Letter: I want compensation for the Viking invasion
Thursday 14th April 2011, 6:00AM BST.
Letter: The Prime Minister blames the British Empire for many of the world’s problems.
Oh, here is another one. Using our distant past to dirty our country.
I vote we should be reimbursed from Rome because they invaded us and forced us to stop being pagans. They forced their religion on us and killed those who wouldn’t conform and made slaves of thousands of us.
I vote we should be reimbursed by France because William the Conqueror invaded us and made slaves of our people.
I vote we should be reimbursed by the Viking nations because they raped and pillaged our towns and cities.
Shall I go on?
Cameron needs to get off his “world knees” and look to the good of this country — not cover his badly-judged remarks by using our money to save his butt.
Val Duncan
Wellington
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Well Said!
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I have often though the same thing just how far back are we allowed to go? Can we send those nasty Normans home now and get our country back?
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Being in charge of things is fraught with problems , this is one of the lessons of Empire. If you’re not in charge of anything you can’t be blamed when it goes wrong. I hope Mr Cameron takes note of this and, to ensure nothing can be pinned on him in the future, resigns.
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I’d like reparations from all of you Homo Sapiens for taking over our world..
For goodnes sake!
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Factually, the PM was entirely correct. To think that we are not directly responsible for many of the ills in the world is pure ignorance. We ran Palestine and allowed it to descend into a war of ethnic cleansing that is still going on and fractures the Middle East. We ran India and allowed it to descend into a war of ethnic cleansing that is still going on. Similar things could be said of Sudan and Nigeria. Then there are the different problems we left behind in South Africa and Rhodesia. After we led the worldwide abolition of slavery, The Empire was generally ‘a good thing’ for the peoples within it, bringing them sanitation, justice, security, education and so on. However, the end of Empire was a bloody farce; it’s as if the driver jumped out and left the passengers in a moving car.
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Just whom do you think are to blame for our forefathers action?
I do not blame modern Germans for their past
I do not blame modern Japanese for their past
Ditto Ditto
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The past is a foreign country, so they say.
Ironically the more xenophobic individuals seem to be, the more they want to live there.
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I just can’t trust that man. His eyes are too close together.
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Great letter! Mr Cameron needs new advisors and fast because sadly some of his comments are really missing the mark. I’m sure we are in for a long wait to hear Pakistan apologise to India and vice versa for their bloody history. However if the PM is to do the apology rounds can we also get a thanks now and again for the great good GB has done the world fighting fascism, communism, Islamic extreamism….
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An interesting argument, though each of the groups you mention, Normans, Vikings, Romans, came for a long time and integrated. So it is not a case of them and us. We are what remains of those groups who invaded the island we currently live on, so we are the invaders.
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Well I for one want to go back where my ancestors came from…
Sweden or Norway, Denmark or Finland will do nicely, because this country is ruined.
I AM A VIKING! DEPORT ME!!!!
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Julian is correct when he uses the word ‘integration’. Past invaders, refugees, migrants etc have, over time, disappeared into the body of the population. This is one thing [of many] that the “send ‘em back to their own country” brigade like to forget when they moan that there is too much Islamic immigration into Britain. Migration from the sub-Continent has only been in effect for a very few decades and as one would expect these groups will tend to stay within their own communities until they feel internal pressures to move away from the bases. The Algles, Saxons and Jutes did it, ditto the Danes/Norse. But it took hundreds of years for this integration to happen. As my DNA has shown that my family has been here for thousands of years I’d like to say that anyone who arrived with the builders of Stonehenge onward [4,500B.C.]should vacate the country now. We appreciate your contribution to the island but you can now return whence you came. Thank you very much. ;-)
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You forgot to mention the fact that past migration into Britain involved small numbers of fellow European people -who in time were absorbed into the British population.
Today it’s more like a flood – with many migrants who have absolutley no intention of integrating.
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Yes, Britain should say sorry.
Sorry for sharing our Western civilization,
Sorry for building hospitals and schools.
Sorry for the medical science that’s made very good use of.
Sorry for the roads and railways.
Sorry the peace keeping operations that have prevented millions dying in civil and inter-tribal wars.
Sorry for continuing to hand over millions of pounds in foreign aid.
Sorry for offshoring hundreds of thousands of British jobs over the past decade.
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Our nations forefathers did some good stuff, and for that we should be proud.
Our nations forefathers did some bad stuff, and for that we should be ashamed.
Or….
We could just accept that we, personally, did neither and cease our arrogant/guilt-trip behaviour altogether.
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How angry do people have to get? – Read this and weep!
We’re “broke” & can’t help: -Our own Senior Citizens, Our own deserving Troops, Our Orphans, And the Homeless etc .. etc..etc. . . In the last month alone we have provided aid to: – Haiti – again!, Chile ,Turkey , Greece, Pakistan- again. . . amongst others Our pensioners are living on a ‘fixed income’ Receive no aid, or get any breaks, while our government and religious organizations pour Hundreds of Millions of ££££££’s And Tons of Food ALL to Foreign Countries!
We have thousands of adoptable children who are shoved aside
WHY . . . . To make room for the adoption of foreign orphans! Great Britain – a country where we have: – Homeless without shelter, Children and adults going to bed hungry, Elderly going without ‘needed’ medication, The mentally ill without treatment -etc,etc.
YET……………….
They are requesting donations for the people of Pakistan . . . A country that trains British Muslim extremists how to BOMB & KILL us!
A country that ploughs millions into its nuclear programme!!!
A country with hundreds of millionaires who do sod all for THEIR own countrymen!. The same country that has passed laws so these rich people don’t pay ANY taxes!The same country where most of the aid sent
DOES NOT reach the ones in need!…and we have – Yet AGAIN . .TV stations that are spouting WE are letting these people down!!! Whilst OUR ships And OUR planes (laughably some are Military ones)
All lined up to fly and crammed full with:
Our food . .
Our Bottled Water . .
Our New Tents . ..
Our New Clothes . . .
Our New Bedding . . .
OUR NHS Doctors & Nurses
And OUR medical supplies . .
Whilst UK cancer patients are denied life saving drugs!
And some of our OWN – from children to pensioners – go to bed hungry! Imagine if the *GOVERNMENT* gave ‘US’ The same support they give to other countries. Sad isn’t it?
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Utter twaddle, I’m afraid. It is not fair, equitable or correct to suggest that there are negative impacts today because of, for example, Viking incursions into the UK. On the other hand, wars are being fought today in former colonial countries as a direct consequence of the meddlng of former colonisers.
This very month we heard the appauling stories of Kenyans tortured by the fomer colonial masters from our country.
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Well said. European colonialism exploited the land, resources and peoples of many countries over the best part of a 500 year period. The British had the biggest empire in history covering large swathes of the Americas, Asia, Africa, Australasia and the Middle East.
Imperial control ceased within living memory but the consequences of that control continue. There are many things this country is responsible for and for which it should feel the need to apologise. Not least of which was the dysfunctional and poor societies we left behind (and thus prone to unstable and corrupt government), and the absolutely cack handed way we drew borders and allocated lands with no consideration for the rights, history, loyalties and needs of the indigenous people who lived there. This occured in modern living memory (unlike the juvenile Viking gripe of Val Duncan’s letter) and yes, it is right that Cameron should acknowledge Britain’s role and offer the courtesy of apology. That small gesture and the offer to assist with education programmes in countries like Pakistan may actually help to reduce some of the difficulties we currently fear.
If a man is beaten by (for example) the police he may grow to fear, hate, distrust and want to harm them. He may pass those emotions on to his children and other family members. If the police at a later date acknowledge their wrong doing to that man and treat his family with respect it is likely the hostilty borne of an original wrong will diminish. Val Duncan and her fan club would do well to try and see the bigger picture.
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