Should Anyone Be Forced To Apologise For Something That They Said Over 30 Years Ago?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3378237/Top-Tory-racism-storm-PM-s-policy-chief-Letwin-blamed-black-communities-bad-moral-attitudes-80s-riots-official-memo.html

[Canary42]

No one should ever be forced to apologise - because it's not sincere in that case, therefore pointless.

[Sqad]

Yes.......I have never understood this "apology" tactic and one sees it so many times on AB. It serves no purpose, as the reason for the apology is often obscure and if the insult is so vitriolic, then no amount of apology wirll suffice.

One sees a situation, assesses the pros and cons and then one makes a decision or comment based on the evidence. Sometimes he\she is right and sometimes wrong.......that is life.

30 years on, one has had 30 years experience and one's opinion may change...........or one has one year's experience 30 times, the latter is the unfortunate situation.

Apology achieves little and is rarely required.

Good post by Canary above.

[murraymints]

let sleeping dogs lie I say..what good can come from stirring things up again..whether or not attitudes have changed..the vitriol will resurface...forget it..move on..life is too short !!

[youngmafbog]

Absolutely pointless, and for once I agree with Canary.

But this is abourt Labour trying to score political points. Bit daft really as I be some of them had similar views that will probably surface at some point.

Looking at what was said it was not racist, it was observations and derivations given the known facts at the time (and a murdered copper). It was also in a private memo.

Seems like the left trying to stifle free speech again.

[Ellipsis]

If I had said a few things 30 years ago that I didn't agree with today ... and what I said had been kept secret for 30 years and just been released ... and the fact that my views had changed was relevant to my current position ... then yes, I think I would say something to make clear that I no longer held those views - otherwise people could draw an inaccurate conclusion about me.

[VHG]

Sadly we seem to be in an era where we have to reassess EVERYTHING that has been said and done in history and apologise for it.

While some of the things done in history were not nice we cant change what was done.

The Australian government apologised to the Aborigines for their treatment, Gordon Brown apologised to Alan Turing for his treatment, some countries are trying to sue us for the slave trade and so it goes on.

Maybe we can sue the Italians (Romans) or Normans for invading us in the past, or sue the Vikings for coming over here and raping and pillaging.

The past is the past.

[Ellipsis]

Hmm, but this guy is alive and still in Government ...

[Togo]

He is only appeasing the virtue signallers. He probably decided he would get less heat if he joined them.

[Peter Pedant]

// Should Anyone Be Forced To Apologise For Something That They Said Over 30 Years Ago?//

yeah if they wanna be re-elected hur hur hur

actually as a west darzet MP his voters probably agree with him
and at least 90% wd have no idea what the inner cities were like in 1985 - altho they could say what the sheep were doing in the pens and leighs

[tamborine]

It is a good rule in life never to apologize. The right sort of people do not want apologies, and the wrong sort take a mean advantage of them.

P. G. Wodehouse

[Peter Pedant]

// No one should ever be forced to apologise - because it's not sincere in that case, therefore pointless.//

I have had a few apologies wrung out of me in order to make things go away. Seemed like a decent quid pro quo and cheap !

fr'instance there was a council coo and someone was unseated by vote unexpectedly ( to them ) . There was then an email saying that a computer cable had been left behind and i altered this and ciruclated it to ' a chair has been found with 12 knives stickking out the back and left behind ' - and the secretary of the council was come over all funny ( but not with laughter ) when she read 'her' email in modified form. Not from Darzet is all I can say ( she wasnt - v v far away )

and sqad - harassment now in the NHS is all about what the victim feels and so it is easy to say I am sorry I did not intend that because erm it is true. er alot of the time

[Peter Pedant]

yeah lets say we are not sorry for flattening Tokyo by fire bombing and killing a hundred thousand civilians ( well OK the Americans did )

yeah or the Japanese dont have to apologise for raping Nanking in 1937 - around wuarter of a million dead

or perhaps that is different .... again

[youngmafbog]

Are you on the wacky baccy PP ?

[trt]

Pointless to apologies, waste of time when some of it is true!

[bazwillrun]

Absolutely crazy...wouldnt mind if he wasnt telling the truth or was wrong, but he was spot on in just about everything he said.

White people had been living in the same conditions but hadnt rioted, yet with blacks it seems not much is reason is needed and off they go...and not just on one occasion...

[Sir Alec]

Laughing out loud here....

"there was a council coo".

Coo is a short form of couze. Please feel free to look it up if you've not heard the word before! It's often used these days in American slang and has gone out of fashion in English, but is still used around Yorkshire/Nottinghamshire occasionally.

[mikey4444]

Its an admission that he made a mistake, which must be worth while having.

Tambo is right of course !

[Zacs-Master]

Depends whether the apology is for making a mistake or being found out. The latter being the case here.

[mikey4444]

As Ellipsis has pointed out, this pillock is still in the Government. I find that fact infinitely more interesting than a mealy-mouthed apology.

[Zacs-Master]

He went to Eton. Nuff said.