As its now 200 years since Britain made slave-trading illegal there has been a lot of talk on the subject recently. Many have voiced opinions stating that the UK should apologise (through Tony Blair) for their part in the slave trade. Is it really fair though for our generation to apologise for something it had no part in? Who would we apologise too? You don't see many people asking for Normandy to apologise for the Norman Invasion or the Vikings for sacking many towns they came across.

Stuff like this is really silly. You can't hold people accountable for what other people did. I don't hold this generation of germans responsible for the WW2 so why should I be held accountable for something that happened 200 years ago?

Totally agree that different generations cannot really appologise for the act done by previous regimes. All the current govenment can do is accept and condemn the deeds those people carried out all those years ago.

We should just tell them to fuck off and stop playing the victim!

Gosh, you did get your homework done quickly today.

I, like the others who have already commented, don't see how an apology from our generation can mean anything when this happened so many years ago. What I feel would be a fitting tribute is to free others in the world from what is effectively slavery. Women who are trafficked for prostitution, children working for a pittance to make our cheap clothing- there are still many examples of slavery in the world.

i just want to free myself from being a wage slave and then i'll be happy.

I think you should start with apologies for things you're doing wrong now then maybe look at things from the past. "Slavery" as it was once deemed has been abolished but as Wicky says how about the slavery that is happening now?

The one thing that winds me up about these apology seekers s that they make no mention about how bloody great their life is now and that none of them, not one, would swap their life in the UK or America and go back to living in the 3rd world.

Yes, slavery was and is wrong but at the time people didnt see that. Soon after they realised that these people who were being enslaved were as human as anyone else it was stopped it.

I wonder what these apology seekers real aims are though? Social unrest maybe?

MORE SLAVERY THAT NEEDS APOLOGIZING FOR?

Sure, I'll say sorry but how about they say sorry too?

As much as it pains me to say so, I am with Jimbo on this. This country has become a "bend over and take it up the arse" state and it is about time we stopped being so "apologetic" for things that happened centuries ago.

I also think we should tell them to go fuck themselves.