The words of Charles the Second, when asked about the legal status of slaves, former slaves and coloured people on St Helena and other colonies. Although Parliament likes to date the abolition of slavery from when it finally took action, a couple of centuries later, (and only after the High Court had, in 1773, made essentially the same ruling as Charles,) it was only the post civil war vanity of Parliament which prevented slavery being made illegal on the spot when Charles spoke, as he was being asked for his formal opinion on the law.
So how, then, do we react to the news that Bedfordshire Police have rescued two dozen men from forced labour and being detained against their will, for up to fifteen years, on a Traveller's Site in South West Bedfordshire, near the Buckinghamshire border?
See link
and indeed, link as the police now have their side of the story online.
Medawar thinks that any reaction other than cold fury is probably wrong.
If it hadn't been for Margaret Thatcher and Kenneth Baker suspending the old laws on slavery for some ill-defined European and UN action, which never amounted to anything except a green light to restart the slave trade, those arrested today would have been facing the death penalty if convicted.
For whatever reason, when the UN and European Commission first asked Great Britain to do away with the death penalty for aggravated trafficking, Jim Callaghan refused. (It is said that his words were "I am against the death penalty in principle, but I'm not silly enough to abolish it for pirates and slave-traffickers." Whether he used those exact words or not, this is undoubtedly a fair reflection of his thinking. Thatcher and Baker did not think at all: they merely gave into pressure from people who thought progress would be effected by "modernising" this brutal but effective part of English law.)
The death penalty is off the table, but this case already shows every sign of being at the most extreme end of the possible offenses under the more recent, 2010, anti-slavery laws. There must be no half-measures: if fairly convicted, the harshest possible sentence must be passed. It would be a terrible mistake for judges to hold a little bit back in case there is a worse offence sometime in the future, because that would invite just such an offence.
Britain was free of this scourge for more than a century precisely because the first few slavers to be sentenced, suffered the most brutal punishments the State could mete out. Slavery is a crime for calculating men, not sociopaths compelled by some internal disorder, and brutal deterrents demonstrably work with this crime. And, yes, it is worse than murder.
And it will be interesting to see if those guilty of this abomination, are part of the Traveller's groups who have been playing the victim to such perfection recently, aided by certain journalists, Bishops and actresses who seem to have, not rose-tinted glasses, but rose-tinted corneal grafts.
Most importantly, this link is to the official register of plot-owners at the site. The relevant entries are under Little Billington, Greenacres, Gypsy Lane. This is a document of public record and you are fully entitled to download and keep a copy.
Update:
Four men, all from the Connors family, have been charged. See link.
It is likely that more charges will materialize against these four, and against others higher up the food chain, in due course.
So how, then, do we react to the news that Bedfordshire Police have rescued two dozen men from forced labour and being detained against their will, for up to fifteen years, on a Traveller's Site in South West Bedfordshire, near the Buckinghamshire border?
See link
and indeed, link as the police now have their side of the story online.
Medawar thinks that any reaction other than cold fury is probably wrong.
If it hadn't been for Margaret Thatcher and Kenneth Baker suspending the old laws on slavery for some ill-defined European and UN action, which never amounted to anything except a green light to restart the slave trade, those arrested today would have been facing the death penalty if convicted.
For whatever reason, when the UN and European Commission first asked Great Britain to do away with the death penalty for aggravated trafficking, Jim Callaghan refused. (It is said that his words were "I am against the death penalty in principle, but I'm not silly enough to abolish it for pirates and slave-traffickers." Whether he used those exact words or not, this is undoubtedly a fair reflection of his thinking. Thatcher and Baker did not think at all: they merely gave into pressure from people who thought progress would be effected by "modernising" this brutal but effective part of English law.)
The death penalty is off the table, but this case already shows every sign of being at the most extreme end of the possible offenses under the more recent, 2010, anti-slavery laws. There must be no half-measures: if fairly convicted, the harshest possible sentence must be passed. It would be a terrible mistake for judges to hold a little bit back in case there is a worse offence sometime in the future, because that would invite just such an offence.
Britain was free of this scourge for more than a century precisely because the first few slavers to be sentenced, suffered the most brutal punishments the State could mete out. Slavery is a crime for calculating men, not sociopaths compelled by some internal disorder, and brutal deterrents demonstrably work with this crime. And, yes, it is worse than murder.
And it will be interesting to see if those guilty of this abomination, are part of the Traveller's groups who have been playing the victim to such perfection recently, aided by certain journalists, Bishops and actresses who seem to have, not rose-tinted glasses, but rose-tinted corneal grafts.
Most importantly, this link is to the official register of plot-owners at the site. The relevant entries are under Little Billington, Greenacres, Gypsy Lane. This is a document of public record and you are fully entitled to download and keep a copy.
Update:
Four men, all from the Connors family, have been charged. See link.
It is likely that more charges will materialize against these four, and against others higher up the food chain, in due course.
Posts
4 comments:
I am trying to read here when I can ! When you say Travellers(without following the links) are you referring to "travellers" the scabs on earth as I know them? We have some HERE ! Not many people here seem to know of them. They are really really bad. If I weren't so tired I would follow all these links. I will try tomorrow. They caught one here doing unspeakable things to a small boy who belonged to her. I don't know how they figure it out they are travellers as I don't believe they would self-identify. I would probably know on sight but the Tampa cops would pretend not to. They stand right outside crack hosues and treat them like they are fine upsteanding citizens and use them as witnesses against the "real" neighbors. A set of waht I thought were travelers lived next to my SO, and then a guy who had a cop car but was not a cop and so on. That's how they take over neighborhoods they happened to be hanging with real carnies who are different than a traveller (if you ask a carney) and also different from circus folks. Circus to be the "top end rover" of the group as you probably know. These people were LIKE ANIMALS. They poisoned our dog their dog stole all the large appliances uprooted the commode ... they were not even like having people around. they used to put their shoes in the windows as a sign of something. Dope related. Well I'm off. You don't have to answer I am thinking out loud. Thanks for such an informative read.
"Traveller" in this context refers to a sub-culture rather than an ethnic group. There are supposedly about 150,000 "Irish Travellers" in the United Kingdom, but there is NO genetic or significant cultural difference between them and the 3,000,000 or so ordinary Irish people in the UK.
However, most of the headline-grabbing problems and incidents involve Travellers from Rathkeare in SW Ireland, and even that condenses down to around seven extended families.
The Rathkeare mob commit a great deal of crime, hide behind the Irish Traveller identity, bringing a lot of unmerited anger down on the heads of the other 145,000 odd, and further hide behind this as "racial prejudice". If the term "Rathkeare OCG" were used in place of "Irish Travellers", a lot of social friction could be eased, and law-enforcement resources more tightly and effectively targeted.
It would be interesting to see how the roots of Irish-American criminal gangs traced back in Eire, whether it was to Rathkeare, or possibly South Amargh.
Yes it would. Most of the people here involved in the I.R.A. are using it for a front, too. I could show you instances in their "professional" "biographies" where one, a top (but very dirty) uS ATTORNEY (dept of justice) revealed his ancestry and how his "immigrant" parents met on a service elevator in NY. Whatever.
Next you know, up pops his horrible, cigarette thieving, stalking business partner in the bar Four Green Fields..... ( I call it three green fields to irk him LOL) now also in Boson besides in Tampa on Platt st (entire neighborhood around it destroyed, stolen and replaced by I.R.A. loyalists not even joking a little, have lived her most of my life)..... who uses this nearly exact same line after using another one. His "newly discovered" emigrant parents. LOL !!! It defies logic AND research because hs parents both were raised in st pete florida. And his grandparents too, I suspect. But, they believe this plays well for Americans and certainly they need an Irish heritage from Northern Ireland in order to play to the naive but violent people thye recuit in hate for the I.R.A.
It's sick but that part was pretty damned funny. What? Newly discovered emigrant parents? LOL !!! I think you got your background mixed up with your buddy, Robert O'Neill's tale.
I never thought about that with live links, really. Good thinking. Thank you. I hope you don't think I've judged the travellers harshly. My feeling is that becauss they "self" identified they were pulling yet a further deception. These (some) had czech or polizh surnames. So I was told.
The I.R.A. has a stranglehold on this town. In fact they have that same influence on at least the entire Eastern Seaboard and the mob (or someone) has all the major routes. NOT AT ALL the romantic freedom lover type of stranglehold of one's imagination.
Post a Comment