UK child migrants apology planned

Tinky · 15-11-2009, 07:15

I can't begin to imagine how traumatic it would have been to be separated from my parents. The homesickness and the longing to get back home, must have been unbearable.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8361025.stm

15-11-2009, 09:08

Yes, I was just listening to this on 5 live, disadvantaged kids being plucked from the streets and sent to Australia even as late as the seventies, it must have been terrible.

15-11-2009, 09:12

Ok.... Maybe I'm a bit dense, but I really can't see any need for Gordo to appologise for this. It smacks of the PC bullsnot that Tony Bliars slavery appology was....

Charlie_Bubble · 15-11-2009, 09:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Earl of Bronze

Ok.... Maybe I'm a bit dense, but I really can't see any need for Gordo to appologise for this. It smacks of the PC bullsnot that Tony Bliars slavery appology was....

That is new labour all over. Lot's of nice words of comfort and taxpayers money thrown at things, but sod all actual substance or improvement.

15-11-2009, 09:43

maybe we should look for a few islands to send all the illegal migrants we find now

Cobbydaler · 15-11-2009, 10:39

It's easy to apologise for someone else's failings in the past. Why do politicians never apologise for their own misdeeds?

That's a rhetorical question by the way!

v0id · 15-11-2009, 14:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by zing

maybe we should look for a few islands to send all the illegal migrants we find now

I hear they found water on the moon, how about there?

16-11-2009, 08:11

Maybe Gordo is going to apologise for this so that in the future someone else will find it easier to aplogise for his time as leader.

**Damien** · 16-11-2009, 08:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by RizzyKing

Maybe Gordo is going to apologise for this so that in the future someone else will find it easier to aplogise for his time as leader.

Maybe...

Anyway I don't see where the problem is here. It is like Blair's apology for Britain's part in slavery. Yes, the people involved were dead, but it was something for which this country was at serious fault and an official apology from the Government is meant to recognise that it was a problem in this country, one which we are aware is wrong, and to apologise as a nation for it.

Same with this Child Migrants thing.

**Paul** · 16-11-2009, 10:55

What complete nonsense.

Why should he apologise for something that happened 40+ years ago ?

Should I apologise for the things my parents did, or my grandparents ?

Just as barmy as apologising for slavery. Whats next, apologising for the crusades ?

danielf · 16-11-2009, 11:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul M

What complete nonsense.

Why should he apologise for something that happened 40+ years ago ?

Should I apologise for the things my parents did, or my grandparents ?

Just as barmy as apologising for slavery. Whats next, apologising for the crusades ?

You might feel different if you were one of the people involved?

It's different from you apologising for your grandparents. It's the government acknowledging that what a previous government did was wrong. It may seem pointless to you, but it may be very important to some of those involved.

joglynne · 16-11-2009, 11:21

After so many years when the abuse of these people as children was denied, and the failure of anyone to help them or even believe what had happened to them, an apology is welcomed by them as an acknowledgment that both countries carried out inhuman actions on defenseless children.

Maybe an apology seems inappropriate to some but my Aunt was one of these children and what happened to her is heartbreaking to hear. She managed to trace my Father, her cousin, with the help of the Red Cross and she has told us that the Australian apology has, in her words, allowed her to close a door on her painful memories.

One of the things that bewildered her was that she was sent away from her home land to live as a unloved and illtreated child in Australia when Great Britain was opening her doors to refugees from other countries and looking after them with more compassion that they did their own children.

**Paul** · 16-11-2009, 14:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by danielf

It's different from you apologising for your grandparents.

Indeed, its apologising for something someone you dont know at all did, possibly before you were even born.

Quote:

Originally Posted by danielf

It's the government acknowledging that what a previous government did was wrong.

You dont need to apologise for something done years ago, by someone else, to acknowledge it was wrong.

Quote:

Originally Posted by danielf

You might feel different if you were one of the people involved?

Unlikely. Im sure you have gathered that I dont have much time for pointless gestures, which is how I view this.

Osem · 16-11-2009, 15:00

I'd be a deal more impressed if Brown was prepared to acknowledge and apologise for what he's done wrong!

Ignitionnet · 16-11-2009, 15:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Earl of Bronze

Ok.... Maybe I'm a bit dense, but I really can't see any need for Gordo to appologise for this. It smacks of the PC bullsnot that Tony Bliars slavery appology was....

What he said.

---------- Post added at 16:04 ---------- Previous post was at 16:04 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charlie_Bubble

That is new labour all over. Lot's of nice words of comfort and taxpayers money thrown at things, but sod all actual substance or improvement.

And him.

---------- Post added at 16:04 ---------- Previous post was at 16:04 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Osem

I'd be a deal more impressed if Brown was prepared to acknowledge and apologise for what he's done wrong.

And especially him. Brown's arrogance in dealing with his own mistakes has been breathtaking to such an extent that to apologise for this reeks of hypocrisy given the various failures of his own he has to apologise for. He's wasted tens of billions of pounds and decades of public servants' man-hours on total crap while puffing his chest out indignantly or yelling stroppily at his subordinates if questioned, misdirecting or blatantly lying to the public if they seek transparency or explanation where their money is going, and he has the nerve to expect an apology for something that happened decades ago to be taken at face value...