please log in to view this image Four cleared of criminal damage over toppling statue of Edward Colston
I have no time for Boris or the Tories at present. They are a bunch of liars and cheats who are only interested in themselves and don't know or understand the common people or understand what the priorities and common decency should be. However, much though I'd like to blame the Tories over yet another failure on their part with these people being acquitted, it's the system that's too blame not the government.
further to my #9 post and chatting over the verdict with a couple of friends Colstons school. Not so much now, but the coffers [ school income /fees] are swollen by descendants, of 2 and 3 generations ago, who in the past themselves benefitted by COLSTONS gift /endowment and helped them get educated. Of all nationalities, irrespective of colour. Edward Colston’s father was a Bristol merchant who moved his family to London when Edward was nine years old. At the age of seventeen Edward was apprenticed to a London mercer and by the 1670s he was trading independently in cloth, exporting to Spain, the Canaries and Mediterranean countries and importing wine, oil and fruit. He was already a very wealthy man by 1680, when he became a member of the Royal African Company. He was to be deputy governor from 1689 until 1692, when his involvement ceased. in the 12 years he was involved it was estimated that around 80,000 slaves were transported, was his the only ship? or ships? NO. this company had many investors including Samuel Pepys Royal mint made a coin/ coins to celebrate him! and John Locke physician, benefitted from investment income from slaving profits! In 1682, [Colston ] he made a loan to the Bristol Corporation and the following year, became a member of the Society of Merchant Venturers. QUESTION... HOW MUCH MONEY bearing in mind had possibly been responsible for transporting a small portion of the 80,000 slaves during his time with Royal A C . He didnt just stop all his ships carrying the more profitable items that for 8 years had made him a very rich man, textiles wines sherry, cod, yep fish , and silk. AND FOR THE FOLLOWING 20years till he retired? / died [ 29 years later ] HISTORY WILL BE FOREVER THERE you cant pull it off a plinth and pretend everything is going to be forgotten. The pupils who go his schools, his funded church's benefit from his foundations wiil be in denial should they believe that bit of history is forgotten. Black people cant deny it happened and hope it goes away, so it will always be a "major part of their history" Every time they say " the slave trade was evil, most of the planet agree, and the whole historical event is revisited. The woke 4, by their actions and being found not guilty has opened another door to revisit the wonderful patchwork quilt of our past history, another key in the door so to speak. Imagine it without Colstons help we could be a little port like town, a few fishing boats catching the odd elver in the spring, abandoned coal pits, population of 50k? with 20 little villages surrounding it Brislington, Whitchurch, Hanham, Kingswood Filton Pylle etc etc etc .... Thank you EC
Well put History is there for a good reason. It teaches people how to prevent the mistakes of the past (however well intentioned or misplaced they were at the time), and to make the future more tolerant and accepting. But it's not there to be smashed or erased, which is fundamentally what these 4 did and have got away with. I shall always proudly associate Edward Colston with this city, that has been my home for the last 59.5 years, and the wonderful, and not so wonderful things that he did for it. As Cliftonville rightly mentions, were we, as Bristol inhabitants who reside in BS postcodes, ever consulted as to what should become of the statue ? No ! I'm sure the Mayor is totally delighted with the outcome, despite failing to engage with the citizens and therefore being partly to blame.
There is an airbrushing of events occurring. A false narrative has been established that Bristolians were trying to be get Colstons statue removed for years. One of the defendants Jake Skuse (non Bristol address) justified his actions by stating "I knew I was in the right, I knew everyone wanted it down. I knew Bristol wanted it, everyone wanted the same thing,". It is a lie. Nobody can act on behalf of others exclaiming they are right when the overwhelming majority of a city have never been asked for their opinion. We have a mayor, councillors and MPs of differing backgrounds. Our City is being painted as racist and undemocratic. That is wholly wrong. The statue remained there by consent of the populace as we had not collectively asked for it to be removed. There were no popular campaigns, no significant on-line petitions, no obvious mass support and no engaging public debate. The protestors were anti democratic and extremist. The Mayor and politicians should be countering these lies being perpetuated as they damage our City’s reputation.
WELL WELLWELL .. having watched the news the sad thing is itv coverage of Marvin was very good but cant find a link to re listen. Whereas the bbc link is simple but the "interview was cods wallop" [ definetly not Cod from newfoundland, and transported by "Our Eddie" ] All over the country lawyers politicians people are saying verdict for the act in question was wrong, including Boris and manyMP's, the whole world has a reaction! and Marv says he was surprised. One of the accused made great pains to say "to get things done you have to damage things [ destroy things] i get the vote because of that ... hope she pulls something heavy over and misjudges it ........splatt ..... An interesting call from a friend, just, was a reminder what he said when trial and jury was announced " waste of money will be found not guilty and jury will be ..... or a load of thicko's that really do not understand any of the legal jargon and will collect their money and go with gobbiest person of the 12 !" Marvin dug a hole and partly filled it then dug some more and partly filled it ...... in his ITV interview! Whereas on BBC interview basically said had no interest or feedback on trial or anything to do with it. He took a swipe at Boris, which would be expected of any labourite, but he did say "it is not about Colston ["history?] but a need for a better understanding of that time [ ?] in history. My family is black family from the caribbean so I am descended from a slave. gt gt grandfather hanged for something to do with a protest [ does he hold a grudge I wonder? ] or appreciate he may never have been .......... the tribe next door could have murdered/killed his GREAT.......... great ancester grand dad. or even eaten him! instead of selling him for a few glass beads or ...????????? Asked what would happen to the statue next ...."it has gone into storage and the "debate? [a consultation? will we be asked? ] as to the way forward" what debate what consultaion will Bristolians be allowed to have a word / say in the matter?. Hopefully MARVIN will be the last mayor of Bristol. Bristol needs to get its IDENTITY BACK, we were on course at one time to be the major financial centre of the UK, 2nd only to London.. it started .. then companies started pulling out ... in the last few years the people of Bristol have lost their airport, spent millions on constantly, via trial and error finding a road system, which now pollutes the central area even more so!, poured millions into a bus route that will never ever repay its cost, [ also adds to city pollution ] not to mention millions getting taxi's to be painted blue or a exhibition centre that is now going to Gloucestershire!!!
Totally wrong. I would love to meet the jury to determine how they arrived at the verdict. I am swayed to believe it was a guilty verdict based on the man, slavery and history and not on criminal damage. A relative who worked in the legal world said their best defence is plead guilty and ĺikely get fined or suspended sentence. History cannot be changed, it happened. Merchant's quarter, now Cabot circus, why? because a very small minority didn't want reminding of their heritage? Bristol had many Merchant's long before Colston and many many more after the 12 years out of over 200 slavery took place. I am saddened to be a resident of Bristol,
The Attorney General is "carefully considering" whether to refer the Bristol Edward Colston statue case to the Court of Appeal. hey thats good news .... Suella Braverman said trial by jury was "an important guardian of liberty" but the result was "causing confusion" The referral would not affect the acquittal, she added. bol loxitus always a negative. lets hope they find some more evidence, or a couple more involved .....
I did wonder whether the decision could go to appeal, they were obviously guilty of criminal damage if nothing else surely
that is where the so called clarity is so called cloudy. I wonder how the investigation will proceed? Will it involve interviewing the jury individually to see if they understood what they were making a verdict on, after all the 4 admitted what they did whilst claiming not guilty to the charge based on "they didnt like it" was any members of the jury coerced into voting guilty, were they so called unbiased before the trial? Was the judge at fault? ....... The judge in the Colston statue trial feared defence lawyers may have placed the jury under 'wrongful' pressure by urging them to be 'on the right side of history'. Judge Peter Blair QC said jurors may have felt an 'additional burden on their shoulders' after hearing a barrister's claims about the global impact of their decision. Meanwhile, MPs last night said the decision to allow a historian who 'desperately' wanted to join the Colston statue protest to give expert evidence to the trial was 'absurd'. Critics claimed that letting Professor David Olusoga [ black person supporter of the BLM ] speak in front of the Colston Four jury converted a criminal trial into a political one. They questioned whether jurors were unfairly swayed by the involvement in the case of prominent campaigners, who also included Bristol-born artist Banksy and specialist protest lawyer and Labour politician Raj Chada. During the two-week trial, prosecutors argued that BLM supporter Professor Olusoga should not have been allowed to give evidence for the defendants due to his well-known stance on the statue's vandalism. The academic, who has produced several documentaries about slavery for the BBC, has also publicly accused Winston Churchill of the equivalent of modern-day 'war crimes'. Political commentator Calvin Robinson criticised the judge for allowing the 'biased' academic to provide expert witness. He said: 'David Olusoga was obviously biased, but more importantly he's not an expert in the destruction of property, he is a historian. This court case should have had nothing to do with history. It was about the destruction of public property.' Mr Robinson added: 'Clearly it was Colston on trial, and not the Black Lives Matter thugs. The whole trial was on Colston – it wasn't entirely relevant and now the result looks political.' During the trial, prosecutor William Hughes QC unsuccessfully argued that Professor Olusoga's historical evidence was irrelevant. After the verdict, he said: 'In our view, Olusoga's testimony didn't add anything. "Rather, it was a gloss that I can imagine would have put anyone in the jury at a degree of unease.' SO appears they were not on trial for vandalism in front of a jury that had been frightened into not voting for the charge of vandalism ... " vote guilty and face the consequences"
I saw Calvin Robinson interviewed on GMB a couple of days ago and I thought he was excellent, giving a very clear account of his views and reasons why the result was "wrong".
Judge Peter Blair QC could see things were wrong so may "get a visit to explain?" ... whilst the woke 4's belief they won "and rectified history" is a fact very far removed from the truth. In fact they made history by bringing to the world what a load of t*** can do to bring to the attention of what the vast majority should be thankful for. " A man in his times who did what was done in those times, and made 1000's if not millions benefactors irrespective of colour, of his actions after his death" In the time of "Our Eddie" ANY ship sailing any where in the world with any sort of cargo would suffer human loss, even without human cargo the sailors were victims. Disease and illness had very few treatments, and food was pretty rough after 20 days at sea or longer. The 4 got off on a wrongful trial with a frightened jury and that is the history of that event....
If they admitted what they did, then they are guilty of criminal damage at the very least surely, even if you then argue about what the sentence will be.
thats why the implication is the jury were put under stress /threat by the defending barrister .. for that the defence barrister of one of them apologised he shouldnt have said it .... a major "point" in a lot films made, where they say something " like he did it before?" [whatever ] ... they get objection ..... your honour leading the jury? ! ... judge "sustained delete from records, I will stress you mustnt say that again etc" .. I am wondering should one of the jury if needs be [ or it happened ] stands up and says i was intimindated and threatened to vote guilty ... what would be the recourse...
Get signing people if you believe in law and order. https://www.change.org/p/suella-bra...or-the-colston-statue-topplers?redirect=false
