There are times I really like our Jury system

Let's put up a statue of Jimmy Saville!!

What he did for those patients in Stoke Mandeville - well it was almost saintly.

 

He was never convicted of anything in court either so who cares about how any survivors or children of the survivors feel when they pass it?

 

Personally I don’t agree with what they did, if they want the statue removed, that’s not how to do it. Where do you draw the line? Folks should not be allowed to remove public statues on a whim. For example what if another bunch use the same theory to start on war memorials?
Also if you are going to start on stuff built from money raised from slavery , do they not realise that the same trade was prolific all over the world, different nations and castes enslaving others?
I’m also not a fan of retrospective apologists , history was built layer by layer on what was prevalent at the time. You need to acknowledge these things to move on from them and learn from them so these things are not repeated.

 

They look very guilty on the face of the reports. But a bit like trying Ken Dodd for tax evasion in a Crown Court in Liverpool!

Have to say, I'm with their cause, but I'd have been happier with a conviction and an absolute discharge by way of sentence. Anyways, that's the grand lottery!

 

After all the years these type of statues have been up,how come it`s only now that people are offended ?

 

From the defence lawyer;
Toppling this statue is not erasing history, the erection of it was.

 

Because the way we view the world changes with each generation.

 

Why don't we still live in caves?

 

Or keep slaves?

 

I have absolutely no problem with what they did out of sheer frustration at the height of the George Floyd stuff. Colston made his fortune on an abhorrent venture and his commemoration has no place in a multi-cultural city in 2021. The judge agreed.

 

Not really. Surely it was emphasising one particular aspect of his personality that was in vogue at the time at the expense of another aspect which was diametrically opposed

 

Doesn’t compare to what Colston did for Bristol and if 174 years after Jimmy Saville death Society thinks it’s appropriate then maybe they will.
Firstly when Colston was Slave trading it was not illegal and in fact the company he worked in held the royal charter by the then present King(was owned by the Kings brother).
Whereas JS was deemed to have committed illegal offences.
Secondly JS was committing his offences during, whereas Colston spent most of his remaining life giving back and was still contributing some 200+ Years after his death.

 

Not getting involved in politics or stuff of that nature...but I have to say that if they classed as not guilty for vandalism etc then the judge and jury are condoning their crime.....end of!

 

Really?
So we shouldn’t ignore Fred West was a talented gardener then? Or let’s start a Peter Sutcliffe HGV driving school?
A range of Adolf Hitler vegetarian ready meals?

 

Not that I want people throwing in gaol for this, but I disagree entirely with the verdict. We're supposed to be a civilised society, we don't just go out and break things if we don't like them.

I think the statue should have been taken down. That's taken down. Removed without damaging it and put into storage. Then replaced with whatever the people of Bristol prefer. Actually, not that. Anything but that. Art by committee returns the most bland, uninspiring, god-awful rubbish you wouldn't wish to inflict on anyone. Maybe commission a local artist to create a replacement, their vision, not a committees.

Or maybe leave up what was already there and acknowledge our history, learn from it, read about it. A statue doesn't have to be a celebration, it can be a lesson, an understanding of our past, a reminder to never go there again.

Or we could just burn books.

 

There are plenty of memorials to him in Bristol, he's not being erased from history.

 

What depresses me is that right now there are thousands of families relying on food banks in this country to stave off hunger. and the biggest protest we can muster is over some dead racist from 200 years ago. I’m sure the establishment and vested interests in this system of iniquity are more then happy with these distractions and love to talk about fixing inequality when it comes to race, sex and gender but don’t ever question the actual system will you.

 

I know that Helen, I am just disputing the statue was put up because he was a Slaver it wasn’t, Bristol put it up to remember his contributions to the local community.

 

Eh? Peter Sutcliffe crashed in to someone I know driving a lorry so I’d say no to that. Very few people are completely good or completely bad. As IK311 has pointed out, he didn’t do anything illegal even if it is now not acceptable. I’m not saying they should have been convicted for pulling it down but I don’t see how toppling a statue helps. Surely it’s better to recognise both sides of what he did and recognise that and debate it rather than resort to violence? Yes the world changes but are you saying that what we think today about the man is the definitive opinion? I don’t imagine that you are

 

Well everything was alright for Jimmy at the time. Never got done for owt.

He was lying in state in the Grand Hotel for a few days after his death, with Harry Gration and Christa Ackroyd certainly considering him a dead demi god on Look North.

So if jimmy's crown gets torn from his head, it ought not to be too hard to go lightly on those protestors who pick on someone who would have been responsible for enslavement and thus death in droves.

Whether slavery was illegal at the time or not is in my opinion not the greatest of justifications for giving this Colston chap a cleaner licence than the old clunk clicker.

Plus the fact that Colston made so much dosh out of the misery of others that there is still some wealth about centuries after, is again in my book a minus rather than a plus.

Owz about that then?