I'm still waiting for the letter from Buck Palace containing the apology regarding my ancestors being shot & hunted off their Scots & Irish lands, with their children being forced into slavery, raped, impregnated and gene pools all diluted in the process...where's my "Sorry" Liz ?

Dear Albie,

You've got to realize a few things. Our national identity
has changed over time. There was a time when to be
Australian was to be English, only sunburnt.

Don't expect a letter from the Queen. Times have changed.
We should today be the celebration of great Australians
not only a reflection on our past so that we can become the
Australians we aspire to be, and more importantly, create the
Australia we aspire to live in.

And even while we do so, let's remember the words of a great
Australian whose identity remains a mystery to this day -
there's never been a more exciting time to be Australian ...
than right now.

Of course the Empire was positive; just look at India, people there no longer burn widows with their husband’s dead body.

That’s progress.

Is Mise,

You need to get hold of the dvd mini series -
"The Jewel in the Crown." It's quite revealing about
the British in India.

Foxy,
What you need to do is talk to the ordinary poor working women in India about what it was like under the Raj, 99 out of 100 will tell you that things were better for them when they were under British rule.
Of course they’re all getting old now and maybe their memories are not as sharp as of yore, but they seem rather emphatic.

Is Mise,

My previous GP was from India. And what she had
to say was not very flattering about the British.
I also studied with quite a few Indians at Univ.
They came from poor families - but made it on their
own here. Their anti-British feelings were made quite
clear. Even the Indian cleaner when I was in respite
and my Indian carer had strong anti-Brit. feelings.

I guess we can only go by our own experiences.
Your wife is Indian isn't she?