Sluffy wrote:
Err no, that's not what the Attorney General is considering doing it for, this is her reasoning -
“Trial by jury is an important guardian of liberty and must not be undermined. However, the decision in the Colston statue case is causing confusion.
“Without affecting the result of this case, as attorney general, I am able to refer matters to the court of appeal so that senior judges have the opportunity to clarify the law for future cases. I am carefully considering whether to do so.”
If the case does go to the court of appeal, the judges will not be able to rule on whether the jury’s decision was correct, only on whether there was an error in law in the directions that were given to the jury.
It is all about ruling on a point of law and not for vindictive reasons at all.
I don't think anyone can't face up to the past, I think the problem is more that we shouldn't be held accountable for the sins of our fathers.
What happened three hundred years ago can't be changed and Colston statue was put up years ago in memory of all the good he did for Bristol not to honour him as a slave trader.
Yes society changes and what was once acceptable is no longer deemed so and we all must move with the times and it clearly was the time for the statue to go.
It's just the way it was done and that Colston is judged by our society's values and not those of his time.
No doubt if he was born today he wouldn't be a slave trader and if you or I was born in his time we'd probably think nothing of people owning slaves.
For many years Colston was seen as a good person, the last 50 years no so much and today nothing but toxic.
It is what it is and Colstons time was simply up to be remembered in a prominent centre of a big city.
I don't think many couldn't accept that then was the right time to take the statue down and I'm fairly confident that some sort of high profile peaceful protest would have achieved just that without the need for going way over the top as the activists did on that day.
Anyway what is done is done and we simply move on from there.
One day you’ll learn that politicians don’t always speak the truth. Braverman has a particularly questionable record in this area, she’s playing to the constantly outraged crackpots in her party who haven’t bothered to look at what happened in court. If she does push forward on this (I doubt she will) she’ll be wasting public money and the court’s time.