This relates to the BBC article [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66596790] which states “the UK should pay $24tn (£18.8tn) for its slavery involvement in 14 countries”.
The UK abolished slavery in 1833. That’s 190 years ago. So nobody alive today has a slave, and nobody alive today was a slave.
Dividing £18tn by the number of UK taxpayers (31.6m) gives £569 each. Why do I, who have never owned a slave, have to give £569 to someone who similarly is not a slave?
When I’ve paid my £569 is that the end of the matter forever or will it just open the floodgates of other similar claims?
Isn’t this just a country that isn’t doing too well, looking at the UK doing reasonably well (cost of living crisis excluded of course), and saying “oh there’s this historical thing that affects nobody alive today but you still have to give us trillions of Sterling”?
Shouldn’t payment of reparations be limited to those who still benefit from the slave trade today, and paid to those who still suffer from it?
(Please don’t flame me. This is NSQ. I genuinely don’t know why this is something I should have to pay. I agree slavery is terrible and condemn it in all its forms, and we were right to abolish it.)
Your number is a bit off. It’s more around 569000 per person.
Who downvoted this? It’s correct.
£18.8 trillion divided by 67.7 million people is £278,000 per person.
That’s just not possible as a sum. 18.8 trillion is more money than the entire nation has. I’m all for reparations btw. But I can’t see how that much is realistic?
I thought 500 quid seemed a bit light to be mending generational wealth accumulation.
This seems much more in line with what I would expect.
Note, I’m a statistician, but don’t do maths outside of 9-5 /s
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Correct. I put too few 0’s in. I have no chance of paying anyone half a million. Those aren’t reparations, that’s a kind of reverse slavery. Also I divided by the number of taxpayers (31.6m), not the total population, because it’s going to be the taxpayer muggins who has to foot the bill.