How much difference is there between a 19th Century coalmine or cotton mill and an extermination chamber? The first two will take 15-20 years to kill you, the last one 15-20 minutes. As to slavery. My ancestors were Yorkshire miners. Like the slaves on Jamaican plantations, they worked ridiculous hours under brutal supervision, their women were sexually abused by those in authority, and if they left their job, they would be punished severely. On the other hand, the slaves got to breathe fresh air, see the sun more than once a week, and were guaranteed at east one meal a day, clothes to wear and somewhere to sleep every night. The few shillings a week the miners earned couldn't guarantee any of those, and they had no vote, either!

I'm aware of all this because I learned it at school. But I have never believed that my ancestors' hellish lives meant that anyone owed me special treatment or reparation. I keep my resentment for the current bunch of Tory bastards, not their ancestors -who never did me any harm, being dead before I was born.

It would help if some folk would put what happened to their ancestors behind them and concentrate on what's happeining now. Then they might notice that we're all in the same boat, and it's long past time for a mutiny! It's going to take all of us to change the system, and we've got no chance if we're all chasing our own tails.