr Mitchell said the continued reliance on the passenger boat service would condemn the island to a permanent future of aid dependency. "St Helena would stand little chance of becoming financially independent, meaning it would permanently rely on substantial annual budgetary and other support from HM Government," Mr Mitchell said. "A new ship would provide a costly service, but not a solution to St Helena's stagnation and perpetual dependence on UK aid support."

 

- Daily Telegraph, July 23, 2010

 

 

 

As England prepares to take the field against the dreaded Boche tomorrow afternoon, let's spare a thought for Arthur Chesterton, founder of the ill-fated League of Empire Loyalists. Product of a colonial demi-monde where the superiority of all things British seemed to have the logic of gravity, Chesterton launched a desperate bid in 1954 to turn back the tide and preserve the Empire. He lost, but his spirit lives on in a tiny corner of Africa. I refer here to the former colony of Natal, founded in the early l840s by Sir Benjamin d'Urban on a stretch of elephant-infested bush, somewhat north of British Caffraria and south, in those days, of almost nothing. Some would say d'Urban stole the land from the Zulu kingdom, but the occupiers of record in 1843 were Boer Voortrekkers, who reloaded their ox wagons and headed back into the wild interior rather than submit to Queen Victoria. English-speaking Natalians heaved a sigh of relief and proceeded to turn their territory into a shrine to straight bats, and stiff upper lips. Much water has since flowed under the proverbial bridge, but with the mother country facing deadly peril in the World Cup, diehard white Natalians stand ready to do the right thing with their Union Jacks. "The Boche will be trounced," cries Baden Woodford, leader of a jokey pro-British secessionist movement in the Sixties. "Of course I will support England," says Judith Smith, a well-bred architect who still holds a British passport and rides to hounds on weekends. "The Huns are just far too precise and, how can I put it, clinically Aryan," says Ms Lin Sampson, whose mantelpiece sports a photograph of her mother being presented to the Queen Mother in the late Forties. "Soccer is played and supported by hooligans. I tend to be more interested in Wimbledon. But I suppose one must rise to the occasion and support England in its hour of need." Colonialists, such as Ms Sampson, are inclined to grumble about their reduced position in today's South Africa, but want it known that they would be supporting the local boys if we were still in the tournament. Since we are not, waving the Union Jack is an attractive way of getting a rise out of Afrikaners like your humble narrator. Baby Boomers missed the worst of it but, as of 1974, there was still a measure of hostility between us – known colloquially as "hairybacks" or bloody Dutchmen – and the soutpiels of white Natal. Soutpiel means "salted penis" in Afrikaans and denotes a person with one foot in Africa and the other in England, a straddle so broad that his privates dangle in the sea. In 1974, Natal's rugby team was captained by Tommy Bedford, a soutpiel who found himself at constant odds with the hairybacks in the Afrikaans rugby establishment. They thought Englishmen were sissies who couldn't really play the game. Bedford thought they were chauvinist bullies. Tensions came to a head when Bedford's Natal side almost held their own against the rampant l974 British Lions, who had crushed the Springboks in three previous engagements. At a post-match reception, Bedford pointedly compared his English-speaking squad's honourable performance to the lacklustre showing of the Afrikaner-dominated national side. Then he famously gave the finger to the Springbok selectors, adding: "Welcome to the last outpost of the British Empire." The phrase stuck, for reasons that were instantly obvious to visitors. "In many ways," says businessman AD Harvey, "Natal was more British than the UK itself." A disgruntled Conservative who fled Britain after it joined the Common Market, Harvey was delighted to discover that white Natalians spoke his language, drove on the "correct" side of the road, and sent their sons to private schools modelled on Harrow and Eton. Even the place names were familiar – Margate, Ramsgate, Sevenoaks and Maidstone. Harvey was particularly impressed by the average Natalian's veneration for the Royal family. They turned out in force to watch a film about Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee, and on the Prince of Wales's wedding day, they stayed home to watch television in such numbers that downtown Durban was eerily empty. This was precisely the spirit that moved Arthur Chesterton to found his League of Empire Loyalists. An Englishman who grew up in Natal, Chesterton struggled to reconcile himself to the rise of the Labour Party, which seemed bent on ruining the brave and noble England of his boyhood imagination. When liberals started talking about giving the Empire away, too, Chesterton drew a line and stood behind it, fists raised. History marched right over him, but his fallen standard was resurrected in Durban two decades later. The new imperial movement was led by Ken Pottinger, who styled himself "colonial governor" and presided over formal dinners where drunken students would toast the Queen and hatch plans to secede from the rest of South Africa. History fails to record what Natal's Zulus made of such shenanigans. Perhaps they were amused. It is certainly true that Zulus and Englishmen have always regarded one another with a degree of mutual fascination. To this day, you see Zulu warriors wearing leather skirts modelled on the kilts sported by Scottish Highlanders in the colonial wars of another century. And the British have always romanticised the "spear-wielding savages" who walloped them at Isandlwana in 1879. "Sunday will be a good day to remember that battle," says Rob Caskie, who runs guided tours of Isandlwana and nearby Rorke's Drift, where that tiny contingent of British infantrymen mounted their desperate last stand. According to Caskie, the British soldiers were stunted runts for the most part, 5ft3in on average and outnumbered 30 to one by muscular Zulus, but they stood firm and carried the day, winning 11 VCs in the process. "The British have a great history of standing and fighting," says Caskie. "Perhaps the English players need to remember that." As to my own preferences, I might be a hairyback, but I grew up on a diet of war comics in which the Englishmen were always dashing and self-effacing, while the Huns played the bad guys. I will be supporting England on Sunday.

 

- Rian Malan’s “World Cup Diary”, Daily Telegraph, June 26, 2010

 

 

5 platoon No 2 Company 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards

 

It became known as “the battle of Crossing Point One”. In a series of suicidal attacks late last year, hard-core Taliban fighters tried to over-run an isolated British base on the northern tip of Nad e’Ali. Had the insurgents succeeded, the victory would have been a propaganda coup par excellence, and the British mission in central Helmand could have been seriously jeopardised. For two gruelling weeks in the area of Luy Mandah, 30 soldiers fought a 360-degree battle with the Taliban in the most arduous conditions. The combat was often at close quarters where bayonets were fixed and hand grenades became the weapons of choice for the beleaguered British troops. By the battle’s end, every man in the platoon was credited with at least one Taliban kill. The battle proper began on the night of November 4 last year, just a few hours after five members of the battlegroup in another part of the district were shot dead by a rogue Afghan policeman. The troops’ morale had been dented three weeks earlier when a member of their company had been fatally wounded by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). Such was the force of the blast that Guardsman Jamie Janes suffered a quadruple amputation. As the troops carried Janes’s shattered body back to their base, they were ambushed by Taliban. Scores needed to be settled. The troops from 5 Platoon No 2 Company 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, commanded by Lieutenant Craig Shephard, 24, and Sergeant Dean Bailey, 36, decided to exploit the Taliban’s fondness for attacking wounded soldiers by constructing an ambush based on a fake IED strike. After the explosives were detonated, the Taliban – as expected – quickly appeared with a two-man Pakistani sniper team leading the way. As the British troops pulled back to the base, the Pakistanis were shot dead by hidden British snipers – both dispatched with head shots from 400 metres. When the Taliban pushed forward towards the base, they were cut down by raking machine-gun fire and Javelin missiles. After two hours of fighting, 10 Taliban lay dead. “The ambush was a case of thinking out of the box,” recalled Lt Shephard. “We wanted to outsmart them by using their tactics. We knew that they would ambush what they thought was an IED attack so we set up a trap.” The following day, the platoon commander led a patrol to assess the damage. But this time the Taliban was waiting. “At the time, I called it a 'simple patrol’ – I will never use that phrase again,” said Lt Shephard. As the patrol pushed into enemy territory, it was ambushed. Accurate and sustained machine-gun fire and barrages of rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) kept the troops pinned down for almost an hour. “The fire was so intense and accurate – we simply couldn’t move,” recalled Sgt Bailey. “If we had tried to move, we would have been cut to pieces.” The troops eventually managed to withdraw after a smoke screen was laid by mortar fire. But as they pulled back to the relative safety of the base, the Taliban attacked in force. “You couldn’t make it up,” the sergeant added. “There were four sangar [sentry posts] in the corners of our compound being hit at the same time. It was 360-degree warfare.” As the base came under intense fire, a group of Taliban used an irrigation ditch to move up to one of the compound’s rear walls. There was a real risk that the insurgents might breach the base’s security. With little thought for his personal safety, and knowing that drastic action was required, Sgt Bailey, with two of his corporals, filled their ammunition pouches with grenades, fixed bayonets, and charged 50 metres [55 yards] across a field to reach the wall behind which dozens of Taliban were preparing for an assault.“We lobbed high-explosive grenades into the ditch from behind the wall. It worked. We killed or injured them all,” said Sergeant Bailey. The fighting lasted for most of the day. By sunset, the British troops estimated they had killed another 30 Taliban – bringing the number of enemy dead to 40 in less than 24 hours. Back in enemy territory, a force of around 100 to 150 Taliban fighters – including Chechens, Arabs and English-speaking Islamists from south Asia – was preparing more attacks. Their original plan was to create havoc for the second round of the presidential elections, but after they were cancelled, Taliban commanders focused their attention on Crossing Point One. The battle continued for days with such regularity that the soldiers knew that it would begin in the morning after breakfast, followed by a lull at midday, and would then continue until sunset. “It was like Zulu,” said Sgt Bailey. “The Taliban just kept coming and coming. It was suicidal. The more they sent, the more we killed.”

 

- Sunday Telegraph, March 21, 2010

 

 

 

To his political foes, he is an unlikely champion of the underdog, but, two years after he launched a campaign in the Caribbean to prevent the resumption of commercial whaling, Lord Ashcroft has chosen another unlikely cause: the isolated islanders of St Helena. The billionaire Tory peer is so enraged that the Government has "reneged" on its pledge to build an airport on the remote British overseas territory - famous as the location for Napoleon Bonaparte's final exile - that he has staged a private protest. With the island in the middle of the South Atlantic down to a population of less than 5,000 and in danger of a terminal decline, Lord Ashcroft recently diverted his private plane – en route from Namibia [South-West Africa] to Brazil – to "buzz" the islanders, who are frustrated that the Department for International Trade and Development has announced a review of the £300 million airport project. "St Helena is one of the most beautiful places on earth and Michael [Ashcroft] fears that abandoning the airport project would sound the death knell for the island," says a friend of the peer. "So he decided to fly at very low altitudes over St Helena in a personal show of support for the islanders." Mike Olsson, who runs the island's newspaper and private radio station, interviewed Lord Ashcroft live on air as the peer made his unusual protest. "Anything that Lord Ashcroft, or anyone else, does to give us exposure on this issue is welcome."

 

- Sunday Telegraph, January 3, 2010

 

 

 

With shovel in hand the Queen, who was wearing a paisley turquoise skirt and jacket and matching hat, patted down the earth around the sapling, while officials from the building in Hamilton looked on. The three day visit to Bermuda was organised to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the settlement on the island. Earlier the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh joined senior dignitaries at a Thanksgiving service commemorating the efforts of the island's founding fathers. The royal couple arrived on Bermuda on Tuesday and are due to travel on to Trinidad and Tobago.

 

- Daily Telegraph, November 27, 2009

 

 

 

The Duke of York has urged the Government and the public to be more vocal in their support for British troops fighting a “difficult” war in Afghanistan. “It all comes back to leadership. They [the soldiers] want to know the leadership is concerned in their welfare” said the Duke, who was a Fleet Air Arm helicopter pilot in the Falklands conflict. “They are tremendously loyal people fighting in a campaign and they are being remarkably more successful at it than is being adequately communicated. The troops need to know there are people who think that the job that they are doing is unbelievable. It should come from everyone, not just the Government.” The Duke said that while he understood public misgivings over the military operation, it was right to fight the Taliban. “If we were not to try to make a change and difference in Afghanistan then it would affect our nation state,” he said. “At the time in 2003 there was a clear and present danger to the UK.”

 

- Daily Telegraph, October 24, 2009

 

 

 

Michael Palin, the travel writer and former Monty Python star, has said that Britain should stop apologising for its colonial past. While the Empire – at its height controlling a third of the world’s population – had many, often brutal, failings, its positive effects were still being felt today, he said. Palin has just taken up the role of president of the Royal Geographical Society and, in an interview in Geographical magazine, he said: "If we say that all of our past involvement with the world was bad and wicked and wrong, I think we're doing ourselves a great disservice. "It has set up lines of communication between people that are still very strong. We still have links with other countries – culturally, politically and socially – that, perhaps, we shouldn't forget. "I want the Society headquarters to be a place where an international community gathers, to talk to each other and feel comfortable about talking to each other." Palin's view was welcomed by British historians, who warned that the hand-wringing risked masking the Empire's achievements, from the building of the Indian railways to spreading of the English judicial system. Andrew Roberts, the author of Masters and Commanders, said: "Allelulia! Mr Palin is quite right to acknowledge that the British Empire has been taught in a particularly abject way in recent years. The multifarious benefits of the Empire are something of which Britain should be proud."

 

- Daily Telegraph, October 2, 2009

 

 

 

A South African man has been granted refugee status by Canada's immigration and refugee board, which has found "clear and convincing proof" he was persecuted for being White. Brandon Huntley, 31, "would stand out like a 'sore thumb' due to his colour in any part of the country", the board's panel chair, William Davis, said in his decision. Huntley, who grew up in Mowbray, said he had been attacked seven times and stabbed four times "by African South Africans" between 1991 and 2003. Davis found he "was a victim because of his race rather than a victim of criminality". He said the evidence offered by Huntley, immigration lawyer Russell Kaplan and witness Lara Kaplan, who emigrated to Canada last year, "shows a picture of indifference and inability or unwillingness of the government and security forces to protect white South Africans from persecution by African South Africans". Canadian High Commission spokeswoman Valery Yiptong said on Monday night that the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) functioned much like the South African Home Affairs' sub-directorate for refugee affairs. Davis is a member of the board's refugee protection division. Huntley first travelled to Canada on a six-month work permit in 2004 and worked as a carnival attendant. He went back to Canada in 2005 and, after his work permit expired, he stayed on illegally until making his refugee claim in April last year. Huntley told the tribunal he had been called "a White dog" and "a settler" when attacked. He had not reported any of the attacks to the police because "the majority of them are South Africans and he did not trust them". Huntley also said he had been able to find employment only because of family connections. He was otherwise prohibited from finding work by the country's affirmative action policies. "Upon his return to South Africa (at the end of 2004), he knew that he could not survive there any more. He was constantly afraid and he knew there was no future from a security (and financial) point of view because of his skin colour", the decision said, noting Huntley's allegations. Testifying before the tribunal, Russell Kaplan's sister, Lara Kaplan, told how their brother Robert had been tortured and shot three times by a group of Black South Africans who had broken into his home. Davis said he found Huntley a credible witness as his story was consistent and "plausible". Lara Kaplan's testimony enhanced and supported his claims that "persecution of White South Africans by African South Africans (is) a common event today in South Africa". Russell Kaplan, who moved from South Africa to Canada in 1989, called Davis's finding a "landmark case".

 

- AfricanCrisis, September 1, 2009

 

 

 

Tony Blair has called for Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe, to be “toppled” as soon as possible. “If you can do, then you should do it,” he said in an interview with the German magazine Stern. “I think whoever has the possibility should topple Mugabe - the man has destroyed his country, many people have died unnecessarily because of him.” Mr. Blair’s comments do not specify military action but he hinted that intervention may be needed.

 

- Daily Telegraph, July 23, 2009

 

 

 

The Turks and Caicos Islands are set to return to direct British rule as early as tomorrow after an inquiry found the overseat territory was rife with political corruption. A British governor will take over daily rule for at least two years in the restoration of a colonial-style government, and the constitution of the group of Caribbean islands will be suspended after allegations were heard of systematic corruption involving current and past politicians and a widespread culture of fear. At the heart of the row is Michael Misick, the former prime minister, who allegedly built up a multi-million-dollar fortune after being elected in 2003 through a series of loans from banks and deals with property developers for land owned by the Crown. Gordon Wetherell, the British governor, will take executive and legislative authority from the House of Assembly and a series of police investigations will begin into allegations of skulduggery in business and nepotism. The islands, at the southern tip of the Bahamas chain, lure some 300,000 tourists a year to the sandy beaches and coral reefs, and have long served as a tropical playground for celebrities such as Keith Richards and Bruce Willis.

 

- Daily Telegraph, June 16, 2009

 

 

Royal Navy warships have again clashed with Spanish vessels trying to invade British waters in a tense stand-off, it emerged yesterday. In an echo of historic battles between the Spanish and Sir Francis Drake and the sinking of the Armada in 1588, British sailors have repulsed a bid by the Spanish navy to take control of the seas around Gibraltar. Patrol boats from the Rock’s Navy squadron were scrambled to see off a heavily-armed Spanish corvette that strayed into UK waters. The Government confirmed last night that strong protests had been made to Madrid amid suggestions that Spain’s defence attaché had been called in for a dressing-down. A Foreign Office spokesman said: “It’s a violation of British sovereignty and something we take very seriously indeed. We have made strong representations to the Spanish government.”

 

- The Daily Express, May 23, 2009

 

 

 

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is reportedly visiting Sierra Leone this week to promote the country's potential as a ‘tourism hotspot’. In Freetown, Blair will meet President Ernest Koroma as part of his Africa Governance Initiative, which has done much to try and raise the war-weary country from the ruins of a decade-long internal war. "During this visit Tony Blair will particularly focus on the tourism potential of the country and the fact that Sierra Leone is being recognised as an emerging destination," said a spokesperson for Blair. The visit will be Blair's fourth to Sierra Leone - he has previously been to the country in February 2002, May 2007, and June 2008. Under his leadership, Britain sent in White Para’s at the height of the slaughter and anarchy - who were mobbed during their departure by the black population, who openly advocated the return of British, White rule.

 

- Southern Cross Africa News, April 28, 2009

 

 

 

In early 2009 a new monument in honour of the Royal Marines was unveiled and dedicated in Gibraltar. On Saturday 28th February 2009 the Royal Marines exercised their Freedom of the Rock by marching down Main Street to the Governor’s Residence at The Convent with bayonets fixed, colours flying and band playing, after which a reception was held at The Convent. The following day, Sunday 1st March 2009, the monument was unveiled by the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, The Honourable Peter Caruana QC, and in the evening a special concert was staged by the Band of the Royal Marines, Scotland, under the direction of Lt.Col. Chris Davis OBE, BA(Hons), MMus., DMA, LRAM, RM, the Principal Director of Music, Royal Marines, at St.Michael’s Cave.

 

Pictured (left to right): The Band of the Royal Marines, Scotland, reach the gates of The Convent; The Hon. Peter Caruana QC, Chief Minister of Gibraltar, speaking just prior to unveiling the monument; Members of the Royal Marines Association assemble at the newly unveiled monument.

 

 

 

A Cambridge college has found itself at the centre of controversy after choosing a colonial theme for this year’s May Ball. Emmanuel College is holding its annual black-tie event in celebration of the British Empire. Organisers promise guests a trip through the Indian Raj, Australia, the West Indies and Hong Kong as they celebrate “the Victorian commonwealth and all its decadences”. In its advertising, the ball’s organisers write: “The British Empire was the biggest empire ever, bar none. They say that the sun never set on the British Empire - but at the Empire Ball you’ll be wishing it never rises. We invite you to celebrate the Pax Britannica and party like it’s 1899”.

 

- Daily Telegraph, February 10, 2009

 

 

Royal Navy sailors killed three pirates off the Somalia coast yesterday in the first incident of lethal action being taken by the British against the growing problem. It was believed to have been the first time that the Navy had taken lives at sea since the Falklands War and possibly the first pirates it had killed in centuries. Fast sea boats from the frigate Cumberland were launched after a dhow refused to stop when it was identified as being involved in an earlier hijack attempt on a Danish ship. When the ratings from the Type 22 frigate began circling the dhow, the pirates opened fire on them. In an intense exchange of fire, two Somalis were killed by machine guns firing from the Navy boats. Cowed by the gunfire, the dhow crew surrendered. The sailors boarded the boat and found two bodies and a seriously injured Yemeni pirate. He was treated by the Cumberland’s doctor but died from his wounds.

 

-  Daily Telegraph, November 13, 2008

 

 

 

The Gibraltar Chronicle has an article on its website today saying that Jorge Argüello, Argentina’s Permanent Representative at the United Nations, is the new Chairman of the UN Fourth Committee, the Special Political and Decolonisation Committee. The Gibraltar Chronicle describes him as a "hawk" over the Falklands, and says that "He is one of the last people Gibraltar – less still the Falklands – would have hoped to have seen nominated". The Gibraltar Chronicle says that Gibraltar Prime Minister Peter Caruana and Opposition Leader Joe Bossano will face Argüello in two weeks time at the UN.

 

-  report sent by PPR, September 20, 2008

 

        

http://www.360sas.co.uk/

 

More than 3,500 insurgents have been "taken off the streets of Baghdad" by the elite British force in a series of audacious "Black Ops" over the past two years. It is understood that while the majority of the terrorists were captured, several hundred, who were mainly members of the organisation known as "al-Qa'eda in Iraq" have been killed by the SAS. The SAS is part of a highly secretive unit called "Task Force Black" which also includes Delta Force, the US equivalent of the SAS. The prime targets have been those intent on joining the wave of suicide car bombers that claimed around 3,000 lives a month in Baghdad at the height of the terrorist campaign in 2006. Using intelligence gleaned from spies and informers, Task Force Black has nearly broken the back of the terrorist network and reduced bombings in Baghdad from about 150 a month to just two. A senior British officer told The Sunday Telegraph: "We took over 3,500 terrorists off the streets of Baghdad in around 18 months. "You could say it was a very successful period. But the butcher's bill was high. The attrition rate is equivalent to that experienced by the SAS during the Malayan insurgency 50 years ago.

 

-  Sunday Telegraph, August 31, 2008

 

 

 

The commander of British troops in Afghanistan has said that aggressive tactics by special forces had “decapitated” the Taliban leadership. He said the war had reached a “tipping point”. Brig. Mark Carleton-Smith said the new “Reaper” aerial combat drones and commando raids had killed scores of insurgency leaders and disrupted links between the Taliban and their allies in Pakistan. “I can therefore judge the Taliban insurgency a failure at the moment,” said Brig. Carleton-Smith, 44. “We have reached the tipping point.” But it is the “very effective targeted decapitation operations” that have removed “several echelons of commanders” that have left the insurgents on the brink of defeat, the head of Task Force Helmand said. “The Taliban are much weaker,” he said. “The tide is clearly ebbing not flowing for them. Their chain of command is disrupted and they are short of weapons and ammunition.” The killing of Mullah Dadullah, the Taliban chief, last year was “a seminal moment in dislocating” their operation, he said.

 

-  Daily Telegraph, June 2, 2008

 

 

 

As regards news from Gibraltar, you may have heard that action in the local Algeciras courts by an environmental group has made it dangerous for our Chief Minister to cross the border into Spain, as he is accused of being partly responsible for not dealing speedily enough with the environmental threat of the "New Flame", a foreign ship that ran aground off Europa Point. The real issue is that the Algeciras Court has apparently ruled that the Chief Minister has a case to answer in a Spanish Court, since the vessel is in Spanish territorial waters though less than a mile from land! Zapatero's socialist government, which has so far been unrecognisably fair to Gibraltar, will have to do something about this embarrassment, which could wreck the tripartite talks (UK, Gib and Spain) on restoring normality. The villain of the piece is La Linea Mayor Juarez, who has brought the charges and made them personal to Peter Caruana. There's one born every moment! HMG will, it is expected, stand very firm on this one; and since Gibraltar has no navy, we may yet have to invoke the spirit of Horatio Nelson, your hero.

 

-  report sent by MXS, March 31, 2008

 

 

 

Hero Prince Harry rescued underfire comrades in Afghanistan by calling in bomber jets using the anonymous call sign Widow Six-Seven, The Sun can reveal. Acting as an emergency air controller, Harry helped crush a Taliban attack and kill about 30 enemy fanatics. The young prince also saw off an enemy raid on his tiny lookout post by leaping on to a heavy machine gun and blasting the rebels away. It was the first time he had ever used the fearsome weapon. Harry sent bursts of fire across 550 yards of no-man’s land - with only distant puffs of smoke from enemy rifles to serve as his target.

 

-  The Sun, February 29, 2008

 

 

 

Australia Day (January 26th) was marked by several events in London in 2008. New Britain staged their traditional ceremony at the bust of Admiral Arthur Phillip (the founder of Sydney and the first Governor of Australia) in the City of London, where a floral tribute was laid by Mr. Dennis Delderfield, the National Chairman of the organisation. The Australian National Anthem was then sung, before a march headed by an Australian flag-bearer set off for the near-by St.Katherine Cree Church where a special service to mark Australia Day was held. Throughout the day special Australia Day celebrations were also held at the Australian-themed Walkabout pub near Temple which was attended by an estimated 2000 people - most adorned with the REAL Australian flag! The Australian National Anthem was constantly played throughout the evening - as well as the New Zealand National Anthem at the end of the night! Apart from masses of expat Australians and New Zealanders and the inevitable “Pommies”, there were also a number of South Africans and at least one South-West African present at this crowded event - thus confirming the continuing friendship and unity between the pan-British people around the globe.

 

Pictures [from left to right]: a few of the people attending New Britain’s ceremony at the bust of Admiral Arthur Phillip; Mr. Dennis Delderfield laying the floral tribute at the bust; revellers at the Walkabout Australia Day celebrations later during the evening.

 

 

 

A battalion of soldiers received a heroes' welcome last night after a six-month tour of duty in Iraq. Their families cheered as the 160 men from the 1Bn Royal Horse Artillery arrived at Tidworth Camp, Wiltshire. Lance Bombardier Chris Sweeney, 25, hugged his wife Abbie, 30, and their 18-month old twins Bethany and Sophia. L/Bdr Sweeney, from Nuneaton, Warks, said: "We were guarding the guns 24/7 and sometimes it was up to fifty degrees. It was awful, but that's the job we are doing." Half the battalion performed strike and search operations south of Basra, while the rest of the troops were sent to Az Zubayr in southern Iraq. Alex Gray, the captain, said: "We killed 18 insurgents without losing one of our own. The younger lads did very well. They did their jobs and were very brave."

 

-  Daily Telegraph, November 29, 2007

 

 

 

A recent disclosure by a former British chief of the defence staff about discussions concerning a possible military intervention in Zimbabwe with Tony Blair has been taken up by the Zimbabwean regime as 'proof' of 'British sinister motives'. General Sir Charles Guthrie, who served between 1997 and 2001 and was later ennobled, mentioned such a discussion and said his advice to the former British Prime Minister was to "hold hard, you'll make it worse". Now George Charamba, President Robert Mugabe's spokesman, claimed that Zimbabwe had deployed troops to combat a possible British "invasion" and also accused Gordon Brown of trying to assassinate key members of the regime. He added that only Britain's fear of the firepower of Mugabe's forces had averted the invasion 'because of the combat power of our army, drawn "from the finest elements of different military traditions"......Observers have pointed out that Zimbabwe's hyperinflation has left the Mugabe regime unable to feed its troops, let alone deploy them in battle. One pilot who fled to South Africa told how Zimbabwe's once effective air force is all but grounded.

 

-  Southern Cross Africa News, November 25, 2007

 

 

 

According to Mark Gevisser, the latest biographer of “new” South African president Thabo Mbeki, the ANC leader and his agents are actively canvassing support for him to win yet another term as party chief. Asked why Mbeki seemed so desperate to cling to the ANC's leadership, Gevisser said: "Why? I can only speculate. Firstly, [because] he doesn't believe his work is done; and then, he has actually been in control for 15 years. That doesn't mean that he thinks the country is his personal property. But 15 years is a very long time, combined with a certain power. Not necessarily to abuse, but the power to change things. Thirdly, and I think perhaps the most important, is that he and the people in his circle who are insisting that he should make himself available as president, honestly believe that a Zuma presidency would turn South Africa into another neo-colonial African basket case."

 

-  Southern Cross Africa News, November 19, 2007

 

 

 

Iraqi army officers in Basra are preparing to make a desperate plea for the return of British troops to patrolling the city to stem rising sectarian killings and political violence. Up to 40 people are being killed each day in Iraq's second city, say officers who have set a two-week deadline for security to be improved before they approach the British for help. The Iraqis say that unless the rate of killings can be curtailed, they will have no choice but to call in British forces, at present confined to an airfield on the outskirts of Basra, to resume their previous role. "We can't control Basra any more," said one Iraqi colonel, who disclosed that political divisions were leading to bloodshed even within the ranks of the army. "Our forces in the streets don't obey us - they obey their parties." He described a recent outbreak of fighting at a checkpoint manned by troops from rival Shia political factions. One of the soldiers was shot. Neighbourhoods in Basra have been divided between the two factions and another Shia grouping, the Al Fadila party, according to the officer, who also pointed to continuing sectarian killings of Sunnis, a minority group in the south. He and his colleagues resolved last week to seek British help if the violence continued unabated. "We stand between two fires," he said. "The first is the shame of telling the British that we need help, because the people will consider us as losers. The second is the number of the dead people? We have drawn up a plan to try to make the situation good in two weeks. If we can't do it we will ask for help from the British before another 1,000 soldiers leave Iraq. If there are no British left, we will be executed by the militias." Sunni Muslims in Basra are also mourning the absence of British patrols. Ahmed al-Dulaimy, a member of the Sunni Islamic party, told of more than 50 people killed by Shia militiamen in Al Zubair city and Abu Al Khaseeb after being kidnapped at checkpoints manned by Iraqi security forces. "The British were watching the checkpoints to stop the kidnapping and killings, but now the Shia militia do what they want to do and no one can stop them," he said. Major Mike Shearer, the British military spokesman in Basra, insisted that the security situation in the city was showing signs of improvement. "We don't patrol in the city but we still use it as a transit route to other operations," he said. "We have done this without any shots being fired at us." Asked if British forces would countenance returning to the centre of Basra if asked to do so by Iraqi security forces, he said: "We will go into the centre of Basra if we are invited to do so, and if we feel it is necessary. We are still responsible for the security in Basra but we don't really need an invitation."

 

-  Sunday Telegraph, October 7, 2007

 

 

 

Argentina has reacted furiously to plans by Britain to lay claim to vast new tracts of potentially oil and gas-rich territories in the seas off the Falklands. In a move likely to add new heat to the long-running diplomatic dispute, British officials are preparing to submit a bid to the United Nations to prove that thousands of extra square miles of the surrounding ocean floor are geographically part of the islands. The claim follows a new approach in international law which holds that a nation's legitimately-held territory can extend up to 350 miles from its coast, if it can verify that it is part of the shoreline's underlying continental shelf. In the case of the Falklands, that could extend the zone of British exploration rights on the seabed well beyond its existing 200-mile boundary. Britain's application is being filed to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, that has asked for all such claims to be submitted for consideration by May 2009. Downing Street is also putting in bids for territories around Ascension Island in the mid-Atlantic, and Rockall, a tiny pinnacle more than 200 miles west of the Hebrides. The bid on the Falklands has been prompted by British interest in the possibility of huge oil, gas and mineral deposits thought to lie deep beneath the South Atlantic. Last night the Foreign Office insisted there was no certainty that the bid, being prepared by the UK Hydrographic Office, would go ahead. "We are considering the possibility of making a submission to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, but no firm decision has been taken yet," said a spokesman. However, Mike Summers, spokesman for the Falkland Islands Legislative Council, told The Sunday Telegraph that the studies had been under way for several years.

 

-  Sunday Telegraph, September 23, 2007

 

 

 

Greeted by hundreds of admirers and bouquets of flowers, Queen Elizabeth II strolled past thatched-roof houses in historic Jamestown Friday in a visit that evoked both the U.S. colonial past and the early years of her own reign. The monarch's visit marked the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown by English settlers who sailed for five months across the Atlantic in search of gold and silver. Despite travails including a scarcity of food and clean water, the colonists established the first permanent British settlement in North America and named it after King James I. The Queen, wearing a teal coat and matching hat, was joined by Vice-President Dick Cheney as she toured houses and a church created as replicas of buildings from 1607 settlement. The Queen also viewed rusted armor and other original items at an archeological site. For some Virginians old enough to have been in the area in 1957, the excitement around the visit brought a sense of deja vu. Queen Elizabeth, then a young mother who had assumed the throne just five years earlier, came to Jamestown for its 350th anniversary as well. "Everyone thought she was so beautiful and charming," said Sarah Watkins Williams, who was 12 at the time. But she added, "I think it's even more exciting to see her this time." Williams, 62, and Hugh DeSemper, 80, watched Thursday evening as a horse-drawn carriage took the queen through the historic area of Williamsburg, Virginia. Both saw her go by in a similar procession when the Queen was just 31. But one difference they noticed was the much higher level of security. While many of the events 50 years ago were open to the public, the Queen's audiences this time have been much more restricted-a limitation that annoyed some tourists who hoped to see Queen Elizabeth in person. Bob Buettner, 55, and his wife and daughter did not get to see the carriage ride despite waiting for two hours. "We kept asking people when she was going to arrive but no one would give us a straight answer. I think because of security they were so secretive about it," said Buettner. In addition to Cheney and retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the Jamestown visit included volunteers for the settlement's historic society and several reporters. Virginia held a lottery to pick members of the public who could join the Queen on her walk around the state capitol building in Richmond Thursday, although people were allowed to sit on the lawn on blankets and watch from afar. Many were not deterred by the tight security and long waits, including
11-year-old Tristan Terrell, who was visiting Williamsburg on a tour organized by her school in Alabama. "She's got a million outfits," Terrell said, adding it was "really cool" that Queen Elizabeth had travelled so far. The school group was on its way to try to see the Queen at the Williamsburg Governor's Palace, a reconstruction of a colonial-era building where Thomas Jefferson once lived. The Queen said later said she was moved by the Jamestown archeological site that allowed her to imagine "something of the experience of those early settlers when they first made landfall on the James River."

 

-  report sent by Bob Vinnicombe, Sydney, Australia, May 5, 2007

 

 

Veterans of the Falklands Islands Defence Force march through Port Stanley to commemorate their role in the Falklands War after a ceremony on 2nd April 2007.

 

-  Daily Telegraph, April 3, 2007

 

 

As unlikely as it sounds, the people of Yaohnanen and surrounding villages worship 85-year-old Prince Philip as a God. They believe him to be the son of an ancient spirit who inhabits a nearby mountain, on the island of Tanna. Despite worshipping the Prince for half a century, the villagers - all of whom are illiterate - only learnt recently that his birthday falls on June 10. Ambitious plans are now underway to celebrate the occasion this year. There will be dancing and a feast. Chief Jack Naiva has acquired an immaculate Union Flag, which will be run up a flagpole and saluted. But the celebrations will only really be complete if Prince Philip himself turns up, say the tribe’s people. "You must tell King Philip that I'm getting old and I want him to come and visit me before I die," said the white-haired chief, who thinks he is about 80. "If he can't come perhaps he could send us something: a Land Rover, bags of rice or a little money." Determining exactly how these people came to believe in the Prince's divinity is very difficult. It appears that at some point in the 1950s, they melded Christian beliefs in a returning messiah with the respect accorded His Royal Highness by the British authorities in what was then the colony of New Hebrides. Their veneration of the Prince fitted comfortably with an ancient prophecy that a Tanna man would venture far away in search of a powerful woman to marry. The Prince's cult-like status received a boost when he paid a state visit to the New Hebrides in 1971, resplendent in a white naval uniform as he and the Queen steamed into the capital, Port Vila. It continued to flourish even after “Vanuatu” was granted independence by Britain and France in 1980. The Prince is well aware that he is the subject of distant adoration. He has allowed his framed portraits to be sent to Chief Jack and the band of believers. The first, a black and white print now badly damaged by damp, appears to date from the early 1960s. The second, which shows the Prince holding a traditional "nal-nal" club, is dated 1980, while the most recent was sent in 2000. Correspondence from Buckingham Palace was also highly prized by the tribe, but humidity and nibbling mice have long since destroyed it. London may be half a world away from this obscure corner of Melanesia, but villagers say the spirit of Prince Philip is close. "We can't see him, but sometimes we hear his voice," said Chief Jack. He knows that Prince Philip is, like him, in the twilight of his life, but Chief Jack is unfazed, believing the Prince may be immortal. If not, the villagers might switch their allegiance to Prince Charles or his sons. "We don't know where England is but we know he lives there and he has four children: Charlie, Andrew, Edward and Anna [sic]," said Jimmy Nipil, a tribe member in his thirties. "We believe England is a very special place."

 

-  Daily Telegraph, February 19, 2007

 

 

 

A UK soldier killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan has been named as Lance Bombardier James Dwyer of 29 Commando Regiment, Royal Artillery. The 22-year-old was killed on Wednesday when his vehicle hit an anti-tank mine during a reconnaissance mission in desert south of Garmsir, Helmand. Another serviceman was seriously hurt while two sustained minor injuries. The seriously injured man had been operated on and was "doing well", a Royal Marines spokesman said. Lance Bombardier Dwyer, born and raised in South Africa, was described as a "professionally outstanding soldier". Known as "Doobs" to his friends and colleagues, he joined the Army in July 2003, and joined the 29 Regiment in June 2004. The MoD described him as a "bright and intelligent young man with an infectious sense of humour". It added he has a "passion for travel" and was an "enthusiastic sportsman". "Very much a family man, he spoke often of home and was especially close to his sister, also a serving soldier in the British Army," it said. "He had proven himself a versatile and dedicated soldier whilst deployed on exercises both in the UK and Norway, as well as on operations in Afghanistan." Lance Bombardier Dwyer's commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Neil Wilson, said he "displayed all the characteristics of a commando soldier". "He was extremely popular within the regiment and undoubtedly would have progressed through the ranks rapidly. "James will be missed sorely by all members of 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, and our thoughts and condolences go to his family and friends at this very difficult time," he said. The Plymouth-based 29 regiment is the Close Support Artillery Regiment that supports 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines.

 

-  report sent by DDN, Arizona, USA, January 6, 2007

 

 

 

British troops carried out a dramatic three-pronged attack on insurgents in Basra yesterday in the biggest strike operation since the invasion of Iraq. Five top-level terrorists were arrested, and a number of bombs - just 48 hours away from being planted - were found in the dawn swoop. In a set-piece assault, more than 1,000 soldiers in tanks, armoured vehicles and boats carried out simultaneous raids into one of the toughest areas of Basra at 3am. The assault into the densely populated Al Harthah district was launched when an "armoured fist" of 28 Warrior armoured vehicles carrying nearly 300 troops of the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment and 14 Challenger 2 main battle tanks stormed across the Qamart Ali bridge. As soon as the Iraqis heard the armour approaching they opened fire from the narrow alleyways and two-storey mud brick houses that honeycomb the area, which is bordered on two sides by wide rivers. A barrage of rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades and small-arms fire rained down on the tank column as it stormed across the bridge. American F15 fighter jets were called in by RAF co-ordinators to conduct a low and fast fly-past of the Iraqi position as a show of strength. Troops then returned fire with the tanks of Egypt Squadron, 2 Royal Tank Regiment using their chain guns, and the soldiers using machineguns and SA80 assault rifles to put down fire. "All the way over the bridge we took incoming rounds but we punched our way through and got to the other side without casualties," said an officer. "When we went in there we knew they would be well protected but we did have the element of surprise so they could not bring anything heavier to fire at us." As the tanks provided heavy covering fire, the Warriors crossed the bridge with half of them sweeping right and the other to the left. Confronted by the narrow alleyways and darkness, the troops, equipped with night-vision goggles, leapt out of the back of the Warriors to accompany specialist search teams from the Royal Engineers. The troops entered two homes where they found AK47s, 12.7mm heavy machineguns, which can penetrate light armour, and a number of artillery shells strung together with detonator cable that are used to make deadly roadside bombs. They also found 66mm rockets and RPGs. The two arrested gang leaders were handcuffed, placed in the back of the Warriors and driven back for questioning at the main British base in Basra Air Station, eight miles outside the city. As the tanks fought their way across the bridge a flotilla of high-speed landing craft carrying a company of infantry conducted a daring amphibious raid on another corner of the district known for its tribal fighting and criminality. More than 100 soldiers from the Staffordshire Regiment were taken up the Shatt al Arab river in eight rigid raiders and two offshore raiding craft. As the high-speed boats hit land the troops, while under sporadic fire, waded ashore. They rapidly made their way to houses where another two insurgents were detained. Inside the homes the troops discovered arms and a number of "useful" documents. The suspects were handcuffed and taken by boat back to the base at the Shatt al Arab hotel, close to the spot where terrorists murdered four troops last month. As the raids from the south- west and south-east took place, a large force of Scottish troops accompanied by Danes attacked from the north. The company of 110 men from the Black Watch in 20 armoured snatch Land Rovers with 250 men from the Danish battalion in lightly armoured vehicles drove at speed into al Harthah. Without a shot being fired they grabbed the fifth and final insurgent to be arrested. Brig Tim Evans, the overall commander of the raid, deliberately deployed four times the number of troops usually used for a strike operation to ensure that none of the suspects got away. "If you strike at just one person another four or five will disappear for months, so we decided to go in all at one go," said Major Charlie Burbridge, the British military spokesman.

 

-  Daily Telegraph, December 9, 2006

 

 

There was a vivid moment a couple of years ago during the first stage of the British intervention to support the struggling government of Sierra Leone. Its prime minister asked a visiting British politician, in the presence of journalists, if it might be possible for his country to become part of the British Empire again. Most of those present believed that the Sierra Leonese leader was serious. The problems of African societies are so huge, so deep-rooted, that the few honest and decent politicians despair. They grasp at any straw to rescue their countries. It is a tragic spectacle and few experts see a way out. When the West does intervene in any African society, it is essential to stay for at least 10 years or more to have any hope of making lasting progress. The Americans failed miserably in Somalia a decade ago, because they treated it as a short term problem. The British Army training team in Sierra Leone has done a good job, but the lasting need is for civil assistance - to teach people to collect taxes, administer courts and run infrastructure projects. We are talking, of course, about something embarrassingly close to neo-colonialism. Many Africans would be delighted if there was more of it about.

 

-  Daily Mail, November 22, 2006

 

 

The Rock of Gibraltar, home to 500 footballers and 160 Barbary apes, is heading into next season’s UEFA Cup and eventual inclusion in qualifying for Euro 2012, following a landmark ruling in Lausanne. Not since the Gibraltarian national side drew 2-2 with Real Madrid in 1949 have the people of the Rock celebrated such an extraordinary result as the one just achieved in a courtroom, a victory that paves the way to become the 53rd member of UEFA. Gibraltar is one of the world’s oldest footballing countries, boasting a national side formed 105 years ago and the planet’s sixth most ancient FA (offices open every Monday to Friday, from 6-7pm) It is also tiny, affiliated to Great Britain (and the FA) and coveted by Spain. Backed by the UK Government, and bitterly resisted by the Spanish, Gibraltar appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that UEFA had no right to deny their application to sit at European football’s high table. The CAS agreed.

 

-  Daily Telegraph, September 7, 2006

 

 

The Falkland Islands are bidding to become a holiday “hot spot” with the introduction of direct civilian flights from Britain. The service is to be brought in to break an air blockade imposed by Argentina in an effort to bring diplomatic pressure on the islands. The new air link to Britain is expected to create a huge boost for the Falklands’ tourism sector, which is built around the islands’ abundance of wildlife, their unspoilt landscapes and their position as a setting-off point for ships cruising Antarctica.

 

-  Sunday Telegraph, August 13, 2006

 

 

In 2000 Jeff Rense published an article by an American, Gordon Frisch, who has travelled and lived extensively in Africa. He suggested using mercenaries to stabilise Africa and for African nations to then invite back the former colonial powers in a new semi-colonial arrangement. Cliff Saunders explained that in his travels across Africa he is convinced that re-colonisation is the ONLY solution to the mess in which Africa is now in. He explained that the infrastructure of Africa which was inherited after colonial rule has been totally destroyed.

 

-  Weekly African Crisis Report, April 30, 2006

 

 

Allegations made against White farmers and safari operators, who are supposed to have been plotting to undermine President Levy Mwanawasa in the country's upcoming elections, have been taken seriously by the Zambian government and are officially being ‘investigated’. The president's office has accused the White farmers and safari operators of working with an opposition party to cause artificial food shortages ahead of elections later this year. Farmers and safari operators rejected the accusations and threatened to take legal action against Alfred Chipoya, a Mwanawasa aide who allegedly ‘unearthed’ the plot. According to a letter, dated April 3 and signed by Chipoya, four White commercial farmers and safari operators attended a meeting organised by the opposition Patriotic Front (PF).  At the meeting they resolved to mobilise the White community against Mwanawasa.

 

-  Southern Cross Africa News, April 29, 2006

 

 

Solomon Islanders, resentful of Chinese influence in government, have raised much of Honiara's Chinatown to the ground, burning down shops and forcing some families to jump from burning buildings. Violent protests erupted on Tuesday after parliament elected a new Prime Minister, Snyder Rini - whose opponents accuse him of corruption and of favouring Chinese businessmen. In the aftermath Australia and New Zealand are sending extra troops to the nominally independent islands to help restore peace. Some 280 Australian police are already in the country as part of a regional force sent to restore peace in 2003.

 

-  Southern Cross Africa News, April 20, 2006

 

 

 

Gibraltar is in talks to create its own stock exchange. The exchange, which would be called GibEx, was dreamt up by local law firm Hassans and Austrian-based bank Medici. They are outlining plans to the authorities and the business community to create a trading platform. Although the proposals are still at an early stage, it is hoped that the Gibraltar Stock Exchange would attract primary and secondary listings, and particularly the listing of mutual and investment funds. Other areas that could be developed are for debt instruments, e-commerce and mezzanine financing. Forty-nine insurance businesses are licensed in Gibraltar, including Admiral - the motor insurer quoted on the London Stock Exchange in the FTSE 250. It has also become the registered home of major gaming operators such as blue-chip giant PartyGaming, 888 Holdings and 32 Red, and 18 banks are licensed there. Marcus Killick, chairman of the Financial Services Commission, said “This is an exciting prospect for Gibraltar. We have been working with the interested parties to ensure that an exchange, if it does happen, is in line with international standards.” Guy Canessa, a spokesman from the Gibraltarian government’s Finance Centre Department said that there was government backing for the project.

 

-  Daily Telegraph, April 10, 2006

 

 

 

The Queen has been welcomed by cheering crowds in Australia after arriving for a five-day tour, during which she will open the Commonwealth Games. Australian Prime Minister John Howard and Governor-General Michael Jeffery - the Queen's representative in Australia - met her as she flew into Canberra. About 300 people shouted "God save the Queen" to greet her and Prince Philip. The monarch's visit will include meeting volunteers who fought bush fires in Canberra in 2003. The crowds at Fairbairn airport stood against crash barriers and took pictures of the pair after they arrived in a British Airways 777 plane at 09.00 hrs local time on Sunday. The Queen, who wore a white jacket, yellow skirt and matching hat, collected bouquets from well-wishers and spoke to others. The Duke of Edinburgh also exchanged words with the crowd. The centre-piece of the tour will be the opening of the Commonwealth Games in front of thousands in Melbourne. During the ceremony, the Queen will read out her message of welcome to the athletes, which has travelled to all 71 nations of the Commonwealth Games Federation during the past 12 months.

 

-  BBC.co.uk, March 12, 2006

 

 

 

British soldiers are expected to be sent to the tiny state of Djibouti [formerly French Somaliland] in the Horn of Africa for the first time to help America’s anti-terrorist Operation Enduring Freedom. Defence officials and diplomats are said to be in the advanced stages if discussions with the authorities in Djibouti, at the southern end of the Red Sea. The strategically vital enclave [next to the former British Somaliland].is the site of America’s only base on African soil, with 1,500 soldiers based at headquarters in a former French Foreign Legion base.

 

-  Daily Telegraph, December 24, 2005

 

 

 

Racial violence flared in Sydney yesterday in apparent retaliation for earlier clashes in which a mob of 5,000 White youths chanted abuse and attacked people of Middle Eastern origin. Anti-Muslim feeling has been exacerbated by the Bali bombings, a series of gang rapes of White women by men of Pakistani and Lebanese background and last month’s counter-terrorism raids on Islamic militants in Melbourne and Sydney. White youths accuse Lebanese men of looking for trouble in beach areas, intimidating women in bikinis and picking fights. The violence was concentrated on Cronulla, a southern suburb where rioting on Sunday led to more than 30 injuries and 16 arrests. Cronulla, a staunchly Anglo-Keltic area, attracts thousands of trippers from the less salubrious western suburbs, a stronghold of the Middle Eastern and Muslim communities, which number 300,000 out of the national population of 20 million. On Sunday thousands of White youths congregated on the beachfront to protest against an incident last week in which two lifeguards – the epitome of White Australian culture – were beaten up by men of Lebanese origin. Although peaceful at first, the demonstration was tinged with racism from the start – one man had scrawled on his chest “Mohammed was a camel-raping faggot”. The crowd chanted “No more Lebs [Lebanese]” and sang Waltzing Matilda.

 

-  Daily Telegraph, December 13, 2005

 

 

Representatives from the Springbok Club and the London Swinton Circle about to lay their wreaths at the Trafalgar Cemetery on the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar (21st October 2005).

Mr. Denis King speaking about the historical significance of the Battle of Trafalgar at the beating retreat ceremony at Parson’s Lodge Battery.

The band of the Royal Gibraltar Regiment beating retreat on the parade ground at Rosia Bay on the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar.

The sea off Cape Trafalgar on the 200th anniversary plus one day of the Battle of Trafalgar (22nd October 2005).

Members of the Friends of Gibraltar Heritage Society visiting the Convent (the official residence of the Governor).

On the balcony of the Convent – including: the Marchioness de Lendinez (left), Mrs. Janet Whitely (second from left) and Mr. Denis King (second from right).

 

Massive celebrations took place in Gibraltar throughout the period from 21st to 30th October 2005 in order to mark the 200th anniversary of the British victory at the Battle of Trafalgar. Both a joint London Swinton Circle and Springbok Club delegation and a party from the Friends of Gibraltar Heritage Society visited the Rock during this period, and participated in several events commemorating this most important victory, which were orchestrated by the Gibraltar Heritage Trust. On Friday 21st October (the actual 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar) representatives from the London Swinton Circle and the Springbok Club laid wreaths at the graves of Capt. Thomas Norman and Lieut. William Forster (the only two combatants from the Battle to be buried in marked graves at the Trafalgar Cemetery in Gibraltar). Later during the day the band of the Royal Gibraltar Regiment staged a Beating Retreat ceremony on the parade ground at Rosia Bay, which was witnessed by specially invited guests viewing from the ramparts of the over-looking Parson’s Lodge Battery, which included the Governor of Gibraltar, Sir Francis Richards, military and naval dignitaries, and representatives from the Gibraltar Heritage Trust, the London Swinton Circle and the Springbok Club. A short talk about the history of the build-up to the Battle of Trafalgar was given at this ceremony by Mr. Denis King, and afterwards the Gibraltar Heritage Trust staged a special Bicentenary Dinner at Parson’s Lodge. The following day, Saturday 22nd October, the Gibraltar Heritage Trust organised a trip to Cape Trafalgar in Spain, again including representatives from the London Swinton Circle and the Springbok Club. During the journey Mr. Denis King and Mr. Joe Desoisa gave expert commentaries about the history of the rise of British naval power and the victory at Trafalgar 200 years previously, before due respects were paid at Cape Trafalgar itself. On Monday 24th October an official party of officials and members from the Friends of Gibraltar Heritage Society arrived on the Rock, and after receiving an official welcome from Cdr. Joe Ballantine and Mr. David Eveson of the Gibraltar Heritage Trust, and enjoying a rendition of the Gibraltar national anthem and other appropriate songs from Mr. Robin Willow of the London Swinton Circle (who had earlier sung at both the wreath-laying ceremony and the Bicentenary Dinner) were treated to a riveting talk by Mr. Richard Garcia about the development of regular maritime links between Gibraltar and Great Britain in the aftermath of the Battle of Trafalgar. The following day, Tuesday 25th October, a small party of members of the Friends of Gibraltar Heritage Society were most honoured to be given a conducted tour around the Convent, the official residence of the Governor of Gibraltar. After refreshments and a most elegant welcoming speech by Lady Richards (the wife of the Governor), Mr. Denis King conducted a highly informative tour around the Convent itself, its gardens, and the near-by King’s Chapel. On Wednesday 26th October members of the Friends of Gibraltar Heritage Society laid wreaths at the Trafalgar Cemetery, before visiting the Casemates Maritime Exhibition with Prof. Clive Finlayson and enjoying a special Admiral Lord Nelson dinner at the Gibraltar International Casino. On Friday 28th October a statue to Horatio Nelson was unveiled at the Trafalgar Cemetery, and on Saturday 29th October a Freedom of the City of Gibraltar parade was staged by the Royal Navy. Finally, on Sunday 30th October, a special Battle of Trafalgar Remembrance Service was conducted at the Trafalgar Cemetery, before the Royal Marines Band performed a special concert at the St.Michael’s Caves.

 

 

The Duchess of Cornwall

 

The Duchess of Cornwall arrived at Buckingham Palace last night wearing her first royal tiara. The diamond head-piece, loaned to her by the Queen, was the tiara previously worn by Queen Mary for the Delhi Durbar to celebrate the coronation of King George V. It was last worn in 1947 by the Queen Mother for an official visit to South Africa. The circle of brilliant-cut diamonds mounted in gold and set in platinum was made by Garrards in 1911 and Queen Mary wore it in Delhi to mark the start of King George V's reign as King and Emperor of India. It was lent to the Queen Mother for her visit to South Africa and remained with her, but she is not believed to have worn it subsequently.

 

-  Daily Telegraph, October 26, 2005

 

 

 

Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday to get out of Australia, as the government targeted radicals in a bid to head off potential terror attacks. Prime Minister John Howard and his ministers made it clear that extremists would face a crackdown. Education Minister Brendan Nelson later told reporters that Muslims who did not want to accept local values should “clear off”.  “Basically, people who don’t want to be Australians, and they don’t want to live by Australian values and understand them, well then they can basically clear off,” he said. Separately, Howard angered some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by saying he supported spies monitoring the nation’s mosques.

 

-  report sent by Nick Maine, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, October 19, 2005

 

 

 

Major Colin Risso and Major John Perez MBE of the Royal Gibraltar Regiment have both received awards in the latest Operational Honours List, published on 9 September, for their presence of mind whilst serving on operations last year. Major Risso, Officer Commanding G Company, has been awarded the Military Cross for the actions he took when his convoy came under attack in Afghanistan. Major Perez has been awarded the American Bronze Star award for meritorious service on a high intensity combat zone during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Major Colin Risso was serving as the Plans Officer in the Combined Joint Task Force in Bagram, Afghanistan, when the convoy he was travelling in came under heavy attack in a narrow wadi. Upon hearing that he had been awarded the Military Cross Major Risso said “I am absolutely overwhelmed at being awarded the Military Cross. It is good news for the Royal Gibraltar Regiment and Gibraltar as well. I enjoyed working alongside US forces and Afghanistan is a beautiful country. However, the best reward has been the birth of my second child the day after I arrived back home.” Major John Perez, Second in Command of the Royal Gibraltar Regiment, has been awarded an American Bronze Star Award for his outstanding service as a forward operator alongside American Forces in Iraq. He was the Officer Commanding a 300-strong Coalition Military Advisory Team in a training camp North of Baghdad, under the constant threat of bombardment and hostile action against Coalition forces who were supporting the new Iraqi Army against the insurgency.

 

-  MoD Press Release, September 9, 2005

 

 

 

The Duke of York paid a surprise morale-boosting visit yesterday to British forces serving in Iraq. He flew into Basra and travelled to Maysan to meet troops from 1 Bn, the Staffordshire Regiment, and to visit memorials to soldiers killed on their tour of duty. Later he visited a small contingent of Royal Navy and Royal Marine reserves based at Umm Qasr.

 

-  Sunday Telegraph, August 21, 2005

 

 

 

It was a pivotal moment for the Allies, yet for more than 60 years no national memorial existed in Britain to commemorate the Siege of Malta. Today that will be rectified on the anniversary of Operation Pedestal, the epic and ultimately successful attempt to run more than 80 Allied ships past Axis bombers, u-boats and minefields to bring vital fuel and food to the Mediterranean island under siege for three years, one of the most important British victories of the Second World War. Prince Philip will lay a wreath at a simple memorial, hewn from the granite of Gozo, the small island off Malta’s coast, donated by Malta’s government to commemorate the anniversary. Malta was strategically critical, lying alone in a hostile Mediterranean, 800 miles from Gibraltar and Alexandria. If it fell, North Africa was likely to follow. For three years it was the fulcrum on which the fate of the war balanced. More than 7,000 civilians and servicemen and women died during the siege, which saw Malta sustain some of the worst bombing of the war. In Malta, those lost defending the island are commemorated by the Siege Bell, a granite memorial unveiled by the Queen in 1992. Yet despite the numbers of British military involved, no national memorial had been erected in Britain until now. The memorial, which stands outside All Hallows church near the Tower of London, was the idea of Fred Jewett, now 82, who served as an able seaman in the destroyer Ashanti, escorting the supply ships on Operation Pedestal. Serving alongside him was a young lieutenant-commander, Terence Lewin, later Admiral of the Fleet and Chief of the Defence Staff, Lord Lewin, who masterminded Britain’s victory in the Falklands conflict. Their friendship survived the war and, in part, bought about the creation of the memorial.

 

-  Daily Telegraph, August 15, 2005

 

 

 

A highly successful visit by Prince William, a good-humoured tour de force from British Lions rugby fans, and the London bombings have rekindled in New Zealand a sense of kindred with “the mother country” unlike anything seen for years. A poll shows that support for the monarchy has soared, a campaign to remove the Union Flag from the national ensign is floundering, and the big spending rugby-following Barmy Army gave the economy a huge mid-winter fillip. Only 27% now believe New Zealand should become a republic, an opinion poll published this week showed. Although Helen Clark, the current Labour prime minister, holds republican sympathies, she admitted that, like the rest of the nation, she found Prince William utterly charming when he visited. New Zealanders have felt a special affection for the prince since his first visit with his parents at the age of nine months. They were flattered that it was to be in their country that, on July 10, he carried out his first solo official duties. When he bowed his head before Auckland’s war memorial to lay a wreath in memory of New Zealand’s war dead, there was an unspoken understanding that the nation was sharing his grief for those who perished in the London bombings.

 

-  news.telegraph, July 23, 2005

 

 

England wickets tumbled yesterday in the other Ashes battle that began in the Iraqi desert. The first officially backed encounter between an Australian and British regiment got under way in a draining 55C at the Al Muthanna cricket ground, three miles south of Baghdad. The first of five limited over matches for the “Desert Ashes” began on a coconut matting pitch in front of local and international media hiding in the shade of a Bedouin tent. The cricketers of the 2nd Australian Cavalry duly dished out a drubbing to the unfortunate cavalrymen of the Light Dragoons. England responding to Australia’s 220 off 25 overs, were 102 all out. The regiments, who form part of Task Force Eagle taking on Iraqi insurgents, will play the matches on the first day of each Test. The series has been backed with equipment from Cricket Australia and the England Cricket Board.

 

-  Daily Telegraph, July 22, 2005

 

 

 

As the British Lions team flew into Auckland yesterday, New Zealanders braced themselves for the promised invasion of up to 25,000 fans that will follow. The city of Palmerston North, however, will be pleading with them to stay permanently. When Sir Clive Woodward’s squad play the local Manawatu side on June 28, a high-powered working party of council leaders will swing into action. Supporters will be confronted by a publicity campaign offering them jobs across a range of industries, and help with emigration formalities. Palmerston North, population 72,000, is the provincial centre of a farming region 90 miles north-east of the capital, Wellington. Named by 19th century settlers in honour of the British Prime Minister Viscount Palmerston and universally known to New Zealanders as “Palmy”, Palmerston North is suffering from a crippling shortage of workers. “We are making this a comprehensive effort to try to recruit skilled staff to a range of businesses in the city where there are identified shortages,” explained Heather Tanguay, the mayor. “We have thought up a slogan to greet the Lions fans: ‘Move your pride to Palmy’.”

 

-  Daily Telegraph, May 28, 2005

 

 

 

After a Kenyan high court judge dropped murder charges against him, the grandson of one of Kenya's first White settlers, Thomas Patrick Gilbert Cholmondeley, has been freed from jail, where he had been held for weeks. Cholmondeley had reportedly shot and killed a Black game park warden, who was among a group of wardens working ‘undercover’, who had gone to his farm and detained his workers for allegedly skinning the carcass of poached buffalo. Both Judge Muga Apondi and attorney-general Amos Wako accepted that the farmer was under the impression that the warden was a gangster, and that there wasn't enough evidence to prosecute. Cholmondeley's prominence and history had drawn attention to the case. His grandfather, Lord Delamare, was one of the first settlers in Kenya. Cholmondeley also owns one of the biggest farms in Kenya. It produces livestock for both meat and milk and is a leading Kenyan exporter of baby corn, mainly to Britain and other European countries.  However, last month a Maasai tribal leader accused the Cholmondeley's family of oppressing his people for generations and threatened to lead an invasion of Cholmondeley's farm in retaliation for the warden's death. The Maasai claim land occupied by Kenya's settlers and their families was stolen from them in 1904, soon after Britain colonised the country. Kenya gained independence in 1963, but the Maasai say successive (Black) governments have done nothing to address their grievances.

 

-  Southern Cross Africa News, May 20, 2005

 

 

 

On 18th May 2005 the London Swinton Circle was addressed by Mr. Peter Pepper, the former co-editor of the Falkland Islands Newsletter, and a prominent member of the Falkland Islands Association. In a highly-informative talk Mr. Pepper detailed the history of how the Wilson Labour government of the 1960s had tried to sell-out the Falkland Islands, and then went on to emphasise how similar this was to attempts by the Blair government to sell-out Gibraltar in more recent years. He also gave a number of interesting insights into the thinking and modus operandi of the Argentinians, and illustrated how there was great potential for the Falkland Islands and its British link in the future.

 

 

 

A British soldier who fought in Iraq is awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry, today for saving dozens of comrades during two incidents in which he was seriously wounded. Pte Johnson Beharry, 25, from Grenada is only the fourth Black serviceman to win the award, instituted in 1865 to honour heroism in the Crimea. He was cited for his actions during battles with Iraqi insurgents in the southern town of Amarah last summer. Pte Beharry, of 1 Bn, the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, first drove his burning Warrior armoured vehicle through several ambushes to lead six vehicles, containing several dozen troops, to safety. In the second incident, he was wounded in the head during an ambush but managed to reverse the Warrior against a wall to allow injured colleagues to be rescued. He then fell into a coma.

 

-  Daily Telegraph, March 18, 2005

 

 

 

Britain has announced a £3.5 million plan to revitalise Pitcairn Island, the far-flung south Pacific colony. The island, which is half-way between New Zealand and South America, is home to only 47 people, but the authorities want to double the population. That would signal a return to Pitcairn’s glory days at the start of the Second World War when it boasted a population of 233. Leslie Jacques, Pitcairn’s New Zealand-based commissioner, announced an investment bonanza yesterday after years of neglect. The infrastructure upgrade will include construction of a new slipway, jetty and breakwater in Bounty Bay, the island’s lifeline to the outside world. The breakwater will shelter the bay from the swells of the Pacific while the jetty will make it easier to load and unload people and supplies. A mud track from the bay up the Hill of Difficulty to Pitcairn’s main settlement, Adamstown, will be paved.

 

-  Daily Telegraph, February 22, 2005

 

 

Terror [sic] Lekota, “new” South African minister of defence, has complained that there were only 144 young White recruits in the latest intake of the “new” South African Defence Force, while over 300 White South Africans joined the British defence force last year.

 

-  Southern Cross Africa News, February 7, 2005

 

 

Gibraltar scored a diplomatic victory yesterday when it gained equal status with Britain and Spain in securing a veto over any talks on the colony’s future. Negotiations on sharing sovereignty over the Rock collapsed in 2002 because of strong opposition from Gibraltar, which had boycotted the talks in protest that it would be treated as subordinate to Britain. The old format of negotiations under the “Brussels process” has been effectively suspended and replaced with a “forum” for discussions. According to a joint statement, “dialogue will be on an open-agenda basis and, therefore, any of the participants may raise any issue relating to or affecting Gibraltar”. Spain can still discuss sovereignty but Gibraltar’s government can block any deal.

 

-  Daily Telegraph, December 17, 2004

 

 

Nearly 30 years after Australia granted independence to Papua New Guinea, the former colonists are back, and Australian police on Thursday began patrolling the streets of the country’s crime-ridden capital, Port Moresby. They are part of an ambitious five-year, £800million mission agreed with the government which, it is hoped, will stamp out rampant crime and corruption. 275 police and public officials are being deployed to PNG, which is on the brink of economic and social meltdown. Australian civil servants have been placed in senior positions in customs, the judiciary, the treasury and other government departments. For decades Australia was sensitive to charges of neo-colonialism and allowed its Pacific neighbours, many of them former British colonies, to forge their own futures and make their own mistakes. The increasingly parlous state of some island nations prompted a re-think. With Washington’s blessing, it has become the South Pacific’s policeman. Canberra feared that unless it intervened more actively in the region, failed or failing states could become havens for drug traffickers, international criminals and terrorists. It was also anxious to stop its massive aid contributions being squandered or pocketed by corrupt officials. The mission’s first few days have been promising. Port Moresby, established in 1873 by a British adventurer, Capt. John Moresby, commands spectacular views of the Coral Sea and a scattering of idyllic islands. But the city is in crisis and two-thirds of the population live in shanty towns and unemployment stands at around 70%. In the last two years Australia has sent police and public officials to the near-bankrupt island of Nauru and the former Anglo-French colony of “Vanuatu”, once known as the New Hebrides. Fiji’s police force is led by an Australian, as is the 16-nation Pacific Island Forum. There are Australian police serving in East Timor, Bali and Jakarta. Last year an Australian-led force of 2,200 troops and police restored law and order in the Solomon Islands. But the scale of the crisis in PNG far outstrips those of other South Pacific countries.

 

-  Daily Telegraph, December 4, 2004

 

 

Exposés appearing on both sides of the Atlantic on the mercenary group Executive Outcomes, threaten to implicate British intelligence in what is described as the current destabilization campaign of Black Africa on behalf of circles associated with the Privy Council and US President George Bush. According to the French daily Le Figaro, the London Observer and the American Magazine, Executive Outcomes is the mercenary arm of a vast network of British-South African corporations dealing in gold, diamonds, and oil, primarily, but not exclusively, in Africa. They allegedly came under the umbrella of Strategic Resources Corporation, headquartered in Black-ruled South Africa. Described universally as an “advance guard of a corporate network that includes mining, oil, and construction companies”, Executive Outcomes is active in 13 African countries, including Uganda. For its services, it demands a lien or franchise on the exportable raw resources, particularly mineral wealth, of the client country - in the same fashion as colonial mercenary companies like the British East India Company of the 18th and 19th centuries exploited native lands as the “advance guard” of the British Empire. Executive Outcomes was reportedly incorporated offshore, on the Isle of Man, in 1993, by Anthony Buckingham (a British businessman), Simon Mann (a former British officer), and Eben Barlow (a former South African soldier). Buckingham is also chief executive of Heritage Oil and Gas. Backed by US Executive Order 12333, which placed all U.S. intelligence operations under President Bush's personal control, Executive Outcomes has reportedly thrived as “privatized warlords”. It was deeply enmeshed in wars in Angola, Sierra Leone, the Congo and Uganda. Now Executive Outcomes has been linked to the British Special Air Services (SAS) too, through one of its sister-firms operating out of Chelsea Plaza 107 - Capricorn Systems Ltd. The Observer claimed that the name Capricorn originates with the “Capricorn Africa Society” established by the eccentric military hero who founded SAS, Sir David Stirling, and that the company which took the first EO troops to Angola was called CapricornAir.

 

-  Southern Cross Africa News, November 3, 2004

 

 

 

Memorandum to a cannibal  -  fascinating in-depth article by Anthony LoBaido detailing the situation in present-day Sierra Leone.

 

 

Two British sisters are to travel 435 miles down the River Niger in West Africa in a wooden canoe in an attempt to retrace the steps of their ancestors. Emily Lander, 39, a property developer and Megan Lander, 43, a television producer – who are both from London – will set off next month to repeat the adventures of their great-great-great grandfather and uncle more than 170 years ago. Richard Lander and his brother, John, discovered the course and mouth of the Niger in 1830. The finding was of huge importance because it opened the area to world trade. He sisters, who will travel in a specially built vessel similar to the one used by their forebears, will have to cope with temperatures in excess of 90F, mosquitoes, and other tropical hazards, during their month-long expedition. The sisters said “Goodness knows what Richard and John would say if they could see us, two middle-aged women paddling down the Niger in steaming weather. It’s going to be quite a challenge.” Megan Lander added “Richard Lander was only 30 when he died, but what he did in his lifetime was really quite extraordinary. When I tell Nigerians I am related to Richard Lander they start crying. It seems strange that in Britain nobody has ever heard of him.” For centuries it was thought that the Niger was a tributary of the Nile. When the Lander brothers discovered that the river executed a 90-degree turn south and flowed back towards the Atlantic they had solved its mystery. The discovery opened a lucrative trade route into west Africa and the brothers became household names in parts of the region. Although their historical adventures feature prominently on the school curriculum in Nigeria, the brothers have been largely forgotten in Britain. The sisters’ expedition, which marks the 200th anniversary of Richard Lander’s birth in 1804, has been organised by the British Police Expeditions Society. Eleven other members of the society will join the sisters in the canoe when they set out from New Bussa on November 2. The journey is expected to end at the coastal town of Asaba four weeks later. Up to nine hours a day will be spent in the 24ft canoe, designed by students at Falmouth College’s School of Boat Building. The team will eat chicken and plantain, as the Landers did before them. Richard Lander was born in the Fighting Cocks pub in Truro, Cornwall, and was inspired by the sailors’ tales he heard there. Aged nine, he walked 250 miles in London to find an explorer to take him on. By the time he was 21 he had travelled most of the world. His first journey to the River Niger, in 1825, ended when the crew was killed by disease. Lander, the only survivor, spent seven months on foot before he found the coast again. His return visit in 1829, with John Lander, was more successful. The brothers paddled through storms, encountered hippos and crocodiles and on one occasion were almost sucked into a whirlpool. Their journals were translated into six languages and they enjoyed an audience with King William IV. Richard Lander became the first recipient of the Royal Geographical Society’s Gold Medal. In Truro a monument was built in his honour. The Edinburgh Review described the brothers’ discovery as “perhaps the most important discovery of the present age”. The Industrial Revolution created demand for African palm oil, which was used in soap, candles and as a lubricant for railway engines. British traders and missionaries followed the Landers to Nigeria. Richard Lander was killed in 1831, when he was ambushed by tribesmen as he led the first trade expedition up the Niger. John Lander died in 1839. In Nigeria the expedition is front-page news and a television station hopes to broadcast daily half-hour updates of their progress. Megan Lander will film her own documentary of the trip, which is expected to be broadcast on the National Geographical Channel next year. Emily Lander added “It is time that the British public knew who he was. He should be on the curriculum here too, really.”

 

-  Sunday Telegraph, October 17, 2004

 

 

Moeletsi Mbeki’s judgment that “The average African is poorer than during the age of colonisation” will be applauded from the grave by Henry [Morton] Stanley. His missive (Letters, Nov. 15, 1875) paved the way for the declaration of a protectorate over Uganda in 1894. The rushed granting of independence in 1962 led to chaos. Mbeki’s assertion cuts right across the denigration of our Imperial record by the liberal/Left over the past 40 years. When have we heard Messrs. Blair or Straw counter this process of denial and inculcation of false guilt? No other government would have failed to support the brilliant Museum of the British Empire and Commonwealth in Bristol.

 

-  Letter to the Daily Telegraph by Alan Forward, September 28, 2004

 

 

Thabo Mbeki’s denunciations of Western Imperialism were contradicted yesterday by his brother, who said Africans had been better off under colonial rule. Moeletsi Mbeki, head of the South African Institute of International Affairs, told a meeting in Durban that Africa was in a spiral of decline. “The average African is poorer than during the age of colonialism,” the president’s younger brother said. He accused Africa’s post-colonial rulers of neglecting development and wasting money on “enormous entourages of civil servants”. He contrasted this with the record of colonial governments who built the roads and cities that Africa depends on today. Mr.Mbeki pointed out that China had lifted 400 million people out of penury during the past 20 years, while over the same period 90 million Nigerians had fallen below the poverty line, despite their country’s oil wealth. A United Nations report published in July found that Africa was the only continent where most people were poorer than they were two decades ago.

 

-  Daily Telegraph, September 23, 2004

 

 

I was thinking we should perhaps one time arrange for an exhibition on Indian soldiers that fought for Britain in two world wars. Although I am anti-colonialist British rule I have to admit had some positive aspects to it like the fact we are speaking in English now. Indeed compared to Islamic rule that preceded it, and the 50 years of Marxist corruption and lies that followed independence, it was mild in comparison.

 

-  message sent by M.M., Hampshire, August 13, 2004

 

 

 

When Wilfred Thesiger died last year, Britain’s last great explorer was spared the ordeal of witnessing disaster in his former home. For, at the age of 24, Thesiger governed 50,000 square miles of Darfur when assistant district commissioner in Kutum, Northern Dafur, between 1935 and 1937. Today, 124,000 refugees have overwhelmed Kutum, fleeing Janjaweed militia. In Thesiger’s day, he ruled the area with one other Briton and 24 Sudanese mounted policemen. Darfur enjoyed one of the few peaceful periods in its history. Britain added Darfur to the Empire in 1916, 18 years after victory in the Battle of Omdurman had secured the Nile Valley. Four decades of peace followed until Sudan became independent in 1956.

 

-  Daily Telegraph, August 11, 2004

 

 

 

A Victoria Cross holder who has lain in an unmarked grave in Ireland for almost a century was finally recognised in a formal ceremony at the weekend. The Irish Defence Minister and the British Ambassador to Ireland stood side by side as a bugler sounded Last Post beside the grave of Sgt.Major Cornelius Coughlan, who was decorated for valour during the Indian Mutiny. The service in Westport, Co.Mayo, conducted by a Roman Catholic priest and a Protestant clergyman, was a significant step by the Irish state towards recognising the immense contribution made by Irishmen in the service of the British Army. More than 200 people, including descendants of the soldier, watched as 10 re-enactors dressed in the period costume of the Connaught Rangers, Sgt.Major Coughlan’s old battalion, fired a volley of shots over the graveyard. Saturday’s ceremony was the first time an Irish politician formally recognised on Irish soil the sacrifices made by Irishmen in the British Army. Despite local republican complaints the day marked a substantial shift in Irish attitudes towards the past. The funeral last year of Cpl. Ian Malone, an Irish Guardsman killed in the Iraq War, witnessed hundreds of Irishmen for the first time proudly wearing their regimental blazers and ties in Dublin. Memorials to the war dead are beginning to appear and the recent Normandy landings anniversary received front-page coverage, with many Irish veterans talking publicly about their experiences. Sgt.Major Coughlan, born in Eyrecourt Co.Galway, was awarded the VC after a series of heroic acts in India in 1857. At the height of the Indian Mutiny, with all his officers of the Gordon Highlanders dead, the then Colour Sgt. rallied the men and led a charge that took the Kabul Gate in Delhi. The NCO also rescued a private under heavy fire. Queen Victoria felt moved to write a personal letter to Sgt.Major Coughlan on hearing about his act of bravery.

 

-  Daily Telegraph, August 9, 2004

 

 

 

The reproductive capacity of the Barbary Ape of Gibraltar was, it appears, a matter of supreme national importance in the corridors of power. A previously confidential file released at the National Archives yesterday chronicles the concern in government over the ape colony’s erratic breeding pattern, and all for one very simple reason. Tradition has it that British rule would end if the apes disappeared, a catastrophe that [Sir Winston] Churchill was not prepared to countenance. His message to the Colonial Secretary was brief and to the point. “The establishment of the apes should be 24,” he wrote, “Action should be taken to bring them up to this number at once and maintain it thereafter.”  Luckily for the Empire the apes did their duty and both colonies - British and primate - survived. Joe, Harold and Hercules (three males at the time of gender imbalance in 1967 when Franco threatened the Rock) did indeed prove their worth and the colony grew. There are now no fewer than 160 apes on the Rock. Well done Joe!

 

- Daily Telegraph, July 23, 2004

 

 

On a hot, dirty-air day more suited to reclining in air-conditioned comfort than marching through Central, more than 530,000 people marked the July 1 anniversary of the handover by sending an unmistakable message to Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa and Beijing yesterday: Hong Kong wants democracy. “We made history, this is much higher than expectations,” enthused march organiser Jackie Hung of the Civil Human Rights Front. After a year in which Beijing has tried everything from economic sweeteners to harsh words to mute the spirit of dissent, Hong Kong people once again showed their determination to live in a democracy. Whatever happens next, the second successive July 1 half-million strong march is sure to reverberate widely here and in Beijing. “The message is very peaceful but the people are very determined,” lawmaker Emily Lau said. “We want democracy.”

 

-  report sent by JM, July 16, 2004

 

To a bagpiper’s lament, the statue of a cat that was shot dead on Ernest Shackleton’s ill-fated 1914 Antarctic expedition was placed on the grave of its owner in New Zealand yesterday. The lifesize bronze of “Mrs.” Chippy, a male tabby, was installed during a ceremony in Karori Cemetery, Wellington, on the grave of Harry “Chippy” McNeish, the Scottish-born carpenter of Shackleton’s ship, the Endurance. The part McNeish played in the crew’s epic struggle for survival after the ship was crushed by ice is thought to have been unfairly overlooked. Leaving the Endurance stranded in the Weddell Sea in January 1915, the men sailed in lifeboats to Elephant Island. Realising they had little chance of rescue, Shackleton led a five-man team on to South Georgia. He returned to rescue his men five months later. It was McNeish’s carpentry skills that ensured Shackleton’s boat, the James Caid, withstood the battering of some of the world’s roughest seas during its 800-mile journey to South Georgia.

- Daily Telegraph, June 28, 2004

About 5,000 people took to Hong Kong's streets yesterday carrying banners and placards in protest at Beijing's refusal to permit full direct elections in 2007, when the next election of its chief executive is due. The march also commemorated the 1989 pro-democracy movement and the Tiananmen Square massacre.

- Daily Telegraph, May 31, 2004

Next week, Ascension Island's council will discuss a plan to raise the population to 1,500 (from 900) over the next few years by encouraging families to make their homes here. A building programme is under way, with plots earmarked for more than 20 houses. They will be the first on the island to be owned by residents. The thing is, no one is quite sure how much they should cost. Land is is hardly a problem, despite the island's size (35 square miles), and there is now a full range of utilities. The trouble lies in the building materials, which must be shipped 4,000 miles from the mother country. Still, Andrew Kettlewell, the Yorkshire-born accountant who is the island's Administrator, believes a single-storey, three-bedroomed house should cost no more than £60,000 in total. Mr. Kettlewell, an employee of the Foreign Office, via the government of the British dependency of St. Helena, said: "Virtually all of the people on Ascension are there only because they are posted to the island by their company, or because they are in the Services. We want to ensure that Ascension continues to be a viable community, whether or not a particular company comes or goes."

- Daily Telegraph, April 5, 2004

Two hundred Royal Engineers paraded at the base of the Rock of Gibraltar at the start of events to mark 300 years of British rule. The regiment's forebear, The Company of Soldier Artificers, was based there 300 years ago, building gun emplacements and digging 32 miles of tunnels in the Rock.

- Sunday Telegraph, March 21, 2004

 

A service of thanksgiving was held at St.Clement Danes Church in the Strand on Tuesday March 3rd to celebrate the tercentenary of Gibraltar becoming a British possession. HRH the Duke of Kent represented HM the Queen, and other dignitaries in attendance included Baroness Thatcher and representatives of all the major political parties and the armed forces. The Union Flag and the Gibraltar Flag were borne into the service by members of The Royal Gibraltar Regiment. Lessons were read by Mr. Albert Poggio MBE, UK Representative of the Government of Gibraltar, the Rt. Hon. Michael Howard, and Baroness Symonds, Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. A stirring address was given by Mr. Peter Caruana QC, the present Chief Minister of Gibraltar, in which he spoke of Gibraltar's determination to remain part of the Great British Family. Solos were sung by two renowned Gibraltarian singers, Nathan Payas (tenor) and Andrea Martin (soprano). After the service a reception was held at the Savoy Hotel, at which keynote speeches were made by Albert Poggio, the Mayor of Westminster and Peter Caruana, who emphasised that Gibraltar wanted nothing but friendship with her neighbour Spain, but that this friendship must be reciprocated. Also in attendance were the former Chief Minister of Gibraltar Sir Bob Peliza, former Deputy Chief Minister Maurice Xiberras, the Rt. Hon. Ian Duncan Smith MP, the Rev. Martin Smyth MP, Sir Nicholas Winterton MP, Miss Sukey Cameron MBE, the UK Representative of the Falkland Islands Government, and representatives of many pro-Gibraltar organisations including the Friends of Gibraltar Heritage Society, the London Swinton Circle, the Springbok Club and New Britain.

- report sent by HKH, March 3, 2004

The Royal Navy will be given the freedom of Gibraltar on August 4, the 300th anniversary of the Rock's capture from the Spanish by an Anglo-Dutch force. It allows the Navy to march through the city with swords drawn, bayonets fixed and colours flying.

- Daily Telegraph, February 10, 2004

A quantity surveyor who plays for a Sunday league soccer side in Cambridge was celebrating an unexpected World Cup call-up yesterday. Lawrence Harvey, 30, has been selected for the Turks and Caicos Islands team to meet Haiti in next month's crucial World Cup qualifier. He qualified to represent the Caribbean colony on the basis of two years he spent working there. The central defender, who plays for Alcia Athletic in the Halls of Cambridge Senior League, said he was thrilled by his international call-up - two years after returning from the Caribbean.

- Daily Telegraph, January 21, 2004

China has detained one of its top officials in Hong Kong for spying for Britain. In the biggest espionage scandal between the countries since the 1997 handover Cai Xiaohong, the secretary general of the Liaison Office of the Central Government in Hong Kong, faces the death penalty if convicted. "He sold state secrets to Britain," said a Chinese government source. The British Embassy in Beijing declined to comment.

- Daily Telegraph, January 17, 2004

Several thousand British troops will remain in Iraq until at least 2006, Tony Blair said yesterday during a surprise visit to forces stationed in the south of the country. The Prime Minister congratulated the 8,215 servicemen and women stationed in and around Basra for their "brilliant" and "noble" work. He told them they were "pioneers" of a new form of soldering that involved far more than winning wars.

- Daily Telegraph, January 5, 2004

At a time when the French, Germans, Russians amd Japanese face dramatically insuperable problems, Britain can claim to be, in combined military, economic and cultural projection, the world's Number Two power.

- Mark Steyn, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, January 4, 2004

Thousands of people thronged the streets of Hong Kong yesterday to demand direct elections at the start of what may be the former colony's most decisive year yet since its handover to China. Organisers of the march said 100,000 people had paraded through the commercial and political centre shouting "We demand more democracy". The protest leader, Richard Tsoi of the Civil Human Rights Front, referred to the abandonment of anti-subversion legislation after protests in the summer. Pro-democracy parties want to maintain the momentum of the summer protests and November's local elections, in which Beijing's representatives were heavily defeated. Their next aim is a convincing victory in September's elections for the legislative council which could theoretically give them a majority and the power to block laws proposed by the Beijing-appointed chief executive. Mr. Tsoi, along with the leading democratic parties in Hong Kong, is demanding a swift move to full elections for the legislative council and the chief executive. Currently the chief executive, equivalent to the colonial governor, is chosen by China's government.

- Daily Telegraph, January 2, 2004

 

Denis MacShane, the Foreign Office minister, yesterday told the House of Commons that the Princess Royal would visit Gibraltar next year "to represent all of us. It is a very important anniversary of the occupation by a combined Dutch and British fleet during the Spanish War of Succession, during a time when France was trying to dictate its will to Spain and we stoutly resisted." Britain captured Gibraltar from Spain in 1704 and was then formally ceded the territory in the Treaty of Utrecht nine years later. The celebrations will have a prominently military tone. The Royal Engineers will Beat Retreat on the 75th anniversary of the opening of their base there, while the Royal Navy will be granted the freedom of Gibraltar. Gibraltar's chief minister, Peter Caruana, said "We are extremely happy that the Royal Family, for whom there is an enormous store of affection in Gibraltar, will join us in celebrating our 300-year sovereignty links with Britain."

- Daily Telegraph, December 17, 2003

Pro-democracy parties claimed last night that they had made major gains in the Hong Kong elections after record numbers of voters went to the polls. After several hours of counting, the Democratic Party said it had won 95 of the 120 wards it contested, 20 more than it has now. Several members of the main pro-Beijing party, the "Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong" [sic] were heavily defeated in key wards. "The Democratic Party is a big winner. The people are giving the message they want more democratic reforms and they are punishing the government for not heeding their voice", said Inan Choy, a politics professor at Hong Kong's City University. The increase in seats for Democratic Party and other anti-government candidates is certain to lead to more pressure on Tung Chee-hwa, the chief executive, to introduce constitutional reform.

- Daily Telegraph, November 24, 2003

Yesterday, at the Banqueting Hall - the same building in which the Religious Right of the 17th century struck history's first blow against the divine right of kings by cutting off the head of Charles I - President George W. Bush delivered a grim warning to the tyrants of the Middle East.

- David Frum, writing in the Daily Telegraph, November 20, 2003

A plan to build a memorial in the Irish Republic to a 13-year-old boy, thought to have been the youngest soldier to die in the First World War, is being opposed as "imperialist" by republican objectors. John Condon, from Ballybricken, near Waterford, lied about his age to join the British Army and was killed during the second battle of Ypres in 1915. For decades the Irish largely ignored the deaths of 60,000 of their countrymen in the two world wars. The funeral of Cpl. Ian Malone, an Irish Guardsman from Dublin killed in Basra this year, appeared to mark a turning point. Hundreds of serving and former servicemen openly wore British Army medals. But Waterford county council's plan for a "peace memorial" dedicated to Pte. Condon and all Irish war dead is abhorrent to members of the Workers' Party, the successor to Official Sinn Fein. John Condon, 70, the soldier's nephew, said "It will mean everything, having a memorial, not just for John but for all his mates. It is hoped that, despite the objections, planning permission will be granted next month for the bronze sculpture of four soldiers.

- Daily Telegraph, November 12, 2003

God put Bush in charge, says the general hunting bin Laden. Lt.Gen. William "Gerry" Boykin, the newly promoted deputy under-secretary of state of defence for intelligence, has repeatedly told Christian groups and prayer meetings that President George W. Bush was chosen by God to lead the global fight against Satan. Gen. Boykin, a 13-year member of Delta Force, the top-secret commando unit modelled on the SAS, was promoted this summer, with responsibility for speeding the flow of top-secret intelligence to commandos hunting bin Laden and other high-value targets.

- Daily Telegraph, October 17, 2003

Villagers in Fiji whose ancestors killed and ate a British missionary 136 years ago are to offer a traditional apology to his descendants. The Rev. Thomas Baker, of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, was killed in the remote mountain community of Navatusila in 1867, possibly after he took a comb out of the chief's hair. Touching the head of a chief was taboo in Fiji, once known as the Cannibal Isles. Mr. Baker, from Playden, Sussex, is the only European to have been cooked and eaten in Fiji. The people of Navatusila want to atone for the sins of their ancestors because they believe they have been cursed by Mr. Baker's death, with their village suffering a string of misfortunes. The chief of the village, on the island of Viti Levu, has invited the missionary's descendants in Britain to attend next month's ceremony.

- Daily Telegraph, October 15, 2003

Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in front of Hong Kong's legislative council building last night, for the second time in a week. They called for democracy and the resignation of Tung Chee-hwa. After a protest last week by 500,000 people, Mr. Tung deferred anti-subversive legislation demanded by China. The new demonstration was to show the dissatisfaction with his leadership and to demand the complete withdrawal of the legislation, known as Article 23.

- Daily Telegraph, July 10, 2003

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Hong Kong yesterday to protest against new anti-subversion laws in the biggest display of discontent since the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989. Six years after Britain returned the territory to China, a mass gathering of the former colony's middle classes and professionals called on the government to drop the proposals which many say mark the "real handover", and quit. The scale of the march far outdid expectations, and over-shadowed the formal celebrations of the anniversary at which the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, was guest of honour. As he spoke, a handful of protesters demanding the release of political prisoners and an end to one-party rule burned the Chinese flag. Police estimated 350,000, but organisers said as many as 500,000 people took to the narrow streets beneath the city's skyscrapers, far more than the 100,000 predicted. Many marchers dressed largely in black, as a sign of mourning for Hong Kong's "lost freedoms". Some held up posters showing Tung Chee-hwa splattered with a custard pie. Their anger was not just over Article 23, but also over the decline of Hong Kong since 1997. The downturn in the economy and the collapse of the property market have hit the middle classes particularly hard.

- Daily Telegraph, July 2, 2003

Baroness Thatcher has been appointed Patron of the Falkland Islands Association. She has expressed delight at the Association's invitation, which comes twenty years after she was given the Freedom of the Falkland Islands, the only individual to be so honoured in appreciation of her leadership in 1982 leading to the liberation of the Falklands from invasion by Argentina. The work of the Falklands Government Representative in London, Sukey Cameron, has been recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours. She has been awarded an MBE - a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire - for public service to the Falkland Islands.

- Falkland Islands Newsletter, June 2003

 

Britain has abandoned negotiations with Spain on sharing the sovereignty of Gibraltar. A government minister told Spanish newspapers yesterday that the prospect of a deal was "simply zero". Denis MacShane, the Foreign Office minister responsible for Europe, admitted failure after nearly two years of talks and acknowledged that London could not impose a deal against the almost unanimous opposition of Gibraltar's population. The news is a resounding victory for Peter Caruana, Gibraltar's chief minister, who led a campaign of opposition to any dilution of British sovereignty.

- Daily Telegraph, June 9, 2003

Australian SAS troops have captured up to 60 Ba'ath Party leaders and Fedayeen fighters as they attempted to flee into neighbouring Syria. The captures in north-western Iraq this week underline the unsung role that Australia has played in the war against Saddam [Hussein]. Key among the 2,000-strong Australian contingent is a squadron of about 150 Australian SAS, highly respected in the special forces world. They worked closely with British and American conterparts and were involved in the seizure of air bases in western Iraq. A military spokesman said the Australians, like the British, preferred to operate in "grey", not worrying about a share of the limelight. "Our forces have been praised as first rate and the British in particular don't say that if they don't mean it." he said. No Australian servicemen died in combat, despite the SAS task group's involvement in more than a dozen exchanges of fire. The group, which was given its own zone of operations in the north and west of Iraq, was also given the task of monitoring routes for signs of movement by the [Ba'athist] regime's leadership. Australia also contributed three navy ships, Anzac, Darwin and Kinimbla, and a squadron of FA18 Hornets which were used in attack missions over Iraq. Australian navy divers were used to find and destroy mines in the port city of Umm Qasr. The White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, gave high praise for their contribution. "Australia has stood as a strong ally and close friend," he said.

- Daily Telegraph, April 17, 2003

British troops walked into the historic centre of Basra yesterday to be greeted by thousands of Iraqi civilians flocking on to the streets to welcome them as liberators. Men, women and children rushed to greet paratroopers as they advanced into the oldest part of Basra. The narrow, winding streets had been expected to provide a haven for Fedayeen paramilitaries determined to resist the British soldiers. Instead, the British troops found themselves having to fight off not enemy attacks but swarms of smiling children trying to practise their English. There was a succession of thumbs-up gestures, waves and salutes, while women wearing chadors appeared in doorways smiling and waving. English-speaking Iraqis came up to reporters to express their own delight. Among them was Saad Ahmed, a 54-year-old retired English teacher. "We have been waiting for you for a long time," he said. "We are now happier than you. You are victorious as far as the war is concerned, but we are victorious in life."

- Daily Telegraph, April 8, 2003

New Zealand paid an affectionate tribute to its favourite son, Sir Edmund Hillary, yesterday at the start of celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of his conquest of Mt.Everest. In a colourful parade through the streets of Wellington, Sir Edmund and Lady Hillary were driven in an open-topped car to parliament, accompanied by a brass band, Indian and Nepalese marchers in national dress, and mountaineers wearing climbing gear. With his Nepalese Sherpa guide, Tenzing Norgay, he reached the summit of the 29,028 ft mountain on May 29, 1953. Their feat was seen as a glittering achievement for Britain and the Commonwealth, coming as it did on the eve of the Queen's coronation.

- Daily Telegraph, April 1, 2003

Three hundred British soldiers were deploying to strategic positions in Sierra Leone yesterday as instability again threatened to engulf the country which Tony Blair regards as one of his foreign policy successes. With rebels from neighbouring Liberia threatening the border, causing thousands of civilians to flee, an increase was ordered in Britain's military presence in Sierra Leone for the first time in three years. It served to remind policy makers in London on the eve of a possible offensive against Saddam Hussein that British troops could be required in Iraq for many years to come. The company of troops from 2nd Battalion, The Royal Gurkha Rifles, was deployed in the capital, Freetown, and a Type 23 frigate, Iron Duke, was ordered to the region to provide reinforcements.

- Daily Telegraph, March 4, 2003

On the Ides of March 100 years ago, a column of troops under Lieut.Col. T.L.N. Morland encountered an army of some thousands of Hausa/Fulani horse and foot drawn up on the hurumi (common land) to the south-west of the city of Sokoto, and routed it. Attahiru Ahmadu, 12th Amir al Mumenin, 11th Sultan of Sokoto and great-grandson of Shehu Usuman d'an Fodiyo, had assembled that army in the hope of stemming the inexorable advance of British dominion throughout what is now Nigeria. Morland's force consisted of 25 British officers, two British medical officers, five British NCOs and one British medical orderly, together with 439 infantry (from the recently created West African Frontier Force), with 68 gunners and 89 mounted infantry from the same source. With them were four Maxim Guns and four 75mm mountain guns. In battle array the Sultan's levy stretched for over a mile. It had few firearms but many bowmen, shooting poisoned arrows. The main force was cavalry, armed with swords or spears. All accounts bear witness to their bravery, but, as Belloc observed, "We [had] got/The Maxim Guns and they had not", and the engagement was short-lived. By the mid-1950s we (and by "we" I mean the inheritors, on both sides, of the Sokoto fight, and many more besides, drawn from every walk of life) were well on the way to making northern Nigeria the veritable jewel in the African crown. Hundreds of cement-lined wells had been dug, many with windmills (manufactured in Worcester) pumping an endless supply of clean water. A comprehensive review of criminal and civil law was nearing completion. There was a bicameral legislature in being (modelled precisely on the British Parliament). Guinea-worm was a thing of the past and we were well on our way to eradicating smallpox, while polio and leprosy were much reduced. We also had a public finance regime that was virtually corruption-free. Then came independence on 1 October 1960. It was the murder of the prime minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, together with the murders of another minister and the premier of the Western Region, of two brigadiers, two full colonels, four lieutenant-colonels, two majors, several senior civil servants and their wives and children as well, that ushered in an extended period of ignominy and chaos. From this outrage, perpetrated by a few disaffected junior officers egged on by jealous and disgruntled politicians, sprang decades of military dictatorship, the dismantling of historic polities, fragmentation of the judicial process, the collapse of agriculture and commerce, untrammelled administrative anarchy and corruption and a civil war. Surely the time has come to question openly what went so terribly wrong. How and why, under British rule, did matters progress from mediaeval barbarity to emergent modern statehood in one 50-year timespan, only to regress so soon after independence into mediaeval barbarity again? Is it not time for us to call a halt to political correctness, self-abnegation and cries of mea culpa, and to face reality for a change? A century after its heyday is surely not too soon for Britain to start setting straight the record of its Empire.

- article by D.J.M.Muffett, The Spectator, March 1, 2003

Bermuda's Gombeys (Bermuda's cultural dance troupe) and the Bermuda Regiment Band have been invited to perform at the 2003 Edinburgh Military Tattoo - the world's most famous military tattoo. The event usually attracts around 200,000 visitors to the Scottish capital and a TV audience of some 100 million.

- report sent by David Rogers, Coventry, February 16, 2003

A British policeman has arrived in the Solomon Islands to take up one of the toughest law and order posts in the Pacific. William Morrell was greeted by screeching spear-wielding warriors as he landed in the capital, Honiara, where he will be based as police commissioner. Members of the tribal welcoming committee hoisted Mr. Morrell on to their shoulders and carried him to a waiting line of dignitaries. Mr. Morrell, 47, a former chief superintendent in the Greater Manchester Police, said "It's a great honour to be here and to take over the leadership role of the Royal Solomon Islands Police."

- Daily Telegraph, January 31, 2003

 

The London Swinton Circle was honoured to welcome Mr. Albert Poggio, the U.K. representative of the Government of Gibraltar, as guest speaker at their January 2003 meeting. Mr. Poggio gave a powerful and well-received talk which covered the history of British rule in Gibraltar, and explained why Spanish claims on the Rock are completely groundless. He further emphasised the ongoing strategic and military importance of the colony, and reminded everyone of the determination of the vast majority of the people of Gibraltar to remain British - as emphatically proven by the recent referendum.

- report sent by HKH, January 16, 2003

Malaysia put the language of its old colonial master back into the heart of its education system yesterday, almost 30 years after expelling it. For decades, schools for the country's different communities have taught in Malay, Chinese or Tamil, but now all maths and science classes will be in English.

- Daily Telegraph, January 7, 2003

The Article 23 Concern Group, formed by Denis Chang, S.C., Ronny Tong, S.C., Gladys Li, S.C., Audrey Eu, S.C., Alan Leong, S.C., Professor Johannes Chan, Professor Michael Davis, Margaret Ng and Christine Loh, has published a series of pamphlets on Article 23 legislation with the view to identify the areas of concern and to explain to people of Hong Kong how the proposed legislation will affect the fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Basic Law. The pamphlets featuring seven topics, each focusing a particular offence or area of concern are distributed among members of the public in Hong Kong and people are encouraged to send the reply slip in the pamphlets to voice their views to the HKSAR government. Now we need your help in extending our distribution to overseas Chinese groups and human right groups. Electronic versions of the pamphlets are available at: http://www.margaretng.com.

- report sent by Fiona Shek, Assistant to Hon. Margaret Ng, December 13, 2002

The Queen received unexpected affirmation yesterday from the South Pacific islands of Fiji when the Great Council of Chiefs declared that it still considered her Queen, even though the nation has been a republic since 1987. Following a meeting of the chiefs, Epeli Ganilau, the council chairman, said Fiji's status as a republic only represented severance from the Queen as head of state at government level. "The traditional link has never been severed," he said, confirming the Queen's position as paramount chief of Fiji.

- Daily Telegraph, November 20, 2002

 

The British Raj was quintessentially an economic adventure. The British did not interfere in the cultural and religious life of India. Nor did they force religious conversions. This explains why, even after 200 years of British rule, Indians still do not carry any resentment of, or hatred against, the British. When the British arrived on the scene, Indians, especially the non-converts to Islam, were more than grateful to them for having rescued them from the clutches of Muslim tyranny. The British rule in India, apart from a few political aberrations, was a blessing, for it brought new ideas and technology to the country.

- Letter from Randhir Singh Bains, Daily Telegraph, November 18, 2002

 

Jack Straw is to re-think his Gibraltar policy after a referendum on the Rock overwhelmingly rejected the principle of joint sovereignty with Spain. On Thursday, in a pre-emptive referendum, 98.97% of Gibraltarians voted against joint sovereignty on an 88% turnout. Michael Ancram, the shadow foreign secretary, argued that the vote showed that joint sovereignty had come to a "dead end". He said "The vote was about the democratic expression of the wishes of the people of Gibraltar, which in this case have to be paramount." Gibraltar's chief minister, Peter Caruana, said the result meant "a dead end" for further talks on joint sovereignty.

- Daily Telegraph, November 9, 2002

 

On Thursday 7 November a very successful and well-attended pro-Gibraltar demonstration was held in Whitehall outside Downing Street in order show solidarity with the people of Gibraltar on the occasion of their referendum on the matter of sovereignty. During this demonstration a letter was delivered to 10 Downing Street addressed to the Prime Minister asking him to accept the decision of the people of Gibraltar regarding their future constitutional position.

- report sent by HKH, November 7, 2002

 

A group of former members of the Parachute Regiment who were badly wounded in the Falklands plan to complete their march into Port Stanley 20 years after the conflict. The group, at least four of whom lost limbs at the battle of Mount Longdon, are determined to walk the final four miles across marshy ground from the peak to the islands' capital. They are among more than 200 veterans returning to the Falklands this week. One of the group, David Kempster, 43, now a civil servant in Northampton, who lost an arm in the battle, said "At the time I never thought about walking into Port Stanley. I was grateful to be alive, which was luckier than some. But since then it has been a goal to complete the march."

- Daily Telegraph, November 4, 2002

 

[A recent] Kenya news story was not [as claimed] about landmines from the 1940's and 50's, but unexploded ordinance from the British Training Base in Kenya today. The problem with the whole issue is both British and Kenyan forces use the base and while the British have done their best to clear ordinance, the Kenyan forces have not. Locals who shouldn't even be on the base were contacted by British lawyers after hearing about a few instances of people losing limbs etc. in the British news (an excellent post-colonial news story for our time!). Given a choice between taking a case against the Kenyan government and the British which would you choose to win?

- report sent by David Rogers, Coventry, October 7, 2002

 

After dozens of setbacks and nearly 30 years of preparation the country's newest museum, the first to be dedicated to the subject of the British Empire, has opened its doors in the former slaving port of Bristol. Trapped between the competing demands of jingoism and the political correctness of modern Britain, the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum was turned down for lottery funding and has been refused public money. It has struggled into existence with £8 million from private benefactors, a far cry from the £20 it hoped for. Dr. Gareth Griffiths, the museum director, said he believed the people of Britain were more empire-friendly and more open-minded about the history of the greatest modern empire on earth than they were a decade ago. Then he said, "We were in effect cold-shouldered by the museum world who thought the project would be a Right-wing, jingoistic glorification of empire." He added "But it is a museum's job to throw light upon the past, not to make moral judgments. By describing the story of the British Empire from everybody's point of view, with a multitude of sources and voices, we believe we have done that." Housed in Isambard Kingdom Brunel's 1842 Temple Meads Station, Bristol's first railway terminus and itself a monument to Britain's engineering genius, the museum may surprise traditionalists. Few of the displays, supported by artefacts, film and aural histories, celebrate military conquest. The 16 galleries take a gentler line with displays about trade, slavery, colonial administration, missionaries, problems of industrial development, environmental damage, and at the end, a room about how the influences of empire have shaped modern Britain. Museum staff have recorded interviews with 2,000 people, including ex-colonial officers, missionaries, Sikhs, Muslims, Hong Kong Chinese and West Indians. The story of Commonwealth troops who fought in two world wars is told as well as the history of British soldiers in campaigns from Benin to Canada and Cyprus to South Africa. Mr. Letts, the former chairman of National Heritage, said "We can't wish away the bad things that the empire did, but we also we can't wish away the good things that we pushed into other countries." The long birth of the museum could not have been more painful. In 1975 Mr. Letts realised that of all the museums across the country, not one told the history of the empire. But lottery boards, suspicious of the project, turned him down, and the City of Bristol, run by the hard-Left until a few years ago, also rebuffed him. It was Sir "Union" Jack Hayward, the British patriot and millionaire living in the Bahamas, who came to the rescue, eventually giving the museum £3 million. Lord Baker, the former Conservative Education Secretary, Jan Morris, the travel writer and historian, Lord Rees, former Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and Lord Dholakia, the Liberal Democrat peer, became trustees. Dr. Griffiths said it was a mark of the progress the project had made that the Princess Royal would perform the official opening next month. Mr Letts said "To think of empire as a dirty word that you can't mention is absurd because you are ignoring the effect on ourselves and on all the people that it governed. It is ridiculous to pretend that empire didn't happen."

- Daily Telegraph, September 28, 2002

 

President Bush is a great admirer of Sir Winston Churchill and keeps a bust of the wartime leader on his desk at the White House. Yet while attempts to compare the two men have been dismissed as fanciful, it now turns out that they are from the same English stock. Their common ancestry has been traced to the 15th century Northamptonshire squire Henry Spencer. The President is also related to Princes William and Harry [of Wales].

- Daily Telegraph, September 18, 2002

 

A Pro-Gibraltar demonstration took place on Gibraltar Day, Tuesday 10 September, outside the Spanish Embassy in London. Dozens of British supporters of Gibraltar were joined by a sizeable contingent of Gibraltarians living in the UK for what proved to be a very effective demonstration in support of Gibraltar's right to remain British - which was greeted by continuous hooting and "thumbs up" signals from passing traffic.

- Report sent by HKH, September 2002

 

There was a vivid moment a couple of years ago during the first stage of the British intervention to support the struggling government of Sierra Leone. Its prime minister asked a visiting British politician, in the presence of journalists, if it might be possible for his country to become part of the British Empire again. Most of those present believed that the Sierra Leonese leader was serious. The problems of African societies are so huge, so deep-rooted, that the few honest and decent politicians despair. They grasp at any straw to rescue their countries. It is a tragic spectacle and few experts see a way out. When the West does intervene in any African society, it is essential to stay for at least 10 years or more to have any hope of making lasting progress. The Americans failed miserably in Somalia a decade ago, because they treated it as a short term problem. The British Army training team in Sierra Leone has done a good job, but the lasting need is for civil assistance - to teach people to collect taxes, administer courts and run infrastructure projects. We are talking, of course, about something close to neo-colonialism. Many Africans would be delighted if there was more of it about.

- Max Hastings, writing in the Daily Mail, August 13, 2002

 

A large majority of St.Helenians voted for air access in a referendum in January in preference to an eventual replacement to the vessel RMS St.Helena that now serves the island. Air access has long been discussed in St.Helena. It will end the isolation there and bring much needed economic development - particularly tourism. Despite the rugged nature of the island, a suitable site for an airport exists on the North West Coast. Full British citizenship is also being restored to St.Helenians and other citizens of Britain's Overseas Territories this month. This will give them back the full rights they were deprived of in 1981 by the British Nationality Act.

- Falkland Islands Newsletter, May 2002

 

St.Helena's 5,000-strong population on the remote Atlantic island staged a noisy double celebration yesterday marking 500 years since the island was discovered, and the restoration to the islanders of full British citizenship. A Salvation Army brass band and the bugles and drums of the local Scouts played as Governor David Hollamby, in full ceremonial rig, represented the Queen at a march past. As church bells rang out and a sun-drenched drizzle broke the heat, Saints - as the islanders call themselves - broke into applause at the news that the Princess Royal would visit in November. Islanders welcomed the news as recognition of their restored status. Yesterday's events marked the high point of a week of celebration for the island. The island, which has recently voted for an airport but is currently dependent on ships for contact with the outside world, was swollen by about 700 outsiders for the celebrations. Among visitors were the crew of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Grey Rover.

- Daily Telegraph, May 22, 2002

 

Months of negotiations on Gibraltar's sovereignty are close to collapse over Spain's refusal to accept that any agreement on the Rock's future status must be final. Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary holds talks in London today with Josep Pique, his Spanish counterpart, but the Government is not expecting a last-minute breakthrough. "It's all gone pear-shaped," one source said. "Both sides have negotiated in good faith, and more progress has been made than the sceptics thought possible. But the red lines are such that with the best will in the world it may not be possible to proceed." The collapse of the talks would delight Gibraltarians, who are overwhelmingly opposed to any dilution of British sovereignty.

- The Times, May 15, 2002

 

A revolver carried by Winston Churchill in his escape from his Boer captors in 1899 was back with his family yesterday after it sold at auction for £32,000. An unidentified member of the Churchill family competed with a telephone bidder and was given a round of applause when he identified himself by surname. "It's going to a good home," he said. The young Winston Churchill, serving with the 4th Hussars and working as a war correspondent, was on an armoured train attacked and derailed by Boers. Three weeks later, unarmed and with a "wanted, dead or alive" ransom on his head, Churchill escaped and found his way to a homestead owned by an Englishman, John Howard, Mr. Howard arranged for the future British prime minister to be hidden under a tarpaulin on another train and gave him the revolver and provisions. Churchill slipped across the border to Portuguese Mozambique. In London in 1901, he arranged for the six-shot pinfire revolver to be returned to Mr. Howard in an inscribed ebony box with a glass brandy flask and fitted silver cup.

- Daily Telegraph, May 2, 2002

 

People at the Foreign Office believe there is a need for the British to behave Imperially again.

- Newsnight report, BBC2, March 28, 2002

 

Gibraltar came to a halt yesterday as thousands of residents held one of the biggest demonstrations in the 300-year-old colony to protest against plans for Britain and Spain to share sovereignty. About 10,000 flag-waving protesters marched along the foreshore with up to 5,000 more lining the streets in support of a declaration stating that they would resist moves by Tony Blair's government to sign an agreement with Madrid. In an impassioned speech, Peter Caruana, Gibraltar's chief minister, called any such agreement a "betrayal". "We the people are gathered here to declare that the future of Gibraltar both in practice and principle, including our sovereignty, can be decided only by the people of Gibraltar in exercise of our right of self-determination," he said. "We reject and condemn as betrayal of our right and wishes as a people any declaration or agreement that makes in-principle sovereignty or other concessions to Spain against our wishes. We therefore call on the British government not to enter such agreements."

- Daily Telegraph, March 19, 2002

During an average month, British diplomatic posts in the Eastern Caribbean receive one or two enquiries from young men and women interested in joining HM Armed Forces. During the week of 20 November, our offices in Antigua received 10 enquiries; many more were received in Guyana [British Guiana] Trinidad, Grenada, St.Lucia and Barbados. This was a direct result of widespread media coverage of the arrival in St.Vincent on 16 November of a team of 26 officials, both civilian and military, to select recruits for the British Army. Last spring the High Commissioner of St.Vincent and the Grenadines in London, Carlyle Dougan, contacted the British Army with an invitation from the St.Vincent Government to send a team to the Caribbean where a large number of St.Vincentians had expressed a wish to join the British Army.

- Report sent by David Rogers, Coventry, March 19, 2002

 

For someone who blames Britain and colonialism for all that is wrong with his country, Mugabe displayed a steadfast enthusiasm at the presidential swearing-in ceremony. Chiefs in pith helmets; presidential guard in dark green uniforms and white gloves; a backdrop of a gabled Dutch colonial state house. It would not have surprised me one bit had onlookers risen to sing God Save the Queen.

- Letter from Annabel Hughes, London - Daily Telegraph, March 19, 2002

 

The Gibraltar Government yesterday rejected the idea of accepting £35 million of EU funds aimed at inducing the British colony to integrate with Spain. Gibraltar's Chief Minister, Peter Caruana, said: "Gibraltar's sovereignty and our rights and wishes as a people are not for sale."

- Daily Telegraph, March 18, 2002

 

Mugabe believes that Mr. Tsvangirai was a front for a British effort to re-colonise Africa in alliance with other Western nations.

- Daily Telegraph, March 14, 2002

Speakers addressing a massive Keep Gibraltar British rally in February 2002.

 

A detachment of Royal Marines accidentally invaded Spain at the weekend. Using two landing craft, 20 commandos launched an amphibious attack at La Linea, near the border with Gibraltar, instead of their intended target a few hundred yards away on British soil. The Ministry of Defence said the Marines were involved in a "low-key" exercise but instead of being met by a mock enemy they were greeted by two Spanish policemen who stopped the "invasion" with the international signal of raised arms. The Royal Marines display only one battle honour on their cap badges and that is Gibraltar. It dates from 1704 when 1,800 Marines stormed the Rock, which was ceded to Britain in perpetuity by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713.

- Daily Telegraph, February 19, 2002

 

Opinion polls show that the majority of Jamaicans - 57% - believe that the Queen's Golden Jubilee visit is important. Most Jamaicans are in awe of their Queen, according to the Jamaican polling organisation Stone, which said: "Over the years local social scientists have been confounded by the fascination that Jamaicans have for Queen Elizabeth."

- Daily Telegraph, February 19, 2002

 

So vigilance must be continued. This is all the more important with the risk of a sell-out now of Gibraltar to Spain. Argentine press reports reveal that this is encouraging Argentina in its claim to the Falklands. So Falkland Islanders and Gibraltarians stand shoulder-to-shoulder in resisting attempts to force another nation's will upon them.

- Falkland Islands Newsletter, January 2002

 

A Royal Navy petty officer who discovered an island in the South Atlantic which did not appear on any charts may have the rocky outcrop named after him. Mark Robinson, 28, a medical assistant, was serving on Endurance when he saw the island, which is just a quarter of a square mile in size with a peak of 18ft. He was the first to step ashore when Endurance sent a party to investigate.

- Daily Telegraph, January 25, 2002

 

Britain and Spain engaged in a little gunboat diplomacy off Gibraltar yesterday when the Navy warned off a Spanish vessel disputing the ownership of an unexploded Second World War bomb. The minehunter Grimsby was recovering the 500lb bomb 300 yards inside Gibraltarian territorial waters when the Spanish patrol boat Conejera entered the temporary safety exclusion zone. The British patrol boat Ranger then approached the Conejera and politely asked her to vacate the area.

- Daily Telegraph, January 25, 2002

 

Africa like many areas of the world seems unable to govern its people in any semblance of fairness when left to itself. The radical Marxist methods used in Zimbabwe to steal land from White owners is also being done in South Africa. Can any person who is not blind see that the people are far worse off now in almost the entire continent? The Middle East would not be the problem it is if the civilized European nations were still in control. Of course it's not too late to restore order. It's not the lack of mental ability among the people, it's the irrational tribal, religious beliefs etc that so enslave and doom them. Add greed and utter ruthlessness and you have chaos.

- report sent by Charles Payne, December 11, 2001

 

Tony Blair recently borrowed a copy of Rudyard Kipling's Kim from the Chequers library. The novel's plot is pertinent - the hero becomes a British agent and embarks on the "Great Game" in Afghanistan - but even more relevant are the author's themes. The Prime Minister is, as he sees it, taking on the modern version of Kipling's "White man's burden" as the West creates a new kind of empire. At the beginning of the 20th century the map of the world was dotted with pink. There is much thinking going on in Downing Street and the Foreign Office about how "empire" should be re-invented. The key adviser is Robert Cooper, the Prime Minister's foreign policy "guru", who was this week seconded to the Foreign Office to try to sort out the future of Afghanistan. "The non-existence of empire is historically without precedent," he wrote recently. "The question is whether this can last. There are both theoretical and practical reasons for thinking that it won't ... All the conditions seem to be there for a new imperialism." The Cooper theory, set out in a pamphlet last year, is that the world is divided, as it was during the Cold War, but in a different way. There are three types of state: "pre-modern", defined by a post-colonial chaos (such as Afghanistan); "modern", the nation state within clear boundaries, and "post-modern". There is a "basic incompatibility" between the pre-modern world, which survives on a balance of power between enemies, and the post-modern world. In a chillingly accurate passage he warns: "where the [pre-modern] state is too weak to be dangerous, non-state actors may become too strong. If they become too dangerous for the established states to tolerate it is possible to imagine a defensive imperialism. If non-state actors, notably drug, crime or terrorist syndicates, take to using pre-modern bases for attacks on the more orderly parts of the world then the organised states may eventually have to respond." In an article for Prospect magazine, written before September 11 but published since, Mr. Cooper describes the need for a "new imperialism" to "create stability" in the anarchic pre-modern states. The new imperialism must, he says, be voluntary - it might involve UN support in return for certain conditions - but it is still ultimately about control. He sees globalisation as one form of it. Aid agencies are, he argues, the missionaries of their day. Mr. Cooper's view is that nation states do not work on their own. There are implications beyond Afghanistan. Kipling would be proud.

- Article by Rachel Sylvester, Daily Telegraph, October 25, 2001

 

"May I congratulate the Republic of Ireland in their World Cup attempts. They are the best team in the United Kingdom."

- Letter in the Irish Post, quoted by Daily Telegraph, October 19, 2001

 

A defining moment in the history of the Gurkha regiment is being commemorated by an important new work of art. The painting, more than seven feet long, depicts the battle of Delhi Ridge in which the Gurkhas, recruited from the mountains of Nepal, first displayed loyalty to the British Crown. It is being painted for the regiment by Jason Askew, the celebrated equestrian artist. In 1857, during the Indian Mutiny, the Gurkhas remained loyal and fought alongside British troops. Mr. Askew's painting focuses on the point at which the Gurkhas and the 60th Rifles (now the Royal Green Jackets) repelled the Indians as they tried to capture the strategic Hindu Rao House, belonging to a merchant, on the ridge north of Delhi. The battle has become the keystone of Gurkha history - featuring on the decorated truncheon that was given to the Gurkhas by Queen Victoria in 1863. However, until now, no major painting has depicted the event. "The reason why this picture is so important is that it portrays the defining moment when the Gurkhas routed the Indian mutineers by standing fast with the British soldiers," said Lt.Col. Craig Lawrence of the Royal Gurkha Rifles. "It marks the beginning of the friendship between the Nepalese and British troops that has lasted to this day."

- Sunday Telegraph, September 2, 2001

 

According to the latest census, the population of the Falklands is 2491, which excludes 112 people temporarily absent from the Islands; the garrison and 534 civilians working for the military. Stanley itself has a population of 1989, 21% higher than it was at the last census in 1996. The working population has grown 17.5% and 98.5% of men and 79.3% of women of working age are in work. 288 run businesses, a rise of 10%, and the number of dwellings has gone up to 1073 from 865 in 1996.

- Falkland Islands Newsletter, August 2001

 

Under ANC rule there are more Black people in prison than under apartheid. The jails are full. What people forget is that colonialism in Africa brought law and order to a continent which had none. In Zimbabwe Blacks are saying: Don't blame the Whites. Life was better under White rule. Blacks all over Africa are saying this sort of thing nowadays. One day people will say: Colonial rule was the best thing that ever happened to Africa.

- Boernews, August 15, 2001

 

A Canadian Alliance MP yesterday blocked plans to give honorary [Canadian] citizenship to Nelson Mandela, accusing the former South African "president" of being a terrorist and a Communist. Rob Anders, a two-term Calgary MP, shouted "No" when John McCallum, the Liberal MP for Markham, sought unanimous approval for the motion. McCallum later pleaded with Mr. Anders to reconsider. "He told us: 'I will never support Mandela's citizenship. He is a terrorist and a Communist,'" McCallum quoted Mr. Anders as saying.

- National Post (Canada), June 7, 2001

(I hate to tell you, but it [the granting of honorary Canadian citizenship to the terrorist Mandela] has been passed regardless of what anyone thinks. There was a poll taken and 57% said NO but it was still granted. Unbelievable. Peacemaker??? We as South Africans certainly question the peacemaker! - report sent by I.B., Calgary, Alberta)

 

More than a million voters in the former British protectorate of [British] Somaliland turned out to vote yesterday in a referendum on independence from the rest of Somalia. Early indications from the polling suggested overwhelming popular support for independence. Somaliland was officially independent for four days between the end of British colonial rule and integration with Somalia, a former Italian colony, in 1960.

- Daily Telegraph, June 1, 2001

 

He may not have walked away with an Oscar to call his own, but by the end of the 73rd Academy Awards ceremony the night belonged to Englishman Ridley Scott. As his sword and sandals epic Gladiator took the year's biggest haul - including Best Picture and Best Actor - the stars paid tribute to the "gentleman genius". Picking up a statuette for the role of general-turned-gladiator Maximus, [New Zealand-born] actor Russell Crowe drawled: "Really folks, I owe this to one bloke - and his name is Ridley Scott." Wearing his late father's MBE, awarded for his photographic work during the [Second World] War, Crowe thanked both him and his uncle, who had worked in the film industry and were his inspiration.

- Daily Telegraph, March 27, 2001

 

I refer to Paul Bew's article in the Daily Telegraph on 2nd January on the need for an official celebration of the Act of Union bicentenary. The Government should instruct the Post Office to bring out a special commemorative stamp as quickly as possible. Of course the failure to commemorate this bicentenary should not come as a surprise as the government is pursuing policies which will lead to the abolition of Britain. It should also start to plan how to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar on October 21st, 2005.

- Letter from Allan Robertson, London SE8 - Daily Telegraph, January 4, 2001 [full original version]

 

Reports indicate that the people of Sierra Leone strongly wish to return their country to the status of a British colony, so as to restore competent and honest administration. This takes me back some 40 years. On secondment from Whitehall in 1959/61, I found myself in West Africa as a constitutional adviser. James, my excellent steward from Nigeria, continually lamented the withdrawal of British rule. Foolishly James seemed to think I had some influence back home. He refused to believe that no notice would be taken if, on return, I told my Prime Minister that right required his government to resume control. Poor James was truly sincere about this. On many occasions when he pleaded with me, his eyes filled with tears. I felt ashamed that I was unable to give him any reassurance.

- Letter from Francis Bennion, Oxford - Daily Telegraph, September 22, 2000

 

Kenya's new head of public service, Richard Leakey, a White known for his staunch criticism of the government, promised yesterday to fight corruption among civil servants. Mr. Leakey, named on Friday by President Daniel arap Moi as secretary general of the government and director of the civil service, said: "The support of the head of state is unequivocal." The appointment was not made "for cosmetic purposes", Mr. Leakey said. "I am sure that the government and President Moi are serious when they say they want an end to corruption," he added.

- A.F.P., Nairobi.

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