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I never said it was easy: I said they had the right. Slavery is a real thing and it's illegal. You keep blurring the lines of your argument by using the word "slavery" to describe things that aren't slavery: workers (such as migrant workers in agriculture) who are overworked and underpaid are no doubt exploited, but that alone doesn't make them slaves. Slavery is a serious subject, so please take it seriously; that means being accurate in your terminology.

Excuse my ignorance but I do struggle with what is considered racist language. Watching Narcos and every other word is 'Gringo' not in the slightest bit offensive even though it is used is a sense that suggests inferiority or injustice or colonialism all of which are fair points I guess. Brits, Scots, Micks, Paddys, Yanks, Jerry, Aussie, Ruskie, Wetback, Frogs, Greaseballs, etc are often used terms to describe national identity. While some are obviously closer to the edge than others I don't think any are considered intrinsically racist. Context is obviously massively important. I appreciate the P word or the Ch**k word used to describe people of Pakistani or Chinese ethnicity are offensive to people of that ethnicity and that is enough to forbid it but I wonder where the line is drawn. Obviously the N word is hugely offensive and goes far beyond race to include slavery and worthlessness etc. But with that in mind can calling someone a Scot or a yank be considered offensive if the target deems it so? Tricky subject and not intended to offend anyone just an honest question on the intricacies of language.

They probably already own more of London and parts of British industry contracts than the Ruskies ever did so I have to disagree. It's all about nullifying the attention of the decadent West on what goes on in their region, from human rights, slavery, mysogyny etc, etc in my opinion.

It's to get the gullible on side saying 'I dont care about the human rights issues or the sportswashing etc, it means my club can compete on level terms with the rest of the odious sports washed clubs and sports.' Meanwhile, the human rights abuse, slavery etc continues unabated while fans celebrate goals and complain not enough has been spent on the latest next big name in the game.

People slavery. Okay, let’s roll with that. No. No is the answer to your question. Furthermore, I think the implication that the EU and free movement is the cause of modern slavery is beyond ridiculous and woefully ignorant of the real causes of modern slavery and of the issue with modern slavery around the world, outside of the EU, especially in places where there is no freedom of movement. I think it’s organised crime, poverty, and marginalisation that are the primary factors in modern slavery. I think Brexit will make it harder to fight it and not easier. So when I see you trying to position yourself as the lone voice for the impoverished, and for slaves, I am repulsed into a dumbfounded silence. I’m just thankful that you don’t actually have any say over anything in this regard, because having read the things you write on this subject, and having read the way you write them, I wouldn’t trust you with boiling a kettle for fear of burning down the entire fucking house, much less trust you to be champion of the needy and oppressed. I’m sure it comes from a good place, which is why I ignore it, but you’re way out of your depth here. That’s good to know, but the Earth isn’t frying. Your characterisation shows that you have a similar grasp of the complexity of climate change as you do on the impact of free movement. The very real and concerning impact of man-made causes in the increase in global temperatures is currently around 1c and without intervention will be around 2.5c by the next century. I don’t say that to belittle the impact, but to illustrate just how ridiculous it is to say the Earth is frying and pointing at a flight from Romania. The absolute kindest way I can respond to some of what you post is to be glib, because a proper response is much more time consuming, much less kind, and changes exactly as much; nothing.

Literally nobody, in any country, is suggesting that a field shouldn't be called a field. "Fieldwork" (which has got nothing to do with any lea or meadow) has echoes of various terms with baggage from the era of slavery. If a university in the USA wants to have an internal debate about that, let them.

Great investigative journalism from a subscriber funded online news site from Bristol, The Cable. Exposed modern day slavery practiced by a family running the city’s ice cream vans, and their multi million pound property empire that was often substandard. https://thebristolcable.org/2019/05/finally-exposed-how-lopresti-ice-cream-boss-kept-men-in-slave-like-conditions-tenants-and-families-in-squalor-but-people-spoke-out/

"Allow me to make a case for: modern slavery, wrongful arrests and imprisonment, the systematic torture of detainees, enforced disappearances, extra-judicial killings, decapitation, homophobia, misogyny and despotism..."

The American Civil War would also have impacted heavily on the port and dockside industries of Liverpool and therefore of the Liverpool working class. The Union's blockade of the Confederate's ports would have drastically reduced imports of American cotton and tobacco into Liverpool. Despite their suffering, the working classes were solidly behind the north in the struggle to abolish slavery, not just in Liverpool but throughout Lancashire and elsewhere. This steady and peaceful support for the anti-slavery movement is often regarded as an important reason why some of the working class were given the vote in 1868.

Patel has been sacked for her trysts with some dubious people in Israel. That's a fact. "Some" of the travelling community have been trading in slave labour, also a fact. I'm guessing Patel is responding to the case of the policeman dragged down the street and killed, if so their is little evidence the two crimes match so shes wrong, if however shes taking a general approach to modern day slavery shes right. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/13/modern-slavery-uk-traveller-site-lincolnshire-judge-timothy-spencer https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/uks-biggest-slavery-gang-pockets-17477317 I'm not sure you and angry would be so righteous if a member of your own family was a victim. In general it's a big business in the UK involving all creeds, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/02/number-of-potential-modern-slavery-victims-in-uk-rises-by-52

I, for one, will be boycotting USA 2026 unless they end slavery on the plantations and Custer's murderous campaign against the Plains Indians.

I was taking the piss...read the sentence again. I don't have a strong opinion on him but I remember he was linked with us a few years ago. He is somewhat of a right wing despot and accrued his wealth through navigating ruthless capitalism (and corruption, which is the status quo in India), but that is true for almost every billionaire. He (his institutions) was also questionably benefiting from the farmers acts India passed and which would have rendered an entire diaspora within India subject to corporate slavery - as a Punjabi, I do have some personal sensitivity around that. However, none of the above would make him a bad owner and I actually think he sounds like one of the better suitors that have been mentioned. From what I know of him (little), he made the majority of his investments through equity investments and he's a "bad guy" the same way Jeff Bezos is.

Wasn't sure where to put this one. It's an interesting read; https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2020/08/world/liverpool-confederate-links-intl-cnnphotos/index.html Liverpool, England (CNN) — Tucked away in Liverpool's Toxteth Park Cemetery, amid the weathered memorials to long-dead residents, lies a link to a little-known part of this famous city's past. The two lichen-mottled graves sit side-by-side, as ivy slowly encroaches. These are the final resting places of James Dunwoody Bulloch, and his brother Irvine Stephens Bulloch. The Bulloch brothers died in Liverpool, but they were born an ocean away, in the US state of Georgia, and — like many Southerners of their generation — fought on the Confederate side in the American Civil War. James, a foreign agent for the Confederacy, was sent to Liverpool to buy and build ships for its navy. Irvine served in that same navy, on board the CSS Alabama and the CSS Shenandoah — the last Confederate ship to surrender, on the River Mersey, months after the war had ended. When hostilities ceased, neither brother was offered a pardon, so they stayed on in England. James's grave features an inscription from the United Daughters of the Confederacy, a US-based Confederate heritage group. Irvine's tombstone was restored in 2009 by a different neo-Confederate group, the Sons of Confederate Veterans. At the foot of both sits the iron cross of the Confederate States of America. As the US grapples with the question of what to do with its controversial memorials to the Confederacy, across the Atlantic in Liverpool, the city is facing the same conundrum. Strong ties to the Confederacy Looking at the Bulloch grave markers, historian Laurence Westgaph explained why his city — once the de facto capital of the trans-Atlantic slave trade — has attracted the attention of several groups with Confederate sympathies over the years. "It was said during the American Civil War that there were more Confederate flags flying here than in Richmond, Virginia — and Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy," Westgaph told CNN. Even the classic Civil War-set movie "Gone with the Wind" — a film now under fire for its depictions of racism — makes mention of Liverpool. The port city of Liverpool was once at the center of the global slave trade. The city had strong ties to the Confederacy through its shipping industry and the trade in cotton, produced on plantations across the southern states. During the war, blockade-running vessels carried arms across the Atlantic from Liverpool. “I am sure a lot of people here … liked or enjoyed that connection," said Westgaph. "That romanticism of the Deep South — the plantations, sitting on the porch drinking mint juleps, peach cobbler in the oven — people don’t associate it with visceral, racial slavery." For years, Confederate sympathizers have come to Liverpool to celebrate their heritage. Now, in the wake of the global Black Lives Matter protests, the city is reconsidering the symbols of that terrible part of its past, and working out how to use them to educate Liverpool’s future generations. Graves restored, rededicated The Sons of Confederate Veterans is one of the groups that has made links with the city. The US-based neo-Confederate organization is fighting to preserve America’s Confederate symbols. Calls to remove them have gained new urgency in the aftermath of George Floyd's death. In 2009 and 2015, members of the group made two visits to Liverpool. The Sons of Confederate Veterans attend a rededication ceremony in 2009. Courtesy Sons of Confederate Veterans Irvine Stephens Bulloch’s tombstone is seen during the 2009 ceremony. Courtesy Sons of Confederate Veterans "In 2009 the Sons of Confederate Veterans came to Liverpool to a ceremony in order to see the re-dedication of Irvine Stephens Bulloch's grave and that was paid for by the Liverpool city council," Westgaph told CNN. A spokesperson for the Liverpool City Council denied public money was used in the restoration of the Bulloch grave, but photographs from the rededication ceremony in 2009 show members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans dressed in Confederate battle uniforms, standing alongside the then Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Mike Storey, and a city councillor. The Sons of Confederate Veterans webpage marking the event thanks the city council for paying for the restoration of the tombstone. "The Lord Mayor of Liverpool, his worship Mike Storey, talked about the work of the council in having the headstone repaired and how the city saw heritage as an important part of its culture," the text on the site reads. Storey, who has since been made a Baron and now sits in the UK's House of Lords, confirmed he was in attendance, but also denied public money was used to restore the Bulloch graves. "Let me say straight away that had I known what this event was really about I certainly would not have attended," Storey said in a written statement to CNN. An iron cross of the Confederate States of America still sits at the foot of Irvine Stephens Bulloch’s tombstone. Westgaph says there is no denying the Council's involvement, pointing to multiple blog posts from 2009 and a document from the Mayor of Roswell, Georgia, thanking the city of Liverpool for rededicating Irvine’s grave. "It makes me think they are insensitive to say the least — either that or just wilfully ignorant," Westgaph said of Liverpool city officials. "Just because we are in England … that's not an excuse to be able to commemorate individuals who were involved in keeping other people in chains." Sons of Confederate Veterans tour In June 2015, Dylann Roof, a self-confessed white supremacist, shot and killed nine people in a historically Black church in Charleston, South Carolina. Roof, who was sentenced to death in 2017 for the murders, was repeatedly photographed with Confederate flags. Four months later, the Sons of Confederate Veterans made another visit to Liverpool. The week-long trip concluded with the unveiling of a plaque honoring Confederate soldiers at 10 Rumford Place, considered by many to be the unofficial embassy of the Confederacy in the city. "I find this plaque particularly egregious," said Westgaph, who wants to see it removed. "I think it has no real place in modern Liverpool. This is not the type of thing that we should be commemorating in the 21st century. These were not people who were fighting for a noble cause." A plaque commemorates the 150th anniversary of the return of the CSS Shenandoah to Liverpool. The Sons of Confederate Veterans attend the unveiling of the plaque in 2015. Courtesy Jerry Wells Jerry Wells' name is one of those on the plaque. The 76-year-old was a commander of a Sons of Confederate Veterans chapter in Virginia. He says he coordinated the week-long tour, for more than 200 people, with local officials. A Liverpool city council spokesperson denied any involvement. "It took two to three years of planning. First fundraising and getting people interested in going to Liverpool, which it turned out we had a really great contingent," Wells told CNN, from his living room in Richmond, Virginia. During their visit, the group twice raised a Confederate flag in the city, including during a naval battle re-enactment marking the 150th anniversary of the last surrender of the Confederacy — the CSS Shenandoah — which took place in Liverpool on November 6, 1865. "In fact, we had a 60-foot second national flag flying," Wells said, a reference to the Confederate flag. "Once you start gathering down on the Albert Dock, people start noticing you," he said. "The whole week we were there, people were just in awe of what we were doing. Everybody said they knew nothing about this history with the Confederates." Wells acknowledged the evils of slavery, but said he wanted to make the people of Liverpool proud of their city's role in bolstering the South during the American Civil War, "to let Liverpool people know that there was … support in Liverpool at that time for the Confederacy." Wells says he is a descendant of a Confederate soldier: "It's just amazing how my grandfather and other men who survived could go through the carnage at these battles and survive, and I am here today to sing his laurels for being a great trooper." Shortly after the 2015 trip to Liverpool, Wells resigned from the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He provided no explanation for his departure and said he did not want to "lambast his ex-organization." The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), an Alabama-based non-profit civil rights group that tracks hate crimes, monitors the Sons of Confederate Veterans and its members. "The underlying cause of the Sons of Confederate Veterans is to lionize and maintain public support of an institution that was designed to maintain white supremacy," said Howard Graves, Senior Research Analyst at SPLC. Signage at Rumford Place commemorates the CSS Alabama, a Confederate Navy warship. Graves said that within the organization there have been individuals who hold dual membership to hate groups. "I think their desire to maintain friends overseas is particularly bothersome because this is not just harmless pageantry," he said. City’s slave trade legacy It is Tracey Gore's job to decide how Liverpool should acknowledge its complicated links with the slave trade, as the head of the city's new Race and Equality Taskforce. Gore was appointed by the city's mayor, Joe Anderson, in the wake of the global Black Lives Matter protests following the death of George Floyd. But she said she had no idea about Liverpool's past dealings with Confederate heritage groups until CNN contacted her about them. "I was shocked and naturally it didn't sit right with me. It absolutely didn't sit right," she said, just days before assuming her post. Tracey Gore leads Liverpool’s new Race and Equality Taskforce. She said it was now time to change minds inside City Hall. "The city doesn't know the context," she said. "They don't understand the deep-rooted racism that exists within the Confederacy and what that means, and I think it's born out of ignorance." Gore has just six months to create a plan to address systemic racism and inequality across the board in Liverpool — covering everything from policing and education to deciding whether to rechristen streets named after slave traders. "The legacy of the slave trade in this city is actually the racial inequality and discrimination that still persists, and that’s what our attention should be drawn to," she said. Anderson, Liverpool’s current mayor, was not in office when Bulloch's grave was restored in 2009, but he was in charge during the Sons of Confederate Veterans' 2015 visit. A spokesperson for Liverpool City Council said the city's current government had not had any dealings with the Sons of Confederate Veterans, pointing out that: "No visitors (in any context) need the approval of the council to visit our city." "The city and the Mayor have been very vocal in protesting the presence of far-right groups," the spokesperson added. Historian Laurence Westgaph carries copies of advertisements showing enslaved people for sale in Liverpool. No memorial to dead slaves But Westgaph says it is only too clear who history remembers in Liverpool. He has led guided tours highlighting the city's slave history for 25 years, and says there is no plaque, no marker or monument to honor the people brutalized and stolen during the slave trade. The city's museum says that "between 1700 and 1807, ships from Liverpool carried about 1.5 million Africans across the Atlantic in conditions of great cruelty." Some didn't make it that far. For years, Westgaph has searched for the graves of the slaves who died in Liverpool so he can memorialize their stories, for the first time. His research led him to St John's Gardens, a manicured public square where statues to at least two men linked to the slave trade stand tall. These towering monuments celebrate the achievements of Arthur Bower Forwood and William Ewart Gladstone. Forwood, a former mayor of Liverpool, made his fortune as a blockade-runner for the Confederacy during the American Civil War. There have been calls to remove statues of William Gladstone because of his views on slavery. Gladstone — four times a Prime Minister of Great Britain — has been hailed as "perhaps the greatest British politician of the 19th century." But his family’s wealth was based on slave labor — his father was one of the largest slave owners in the British Empire. Gladstone spoke out against abolition, and wanted to recognize the Confederate States of America as an independent nation. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests, there have been calls to remove his statues. "We are actually in a graveyard where many enslaved people were buried," said Westgaph, gesturing to the ground beneath his feet. "So these memorials of individuals who benefited from the enslavement of African people are actually built on the bodies of enslaved Africans." At the beginning of the 20th century, the former cemetery here was landscaped, all traces of its past as a graveyard wiped out. But Westgaph says he does not want to knock down the monuments to his city’s troubling past, erasing its history. "I am not a fan of tearing down," he said. "I would much rather see us retain these monuments and re-interpret them." A sign taped to the base of the Gladstone statue explains his family’s links to the slave trade. Instead, he wants "interpretive plaques put on these monuments to tell people who these individuals were and the role they played in slavery and the slave trade." A panel of experts, including Westgaph, is working with the mayor's office to survey the city and do exactly that — add signs to places, streets, and structures acknowledging their links to the slave trade. Westgaph is also working with the local government to erect a memorial to enslaved people buried in Liverpool. He would like to import a stone from West Africa — the ancestral home of many victims of the slave trade — and inscribe it with the few details he has been able to find in the city's archives and burial records. "You'll find entries like: 'A Black boy belonging to Mr. Penny,' or: 'Mr. Fisher's Black,' and I think people should be able to see this, so they understand that these individuals at that time were not even deemed worthy of their names." An empty flower bed in St John's Gardens. Historian Laurence Westgaph has launched a crowdfunding campaign to erect a memorial honoring Liverpool’s enslaved people who were buried nearby.

Yeah, it's on the list. https://liverpoolexpress.co.uk/revealed-liverpool-streets-considered-for-slavery-memorial-plaques/

While they've been busy making it rain for all their dodgy mates pretending to supply PPE, they've also been cutting support for Modern Slavery victims. Stay classy, Tories. https://www.ier.org.uk/news/govt-withdrew-support-from-uk-modern-slavery-victims-during-pandemic/ People recoginsed by the government as potential victims of modern slavery stopped receiving financial aid without warning in July. The Home Office has argued that monetary assistance was no longer necessary because it had housed modern slavery victims in hotels and other forms of temporary accommodation during the pandemic, thereby ensuring they had access to home and board. But campaigners complained that providing only food and shelter did not cover victims’ every need – toiletries are not provided and neither is access to telephones and the internet in order for victims to contact their legal teams.

At least 6 and a half thousand people have died for this world cup at least 37 thousand people have been injured. It's not “migrant workers rights” as the PR companies are calling it it's modern day slavery plain and simple. It's fucking disgraceful and I won't be watching a single second of it.

I've read the main chunks. It's not about the EU. As far as I could find, only those two Europhobic right-wing rags mentioned the EU. The thing is, I've read plenty of articles and reports, watched documentaries and attended seminar sessions on the problem of modern slavery throughout the world. The consensus is always that where migrant workers have the right to live and work in the host country, they are better protected from slavery; where the government of the host country deems them illegal, they are most at risk. It follows logically that EU citizens, having the right to live and work in any EU Member State, are better protected from slavery. Brexit removes those protections and makes many thousands more immigrant workers vulnerable to exploitation. In the absence of context or even a full quote, I can only guess that the NCA bloke was saying that the EU's open borders make it harder to disrupt the movement of migrant workers. Wouldn't try to disagree with that. But the emphasis on disrupting the movement of workers focuses on them, the exploited, as the problem and not the bastards who exploit them. (It's a viewpoint consistent with the politics of the Times and the Express. ) As I've said a million times, the effective and equitable way to tackle the problems of slavery and exploitation is to give workers - even migrant workers - more rights. Leaving the EU does the opposite.

So much horseshit in one post; it's almost impressive. The modern movement against slavery would be the Trade Union movement; that and the Modern Slavery Act. Slavery is illegal now, you see. We quite rightly imprison people traffickers; we don't honour them with statues. The idea of the fight against racism being "weaponised" against Trump loses a bit of credibility when you look at what happened in the real world: Donald Trump ordering the police to use real weapons against peaceful demonstrators. (Police attacks against non-violent demonstrators is a repeated theme of the last couple of weeks, right across the USA.) Your kids and future generations will be fine if we use this moment to start learning a bit more and understanding the UK's racist legacy of imperialism and slavery. If white people start to understand more about the shit black people have to put up with, they will almost all want to change it (because almost all people are basically decent). When that happens, our communities can become less fractured and your kids will live in a better country.

Right. On the one hand, you say "the EU is definitely to blame" (while providing no rationale or evidence); on the other hand, literally everybody in the world who works to prevent slavery agrees (with reason and evidence) that increasing rights for migrant workers is the most effective way to tackle modern slavery. You're in a bubble of one here.

Nobody pretends that modern slavery doesn't happen: for the millionth time, stop arguing against stuff that nobody is saying. Also, nobody who cares or understands about modern slavery believes that the EU is to blame; on the contrary, leaving the EU only weakens the rights of migrant workers, which will make the problem worse. You know this.

Oh absolutely. There's a reason we never had slavery in England. We never needed any.

I agree with most of that, but immigration will be no issue as long as they control it. And even more likely use these charter cities or whatever they're calling them to allow them to work 100 hours per week and below minimum wage, probably done in some sort of bundle including putting them in shared living facilities priced into the job. It'll just be a license to bring in a form of slavery.

She's an absolute witch. She'd bring back fucking slavery if she could get away with it because it's attractive to fucking psychopaths who want to make money. She's basically hinting I want the British people to be easily exploited in order to make the country attractive to the worst cunts in the world. You can be sure she's not planning on making it attractive for ordinary people or investing in the people of the country to gain skills an knowledge that can lead to creative industries. Its the same shit time after time after time they fucking ruin everything and make the country a worse place to live.

"So the big news this week was that the Government passed a law that sells your first born child into slavery. Before we discuss that with Paul Chuckle, here's some kittens falling off a log".

How do you know they don't benefit? From what I remember (reading, not when I was a slaver) economies of several African states was highly dependent on slave trade and they struggled to stop it even when Atlantic trade for the white "customers" ended. I think Ethiopia had to wage a war or a civil war over persistent slavery. Also, slave trade and practice of slavery in Africa seems to be slightly more complex than Europeans bribing and persuading them to slave their enemies. The infrastructure and acceptance was already there, Europeans took it to the much higher lever with demand that devastated large parts of the continent. Which may partially explain the difference between enslaving black Africans and mostly economic slavery native Americans were subjected to in South America.