Scotland’s crisis-hit NHS is to begin a “programme of reparations” to Jamaica and Africa in a bid to “make amends” for a hospital’s slavery links dating from the 18th century. The Telegraph has the story.
An NHS Lothian report found that, in today’s money, the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh had profited by almost £40 million from slavery, including through ownership of a small Caribbean slave plantation, left to it in a surgeon’s will in 1750.
It claimed that Scotland’s historic healthcare system had been “part funded by slavery” and that the hospital had been “built on and sustained by the horrific enslavement and cruel exploitation of enslaved peoples”.
While the reparations are not expected to involve direct repayment of the £39.1 million, the NHS Lothian board is expected to approve a series of measures on Wednesday designed to redress its part in a “crime against humanity”.
It is proposed that these will include NHS Lothian and its official charity making a formal apology to people of African descent, commissioning artwork dedicated to victims of slavery and signing an agreement aimed at improving health in modern-day Jamaica.
An advisory group set up by NHS Lothian claimed that the measures would “help to eliminate systemic discrimination and racism in Scotland” and “make amends for past wrongs”.
However, the timing of the announcement and the priority given to the work was questioned, with the Scottish NHS facing an unprecedented crisis that is set to deepen in coming months.
It is expected that the work would be funded from “existing departmental budgets and staffing”, meaning it will swallow up resources that could have been used for healthcare.
Worth reading in full.
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This announcement is deliberate and clearly designed to enrage UK citizens. With 10% of the population languishing on an NHS waiting list this vile abuse of taxpayers funds has clearly been authorised from the very top. The apparatchicks formally responsible for this horrific nonsense have obviously been shorn of all humanity knowing full well that this action will result in more suffering for the British people.
It is obvious that this announcement added to the grotesque arrest of Laurence Fox is intended to stir public anger and resentment. They really are keen to see us on the streets.
I would be amazed if there are not further egregious MSM worthy “incidents” before the weekend is out. They are definitely intent on bringing matters to a boil.
I agree. I wonder if acts of hubris like this might be their downfall. I certainly hope so. If this doesn’t wake people up, I don’t know what will.
Hubris normally leads to Nemesis; but the NHS doesn’t live in the normal, real world
I have to agree. Trying to justify the logic of such new levels of absurdity in NHS budgeting will fry your brain. When looked at from the standpoint of deliberate provocation, and deliberately divisive measures designed to bring in tyrannical legislation by the back door, a lot of recent developments make sense, including this one. The current readership is familiar with all the others – they get discussed regularly on this site.
Clap the NHS? Rainbow stickers anyone?
It isn’t that long ago that the SNP squirming parasites wanted to pay money to the descendants of witches that were burned in the 1700’s or something. I bet there was a large increase in towns all over Scotland of people visiting libraries to search through Ancestry records to see if their great great great great great great greet great Aunty Jeannie who owned a black cat might mean they are owed a few bob.
I figured Scotland was in a bad way but I didn’t think parts of their buildings dated back to 1750. Have they not modernised at all?
A PFI cash cow now 20 years old.
Sounds like the Scottish NHS has withdrawn mental health treatment for its management.
It has only taken Scots about 20 years to go from Common Sense to No Sense. —After all they have been voting for the commie pincer movement of SNP and Greens for a while now, but often this group think madness is eventually brought to halt when people recover their senses slowly and one by one. And infact the SNP are starting to drop in popularity already——Phew. I have to live here so thank god.
Perhaps a nice distraction for the operator Consort from the PFI contract costs for the remaining few years followed by the scandalous buyback fee.
This is what happens when you pay people to do nothing other than come up with stupid ideas.
Beam me up FFS.
Does this mean I can sue Germany for incarcerating my father for 2.5 years in WW2?
Commissioning artwork? FGS. I’m sure the scaled-down staff and the poor patients who have waited months and years before they eventually get treatment will appreciate the commissioned junk – not!
Reparations to Africa? Considering all African slaves were captured by ‘fellow’ Africans and sold to Arabs and Europeans, nearly all slave descendants live outside the African continent. This means reparations will be paid to the descendants of African slavers?
And as far as modern day Jamaicans, they have been gifted an island with ready made sugar industry and in a beautiful location that is ideal for attracting wealthy tourists.
Not to mention that someone helpfully eliminated most of the aboriginal population. Maybe the present-day Jamaicans should rather pay reparations to them for appropriating their country.
The islamists had the correct idea – they castrated all of the male slaves ensuring no offspring to make claims in the future.
Nobody seems to want to talk about Islamic slavery, I wonder why not.
Probably for the same reason they don’t want to talk about ongoing Muslim crimes against humanity e.g. female genital mutilation, forced marriage of young women which leads to them becoming sex/domestic slaves.
No one talks about that because Muslims will tell you to F..k off. We just bend over and tell people to whip us into submission.
So, something that’s called Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh used to own a plantation in the Caribbean more than 200 years ago. Nowadays, this royal infirmary is funded by British taxpayers as part of the Scottish NHS. How does a royal infirmary switching its primary funding source make the people currently providing these funds culpably responsible for the nature of other funding sources the same royal infirmary utilized hundreds of years ago?
That’s just a(-nother) pretty transparent attempt of political activists to loot the NHS budget to further their own agendas.
I agree. As usual, it’s the taxpayers who are funding the lunacy.
The point I was trying to make was that there’s absolutely no connection between the supposed crime and the people whose money is supposed to be used to remedy it.
There was no crime. Slavery was part of life from since ever. Only when Britain and many other countries outlawed slavery did owning slaves become a crime.
That’s besides the point. Taking the statements about crime against humanity for granted, the people making them still don’t have a leg to stand on wrt accessing the current NHS budget.
The Davos Deviants are absolutely hell bent on creating a new slave society.
Could I have my reparations in advance please?
Also “part funded” by lifetimes of tax contributions from the working population – forcibly deducted at source, with no possibility of opt-out, for the vast majority. Forget reparations, how about a refund?
Sweet baby cheeses! The idiot hospital bosses should just install this racist kack in the entrance lobby and have done.
https://twitter.com/TheFreds/status/1709613767594488160
Perhaps an old RE song would be an appropriate rejoinder. “Who ate all the pies? Who ate all the pies? You fat bast’rd, you fat bast’rd, you ate all the pies!”
I can say without fear of contradiction that the ‘thing’ in this picture is not at any risk of getting a “fuck” whatsoever.
Time to shut down the scotch parish council and all of its offshoots.
Who cares …….who will notice??
One of the final comments – Calum Campbell stating that “tackling racial inequality and racism is a core part of what NHS Lothian does” – really says it all.
A “CORE PART”?! Not just an initiative taken on the side of what it’s central purpose should be (you know, something like delivering quality, reliable care to patients in the Lothian region and directing resources to where they are needed the most… healthcare, hospital facilities, reduced waiting lists and quicker access to services)
No, no, this really is a “core part” of what they do! This kind of thing plumbs new depths of depravity, and those culpable for commissioning this report are guilty of gross negligence, squandering of precious resources, and hence gambling with people’s lives. It is truly criminal.
I’ll second that excellent comment.
I am tending towards the view that the NHS is pretty much like the BBC – both are competing for the title of most well funded (by us) political campaigning organisations on the planet.
How can you take the reins of a society gone astray? That is the issue here, There is no easy path. On the other hand you are pushing at an open door. The people of these islands are much much better than their overlords. If the real talent of this country were allowed to prosper it would conquer the world. And I don’t say that as an article of faith I know it to be true,
Another reason to be sparing with what we submit to the tax man. It’ll either go to Ukraine and finish up Lord knows where, or towards subsidising Scotland and thence toward reparations to Jamaica or wherever.
It struck me, when scanning the illustration heading an Unherd article about the EU betraying Lampedusa, that all the African faces looking out from what appeared to be a boat reminded me of depictions of slave ships. (When I was at school we were taken to museums and given the full spiel about this dreadful episode).
It was an appalling trade. I can’t unsee what I saw, and no doubt will be told off for associating a black face with the slave trade; in my own defence, lots of people do rather bang on about it to ensure it remains fresh in the memory despite the healthy trade in modern slavery of many races.
The difference nowadays is that the people being carted across the sea in boats pay handsomely for this service.
Will we be paying reparations to them as well?
If they want to make amends for a crime against humanity they should consider advice they’ve given to gender confused youngsters and if they’ve encouraged vulnerable people to surgically mutilate themselves or take puberty blockers with lifelong consequences.
So during the Covid-19 hoax we “saved” the NHS so that it could save money to pay ridiculous reparations. Sounds fair
Pay who exactly?
Why can NHS Scotland do this? Because they know that English taxpayers will be forced to fund it and, in the event NHS Scotland can’t provide medical services for Scots they can just go south of the border and get it in English hospitals …. like the Welsh are.
Either way, NHS Scotland won’t be paying the reparations – English taxpayers will – and our pathetic Government will do nothing to stop it.
The Liberal Progressive virus is spreading faster than a speeding bullet right across the western world, and Scotland is one country that has allowed itself to become infected more than most, except for maybe San Fransicko.
How absolutely horrendous!
You cannot make amends to those formerly enslaved and had their lives stolen. They no longer exist. You also cannot make amends to them by paying money that is not your’s personally. That is just virtue signaling. To make real amends to assuage your guilt you must give all of your personnal wealth. It is meaningless drivel otherwise. Slavery has been around since recorded history and still exists.
I that case they must sell assets to pay for it, provided the patients agree.