💯 agree
Slavery was an evil in which people from every continent and region participated. We should be honest about the whole history, not select the parts that are politically convenient today, especially given Britain's leading role in ending the transatlantic slave trade.
If Caribbean countries are asking Britain for a formal apology for Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade, will they also be asking the same of the descendants of African kingdoms, rulers and merchants who captured, sold and profited from the trade?
On demands for reparations, whether through cash or debt relief, we have been down this track before. Twenty-five years ago, Jubilee 2000, Drop the Debt and Make Poverty History argued that cancelling the debts of poorer countries would give them a fresh start. More than $100 billion of debt was eventually written off, but many of those countries have since built up even bigger debts. Labour are already spending too much on Britain's welfare state, now is not the time for Andy Burnham to be providing global welfare.
There is no reason British taxpayers today should be held financially responsible for things that happened generations before any of us were born. And I have even less patience for political elites in commonwealth countries who don’t know how to make their own citizens prosperous now looking for another opportunity to blame Britain.
As Prime Minister, Andy Burnham should be Britain’s greatest defender. Instead, he is writing articles saying we need to confront our history (as if we haven't done enough of that) and considering another formal historical apology. Tony Blair already expressed Britain’s deep sorrow and regret for our role in the slave trade nearly twenty years ago. There is no need to do so again.
This is all another navel-gazing distraction. The Commonwealth should be looking forward, not endlessly backwards. That means economic partnerships to make us all richer and deeper military and security cooperation against common threats. If every Commonwealth summit becomes an exercise in presenting Britain with demands for cash then we need to start asking if it is worth the effort.
. retweeted
Look at that!!
My god the people of Britain have absolutely smashed the poppy displays.
Stunning!!
. retweeted
The pensions row involving the First Minister isn't going away
Yesterday, Pensions Minister Torsten Bell said John Swinney was "rightly called out for lying" after his misleading comments about Andy Burnham's tweaks to the triple lock
More budget fun in @ScottishSun today
. retweeted
The Scottish Government has spent the day claiming a “real terms cut of £650m” to excuse their own domestic fiscal incompetence. Now, independent experts at the Fraser of Allander Institute and SPICe have stepped in to confirm Westminster is actually delivering a “total of £600 million more in funding for the Scottish Budget between 2026-27 and 2029-30”.
Yet, they are openly lying to the Scottish public by framing it as a cut to justify your own disastrous budget mismanagement.
. retweeted
The Israel Embassy in the UK says the delegation featuring Lara Bird and Kate Nevens were denied entry into the West Bank for 'failing to cooperate with border officials and providing false information about the purpose of their visit’.
dailymail.com/news/article-1… via @DailyMail
Let’s hope @ScotGovFM @scotgov don’t pocket this into their own coffers and pass this on directly to the Scottish people when it’s received within the budget package
🚨 BREAKING: John Healey has announced a £100 cash payment for 20 million households in Council Tax bands A to D
"This will be paid directly into people's bank accounts"
#Budget
What a disgraceful reply @Ed_Miliband Wastimg taxpayer money on reserved matters is not a joke when the country needs every penny @andyburnham @JohnHealey_MP @UKGovScotland
. retweeted
The absolute arrogance of SNP politicians playing international stateswoman while Scotland falls apart is staggering. You flew thousands of miles just to “bear witness” and ended up achieving nothing but being “prevented from crossing the border”. You are not a sovereign foreign minister; you are a devolved politician whose party presides over a £22.8bn deficit, record drug deaths, and a collapsing NHS.
The Israeli government does not care about your “pressure”. Get on a flight home and do the actual job Scottish taxpayers pay you to do.
Please keep them, they obviously don’t have a real job to do
Scottish taxpayer money being wasted again by snp
No problems in Scotland for them to be dealing with @johnswinney ? @ScotGovFM
. retweeted
@holyroodmandy @DalgetySusan @msjlindsay @LucyHunterB @ForWomenScot @WRNScotland @TwisterFilm @Jebadoo2 @AllianceLGB @VictoriaPeckham
Fantastic long overdue motion posted by @MandyLindsayMSP at Holyrood today praising @jk_rowling 's essential work for women's rights in Scotland and beyond. Encourage your MSP to support it - you can read more from Mandy at thereformer.scot/2026/10/def…
Great question that these reporters that are pushing for MM should be asking @chrisshipitv @MattSunRoyal 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻
Good question for @chrisshipitv 2 years was plenty of time to meet the dad
This show was fabulous, what a great mix of personalities, can tell they obviously all get on with each other off camera, William was brilliant and so funny.
Well done @BBCOne #GrahamNorton, fabulous Friday night tv
. retweeted
William Chills. Harry Spills.
Same parents. Same childhood. Same royal machine.
One brother shows up talking about Christopher Nolan, Traitors, and football banter.
The other shows up talking about how everyone else failed him and still owes him an apology.
Same environment. Very different outcomes.
Prince William
• Graham Norton (2026)
Topics: Earthshot, Nolan films, Traitors, childhood ambitions
Tone: Light, humorous, self-deprecating
Notable: Kids “obsessed” with Traitors. Joked about touching Ross Kemp. “Big fan of everything Christopher Nolan does.”
• New Heights (Kelce brothers)
Topics: Football, World Cup, BBQ, Eras Tour
Tone: Casual, bantering
Notable: Corrected “soccer”. Joked about burnt ends and Travis as backup dancer.
• Eugene Levy (2025)
Topics: Future as king, family stress, modernising monarchy
Tone: Candid but measured
Notable: “Change is on my agenda.” Admitted family stress can overwhelm him – no score-settling.
Prince Harry
• Oprah (2021)
Topics: Leaving the royals, racism claims, family “neglect”
Tone: Victimhood, accusatory
Notable: Unnamed royal “concerns” about Archie’s skin colour. “Total silence or total neglect.” Racism “a large part” of why they left.
• Tom Bradby / 60 Minutes (2023)
Topics: Family rift, alleged fight with William, lack of accountability
Tone: Defensive, score-settling
Notable: “It never needed to be this way.”
Accused family of planting stories. Reconciliation requires their apology.
• BBC News (May 2025)
Topics: King Charles’s health, the security dispute, family estrangement
Tone: Emotional, critical, publicly airing private family matters
Notable: “Life is precious. I don't know how much longer my father has.”
Harry claimed his father would not speak to him because of the security dispute, while saying he wanted reconciliation. The interview prompted criticism that such deeply personal matters should be addressed privately.
• GQ (2026)
Topics: Ongoing estrangement
Tone: Still framed as others’ fault
Notable: “Some people don’t want it to work out. I want it to.”
One uses media to talk about films, sport and light moments.
The other uses it to litigate grievances.
. retweeted
HARRY: TAKE NOTE: THIS is how a REAL prince does a chat show!!
One brother goes on television to champion a global issue. The other never sits on a sofa without making it all about himself.
Last night Prince William became the first royal ever to take a seat on Graham Norton's famous red sofa, and what a brilliant move by the future King it was. The studio audience gasped and cheered as he walked out to join Cate Blanchett, Hannah Waddingham and Robert Irwin, all long-time champions of his Earthshot Prize, for a special edition that airs tonight on BBC One.
He came to talk about the prize, and explained that years of environmental "negativity and doom" had got him down, so he decided "we could do something more powerful and more optimistic" with an awards ceremony that could "talk about urgency and optimism together". This is a mature, focused man who looks outward and sets goals he means to reach: five Earthshots, £1 million for each winner, a personal commitment to the prize until 2030, and next month he will be in Mumbai handing out the awards.
And he was so clearly enjoying himself. He finished the night warm, relaxed and engaging, by every account — without a trace of self-pity.
Consider the manchild. Harry's offering this month has been a MasterClass, Redefining Grief, followed by a GQ interview in which he complained that "some people don't want it to work out", a line his own spokesman then had to insist was "absolutely not intended as a swipe" at his brother. The word salad minister seems able to think only in the simplest terms, and mostly about Harry. Even now he has moved back to Britain, the whinging is CONSTANT.
William is getting on with his life and giving everything he can. Harry, meanwhile, is reportedly sounding out Diana's friends and family about a documentary to mark the 30th anniversary of her death next August. Nothing is confirmed, but mark my words: the man baby will try to make his next few quid out of his mother's memory. Deep down he knows he is irrelevant with nothing left to offer, and the ghastly narcissist he married is loathed globally and will never be accepted by the great British public.
The future King will be laughing on Graham Norton's sofa tonight, engaging the world on a cause larger than himself. His brother will still be selling his grief by subscription.
. retweeted
Hmmmmm… 🧐
NEW: Metropolitan Police are not currently investigating Thomas Markle over allegations he possessed indecent images of children.
Nor have they previously investigating him.
But @metpoliceuk says they are looking into whether they passed information to Meghan about her father in 2018.
Ring-fenced really @JohnSwinney 🤣🤣🤣
Ring-fence energy fund for North East of Scotland, says Swinney. news.stv.tv/politics/ring-fe…
Absolute madness
🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Glasgow's Kelvingrove Museum has removed Egyptian mummies from display because there was no 'informed consent from the deceased individual'👇
mol.im/a/16227743
#Exclusive #Scotland #Glasgow #Museums #EgyptianMummies #Woke @MailOnlineScot
