Is it just me, or has anybody else noticed just how silly some of these General discussions have become of late?

Dear CJ,

I couldn't agree with you more...

Do you think some of the topics being put up for discussion - are done simply - to get a predictable reaction - to stir the pot?

Foxy & CJ,

So, by extrapolation, you feel it is silly discuss an apology to indigenous peoples by the PM. I didn't gain that impression, especially of Foxy. The slave trade mades Australia's invasion look like a scene from Mary Poppins. Neither Elizabeth or Kevin were personally involved, but their Offices were involved. I both or neither should apologise. You can't have it both ways or can you?

Well, Foxy I accept that you don't hold the Crown accountable, and, now can't hold the Commonwealth accountable for past atrocities to indigenous peoples.

CJ, you should read "The Slave Trade" by Hugh Thomas and you will see slavery fueled by Mercantilism and Racism is tragic not silly.

If you have seen it, the movie account of the hard hitting drama of the Amistad is sanitized.

Should the British Monarch hold the title, "Defender of the Faith". By what authority, after Henry VIII?

Using your logic Oliver, surely it should have been the Queen who apologized to the aborigines, not Kevin Rudd?

Alternatively, if we agree that Kevin is the right person to perform the apology, then it should be the UK's PM who does so on behalf of his country.

Mind you, I think the whole idea of "a nation apologizing" is pure politics.

People apologize. Nations cannot credibly do so.

Dear Oliver,

I'm not going to enter into a debate with you - because it would be a waste of your and my time. I don't mean to offend you however - you already know full well where I stand on the Indigenous issue.

As for the Queen's apology, I've already explained what an apology should mean, and I also tried to tell you - it's not something that's going to happen. What you, or I, or anyone else thinks - won't make the slightest difference.

By the way, Tony Blair said he was "sorry" for his country's role in the slave trade. Blair has previously expressed his "deep sorrow" for slavery, abolished within the British Empire 201 years ago. Britain abolished the trade in 1807 - it was the first major slave trafficking nation to do so.

Anyway, I wish you success with this thread - may you get the answers that you're obviously looking for, however I won't be contributing to it any further.

Cheers.

Cheers.

Oliver had you been sitting at a lunch table with the old girl she would have put her purse on the floor and lackey would have moved you to another seat.
Had Gibo been beside her she may have ran out of the room.
The old Sheila has not got to say sorry just go, much sooner than 2025 you will see it.