UK establishment now ashamed of Waterloo

In a report that Britain today is ashamed of Waterloo, Dr Hal GP Colebatch writes that this is further proof that Britain, or the governing Conservative Liberal Democrat coalition, "has had its organs of self-respect amputated…"

This is not so suprising. The Cameron government seems to be disarming Britain which today has no aircraft carriers nor Harrier jets.

Dr. Colebatch's conclusion is based on the news that there will be no official celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo in 2015.

…glorious moment…

Writing in News Weekly on  6 August, he quotes the author A N Wilson who says "Napoleon's defeat was a glorious moment in human history, the government is mad to be ignoring the bicentenary of this great victory."

Dr. Colebatch says the French as well as the British have reasons to celebrate the defeat as it delivered them from a tyrant who impoverished France and was ready to spend her people's blood like water to further his own ambitions.

[ At least they remembered]

He was not however given to deliberate cold-blooded genocide in the Hitler-Stalin league, Dr Colebatch says. He points out that in 2005, Tony Blair's Labour government did at least celebrate the Battle of Trafalgar.

However it went to curious lengths to avoid saying the enemy had been the French. In the re-enactment, the two forces were referred to as the red and blue fleets. And in  deference to the health and safety regulations, the actor playing Lord Nelson wore a life jacket over his uniform.

…slave trade…

 Then in 2007, on the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade, the Prime Minister Tony Blair issued an apology on behalf of the nation. As Dr Colebatch says "to whom the apology was made exactly was unclear.”

He points out that at the turn of the century, £1 billion, more or less, was spent on London's Millennium Dome, soon rotting and useless.