It's a reasonable apology. Plenty of parentless children were sent overseas as cheap labour.

However....

1. They love making a big deal out of these apologies to grab headlines, rather than a simple dignified statement.

2. They never apologise for anything they actually do.

As to neglected children....nowadays we are far more enlightened, they are simply abandoned on housing estates with feral parents kept doped up on methadone, or in dismal care homes run by kiddie-fiddlng staff.

I wonder if he'll ever apologise for sending under-equipped soldiers to die in Helmond?

Originally Posted by Markintime

I wonder if he'll ever apologise for sending under-equipped soldiers to die in Helmond?

Helmond? You'll be in The Sun for that!

Way I see it is if an apology is made then someone's done something wrong which means there's an "injured party" which means "Compensation"! - and lots of it!!!

Originally Posted by llech

Originally Posted by Markintime

I wonder if he'll ever apologise for sending under-equipped soldiers to die in Helmond?

Helmond? You'll be in The Sun for that!

Bugger.

Originally Posted by Whet

Originally Posted by slick

Originally Posted by Gremlin

Given the opportunities for advancement in Australia and Canada, and the vastly better QoL the little wretches should be grateful!

Tend to agree, would be interesting to have a comparison between one of the unfortunates who were sent and one of the poor buggers who were left in dear old blighty. I`d put money on the one who was sent abroad had a better quality of life in the years since and has more to look forward to in their old age.

Yep - they just loved being wrenched from their friends, relatives and, sometimes, parents. Stuck in a home where abuse was rife and/or forced to carry out manual labour on one of Australias farms.

And the difference between these malcontents who rather resented having their national identity torn from them and long dead slaves? Most of the former are still alive and STILL resent being forced to leave Blighty.

And you know this for a fact how whet?

Curiously enough, as soon as they could come back to the UK, most of them seemed to pass up the chance…

I wonder why?

Originally Posted by Oil_Slick

Originally Posted by Whet

Originally Posted by slick

Originally Posted by Gremlin

Given the opportunities for advancement in Australia and Canada, and the vastly better QoL the little wretches should be grateful!

Tend to agree, would be interesting to have a comparison between one of the unfortunates who were sent and one of the poor buggers who were left in dear old blighty. I`d put money on the one who was sent abroad had a better quality of life in the years since and has more to look forward to in their old age.

Yep - they just loved being wrenched from their friends, relatives and, sometimes, parents. Stuck in a home where abuse was rife and/or forced to carry out manual labour on one of Australias farms.

And the difference between these malcontents who rather resented having their national identity torn from them and long dead slaves? Most of the former are still alive and STILL resent being forced to leave Blighty.

And you know this for a fact how whet?

Curiously enough, as soon as they could come back to the UK, most of them seemed to pass up the chance…

I wonder why?

I feel a little soiled by this, but Whet is actually right on this matter. There are lots of books on the subject, and even the news broadcasts about the apologies are admitting the abuse, rape and child labour that was inflicted on most of them. The best book I read was called 'Empty Cradles', by I think Margaret Forster. It's in a box at the moment otherwise I'd check. It's a very sobering read.

I do however think the apology should have been done quietly and out of the public spotlight. If it's a sincere apology, the people would know that. The way it's coming across now is another bandwagon-jumping 'look at me I care' exercise, from a man who has shown how little he cares about civil liberties, trial by jury, coroners courts, children with SEN, military housing, military equipment, training, presumption of innocence, and so many other aspects of our lives.

Originally Posted by Grownup_Rafbrat

Originally Posted by Oil_Slick

Originally Posted by Whet

Originally Posted by slick

Originally Posted by Gremlin

Given the opportunities for advancement in Australia and Canada, and the vastly better QoL the little wretches should be grateful!

Tend to agree, would be interesting to have a comparison between one of the unfortunates who were sent and one of the poor buggers who were left in dear old blighty. I`d put money on the one who was sent abroad had a better quality of life in the years since and has more to look forward to in their old age.

Yep - they just loved being wrenched from their friends, relatives and, sometimes, parents. Stuck in a home where abuse was rife and/or forced to carry out manual labour on one of Australias farms.

And the difference between these malcontents who rather resented having their national identity torn from them and long dead slaves? Most of the former are still alive and STILL resent being forced to leave Blighty.

And you know this for a fact how whet?

Curiously enough, as soon as they could come back to the UK, most of them seemed to pass up the chance…

I wonder why?

I feel a little soiled by this, but Whet is actually right on this matter. There are lots of books on the subject, and even the news broadcasts about the apologies are admitting the abuse, rape and child labour that was inflicted on most of them. The best book I read was called 'Empty Cradles', by I think Margaret Forster. It's in a box at the moment otherwise I'd check. It's a very sobering read.

I do however think the apology should have been done quietly and out of the public spotlight. If it's a sincere apology, the people would know that. The way it's coming across now is another bandwagon-jumping 'look at me I care' exercise, from a man who has shown how little he cares about civil liberties, trial by jury, coroners courts, children with SEN, military housing, military equipment, training, presumption of innocence, and so many other aspects of our lives.

As has been noted by others, they would probably have suffered just as much abuse in UK childrens homes, (after all, our track record of child abuse cases in the 50's though to the 90's in childrens homes is pretty terrible), but afterwards, they did have the advantage of the vastly better QoL and opportunities that Canada and Australia offered and sure enough, mot of them did stay.

If you'd been told that your family was dead, what point would there be in coming back? Eventually most of them seemed to have escaped from the slave labour/abuse/rape situations they were put into, and built lives which were better. Credit for that is surely due to them, and I see no harm in quietly saying 'sorry' for what was done. What I do see as harmful is this open breast-beating by ministers and governments who weren't even born at the time.

Originally Posted by Grownup_Rafbrat

If you'd been told that your family was dead, what point would there be in coming back? Eventually most of them seemed to have escaped from the slave labour/abuse/rape situations they were put into, and built lives which were better. Credit for that is surely due to them, and I see no harm in quietly saying 'sorry' for what was done. What I do see as harmful is this open breast-beating by ministers and governments who weren't even born at the time.

More to the point what would they have to come back to? They were probably too young to really remember life over here.