LATEST EMPIRE NEWS
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
-
Daily Telegraph,
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
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A South African man has been granted
refugee status by
- AfricanCrisis,
Tony Blair has called for Robert
Mugabe, the president of
- Daily Telegraph,
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,
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
-
The Daily Express,
Former British Prime Minister Tony
Blair is reportedly visiting
- Southern Cross
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In
early 2009 a new monument in honour of the Royal Marines was unveiled and
dedicated in
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
-
Daily Telegraph,
Royal
Navy sailors killed three pirates off the
- Daily Telegraph,
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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
- report sent by PPR,
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,
The
commander of British troops in
- Daily Telegraph,
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
- report sent by MXS,
Hero Prince Harry rescued underfire
comrades in
- The
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Australia
Day (January 26th) was marked by several events in
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.
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A battalion of
soldiers received a heroes' welcome last night after a six-month tour of duty
in |
- Daily Telegraph,
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
- Southern Cross
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
Iraqi army
officers in
- Sunday Telegraph,
- Sunday Telegraph,
Greeted by hundreds of admirers and
bouquets of flowers, Queen Elizabeth II strolled past thatched-roof houses in
historic
11-year-old Tristan Terrell, who was visiting
- report sent by Bob Vinnicombe,
Veterans
of the Falklands Islands Defence Force march through
- Daily Telegraph,
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
- Daily Telegraph,
A
- report sent by DDN,
British troops
carried out a dramatic three-pronged attack on insurgents in
- Daily Telegraph,
There was a
vivid moment a couple of years ago during the first stage of the British intervention
to support the struggling government of
- Daily Mail,
The
Rock of Gibraltar, home to 500 footballers and 160
- Daily Telegraph,
The
- Sunday Telegraph,
In 2000 Jeff Rense published an
article by an American, Gordon Frisch, who has travelled and lived extensively
in
- Weekly African Crisis Report,
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
Solomon Islanders, resentful of Chinese
influence in government, have raised much of
- Southern Cross
- Daily Telegraph,
The Queen
has been welcomed by cheering crowds in
- BBC.co.uk,
British
soldiers are expected to be sent to the tiny state of
- Daily Telegraph,
Racial
violence flared in
- Daily Telegraph,
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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).
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Mr. Denis King speaking about the historical significance of the |
The band of the Royal |
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The sea off |
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
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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
- Daily Telegraph,
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,
Memorandum to a
cannibal - fascinating in-depth article by Anthony LoBaido
detailing the situation in present-day
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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.
- report sent by
HKH,
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
- Daily
Telegraph,
Months
of negotiations on
- The Times,
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
- Daily
Telegraph,
People
at the Foreign Office believe there is a need for the British to behave
Imperially again.
- Newsnight
report,
- Daily
Telegraph,
During
an average month, British diplomatic posts in the
- Report sent by
David Rogers,
For
someone who blames
- Letter from
Annabel Hughes,
The
Gibraltar Government yesterday rejected the idea of accepting £35 million
of EU funds aimed at inducing the British colony to integrate with
- Daily
Telegraph,
Mugabe
believes that Mr. Tsvangirai was a front for a British effort to re-colonise
- Daily
Telegraph,
Speakers addressing a massive Keep Gibraltar British rally in
February 2002.
A
detachment of Royal Marines accidentally invaded
- Daily
Telegraph,
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,
So
vigilance must be continued. This is all the more important with the risk of a
sell-out now of
-
A
Royal Navy petty officer who discovered an island in the
- Daily
Telegraph,
- Daily
Telegraph,
- report sent by
Charles Payne,
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
- Article by
Rachel Sylvester, Daily Telegraph,
"May
I congratulate the
- Letter in the
Irish Post, quoted by Daily Telegraph,
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
- Sunday
Telegraph,
According
to the latest census, the population of the
-
Under
ANC rule there are more Black people in prison than under apartheid. The jails
are full. What people forget is that colonialism in
- Boernews,
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
- National Post (
(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.,
More
than a million voters in the former British protectorate of [British]
- Daily
Telegraph,
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 [
- Daily
Telegraph,
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
- Letter from
Allan Robertson, London SE8 - Daily Telegraph,
Reports
indicate that the people of
- Letter from
Francis Bennion,
- A.F.P.,