It is possible, i suppose, gorilla mums might be a bit chary about you getting too close to their offspring so we getting too close to their offspring so we might have to meet more to find out but a nice story. Great story if you get the opportunity to visit it. Now its time for a look at the weather with ben rich. Hello. After what has been an unseasonably blustery spell of weather, the winds are gradually easing and will continue to do so through the rest of the weekend. Still pretty breezy out there at the moment, some showers around, some slightly longer spells of rain moving out of Northern Ireland into north west england, parts of wales. But as we go through tonight, many of the showers will fade, i think some will return later in the night through south west england, parts of wales and Northern Ireland. And so a relatively cool, fresh feel, particularly in northern scotland. 9 degrees for stornoway, 15 the overnight low in norwich. And then for tomorrow, a bit like today, we will see some sunny spells, but also some showers,
those showers most frequent across Northern Ireland, southern scotland, northern and eastern parts of england. Some could be heavy and possibly thundery. Those winds continue to ease, temperatures just 14 degrees in aberdeen, very cool in the north of the uk, 23 the high in london. We look further ahead, monday brings some showers. For tuesday, it is likely to turn very wet and very windy. Hello, this is bbc news with shaun ley. The headlines Manchester United captain Harry Maguire pleads not guilty and is released from police custody, following his arrest on the greek island of mykonos on thursday. Uk tourists whove been on holiday to croatia, austria and trinidad and tobago now have to isolate for 14 days when they get back. Being in croatia, there were only a few options, which were to get to slovenia or to get to italy,
and neither were possible. After france and now croatia, no holiday can be guaranteed. Hundreds of thousands of people in north west england are told not coronavirus infections. Now on bbc news, its time for echoes of empire. In this programme bbc correspondents around the world, consider the legacy of imperialism as continuing controversy over the future of some public statues and protests by the black lives Matter Movement have shone a light on aspects of britains imperial past. The British Empire was the largest
the world had ever known. At its height, it ruled around 20 of the earths population. But the legacy of that empire is now the subject of passionate debate. Issues of exploitation and brutality have come to the fore thanks to the black lives matter protests. In bristol, in the south west of england, the statue of the slave trader Edward Colston was torn down amid angry protests. Clive myrie has been to bristol and reflects now on the struggle over memory. Clive myrie who owns history . Who dictates memory . Is it always the victors . What would you think about coloured people coming to work on the buses . I dont like the idea very much. What about the others . Those marginalised, like the Windrush Generation . You know, i was willing to fight for my, well,
i thought which was my country. And obviously, its not. The city of bristol is a place where different memories vie for supremacy. But why cant there be a past we all can embrace . Im a proud northerner born in bolton ofjamaican heritage. But it could be argued bristol is the place where i came of age. Where i got my first job injournalism the only career ive ever known. Like many west indians and their descendents living in the uk, my lineage stretches back to africa and the trade in human bondage involving ports like bristol. Ships loaded with goods would sail from here down to west africa. Theyd then be exchanged for slaves, that human cargo would go across the atlantic to the caribbean. There, theyd be exchanged for cotton, sugar and tobacco. That would then sail back
to the united kingdom. The triangular trade and slavery underpinned great wealth. And its that wealth that helped build cities like bristol. The legacy of slavery and the ships that sailed from here is a fractured past for me. This is true for all britains west indians, the children of empire. Asher craig grew up to became bristols deputy mayor. Im searching. I want to know who i am, and i may take the dna test, too. I need to pass this legacy down to my own children so that when theyre ready to have children, they can pass on that legacy. Now, the end of their journey is near. What will they find in the land they regard as an el dorado . Slavery had obliterated one part of their history. Now, west indians were being encouraged to create another asked to help rebuild britain after the war. Mike lord was a schoolboy a little too old to be carried over englands threshold
when he arrived in 1960, one of the Windrush Generation. The new arrivals were construction workers, bus drivers, they joined the nhs. Mike arrived on his godparents passport with no other paperwork. Years later, when he was forced to prove he had a right to live here, he couldnt. I felt like a leper. You know, like i had a tag on my back saying, im not british. Because no one will accept it because the government made it not to employ you if youve got no paperwork to prove who you are. Slavery, windrush toxic legacies of empire. History written by the victors. But this empty plinth tells a new story that the marginalised have had enough. Cheering. The statue of the 18th century slave trader and philanthropist Edward Colston was toppled in the heart of bristol. Now, he awaits restoration. But the graffiti is to be preserved. Symbol of the a understanding that the experience of victor and vanquished are part of the same story. Well, this is one history thats been brought low, covered in mud by people who were hoping to create a new history. But the fact is both our faces represent bristol. I think nobody owns history. No one race, no one group owns history. And id like for us to start thinking about history in a collective sense, as a british history. And i think that will encourage people to feel british, feel that they have a stake in british society. British colonialism defines who we all are. Its left a family album
of different peoples and races. It is our story. Every single moment. Britains first attempt at colonization was much closer to home across the irish sea in ireland. I grew up in the province of munster, listening to stories of english conquerors fighting irish rebels. Ive gone back to munster to see what a modern generation feels about the legacy of empire. These days, history is a beautiful tourist trade. Here, where empire took root in the fields of munster. There are traces everywhere of that long ago conquest, when the energy of elizabethan england overpowered its enemies. The irish were not made slaves, but there was massacre, dispossession, and assault on gaelic culture. Catholic ireland, with her continental allies, was a threat to protestant elizabeth. But also an opportunity for english adventurers. This part of ireland saw some of the worst atrocities carried out by men regarded as heroes in britain. And they would take the tactics and methods of colonial conquest, and export them from here across the world. Men like sir Walter Raleigh, who took vast Land Holdings after the destruction of the native lords. The great poet Edmund Spencer was among those who defended starving civilians to deny food to rebels. Thousands died in the famine which swept munster in the 1580s. Im going back into the landscape of the munster conquest, along the river blackwater, to meet a leading expert on the elizabethan era here. Its good to see you, man. How ruthless was the imposition of colonial rule by these men . Whatever it took. I mean, they killed men, women, and children. Thats very much part of how the British Empire emerges. Its forceful seizure and occupation. But go to the town of youghal at the river mouth, and Walter Raleigh is a tourist attraction. Raleigh left ireland for other colonial adventures, but others prospered, settled, and rest in ornate tombs. In a stable modern republic, their legacy can be studied, not fought over. Its much better for us to try to understand what happened, why it happened, how perhaps raleigh or these other individuals
could treat irish people particularly badly they do so because they considered them to be almost a different species of humanity. All grim houses beckoned in the swelling gloom of munster fields, where the atlantic night fettered the child within the pit of doom. And everywhere, the going down of light. Memories of oppression became embedded in our culture. But historic acts of reconciliation are helping to heal old wounds. I feel the hand of history upon our shoulder, in respect to this. I really do. And ijust think we need to acknowledge that and respond to it. With the benefit of historical hindsight, we can all see things which we would wish had been done differently, or not at all. History throws up complexities. Thousands of irish served
as imperial soldiers and civil servants. I had relatives who fought the british and others who benefited from and served the empire. But i wanted to hear what some younger people in munster felt about the colonial past. We want to sew both kinds, to put people in the shoes of the participants of these events in the past. You know, history is very complicated, lots of greyness. But we try to give them the facts and let them decide their own opinions. I know some people would really love an apology but, for the likes of us, we just want to learn about it. And not to make those mistakes again is better than getting an apology. You look at people of your generation who are black british, black american, and theyre looking back at the history of the empire. They feel real rage and anger over what happened to their ancestors. You dont feel that . We dont suffer injustice
as much as they do. We live privileged lives, like, we arent being injusticed every day like they are. Their roots were taken from them, so i can understand why youd be so angry. Like, im very proud to be irish and i love my heritage, and i love my roots. So i cant imagine having that taken away from me. History is no longer a gaping wound in munster. The colonial past is distant. It really is the past. India was the so called jewel of the imperial crown. But the role of the british specifically wartime leader Winston Churchill, in one of the great tragedies of modern india, the bengal famine of 1943 is coming under ever sharper scrutiny. Yogita limaye considers the view in india of the decisions taken by churchill during the turmoil of war. Yogita limaye in london, he stands tall. For millions here, Winston Churchill is a hero and one of the greatest britons of all time. But in a colony he once presided over, many point to a dark legacy. He might be an icon in britain. But in india, he is seen actually as the precipitator of mass killing because of the policies that he activated and the policies that he followed in bengal in 1943. At the heart of the anger against him, a famine in bengal. It was triggered by a cyclone and flooding. But many blame Winston Churchill and his government for making the situation worse. Its a painful chapter in indias colonial history. Only a few surviving images show the horror of hunger. Those who didnt die in villages went to cities in search of food. Every day, bodies had to be removed from kolkatas streets. At least three million died more than six times the British Empires casualties in world war ii, raging at the same time. Chitta kumar has lived through it. British troops had been forced to
retreat from burma by the japanese. And, fearing they could also invade bengal, anything that could aid the enemy like food stocks and boats were seized or destroyed. British officers in india sent a telegram after telegram describing how grave the situation was. But for months, mr churchills government turned down requests to urgently export food that couldve saved lives. They feared it would reduce stockpiles in the uk and take ships away from the war effort. He felt more could be done by local politicians to help the starving. Viceroy to india, archibald wavell, called the bengal famine one of the greatest disasters to have befallen people under british rule, and said the reputational damage was incalculable. During one government discussion about famine relief, secretary of state for india leopold amery
recorded mr churchill saying that any aid sent would be insufficient because indians bred like rabbits. It is a man made famine because of Global Conditions during the war. But i dont think we can blame churchill for causing it. What we can say is that he didnt alleviate it or send relief when he had the ability to do so. We can blame him for prioritising white lives and european lives over south asian lives. When a fraction of the Food Supplies asked for finally came, they were carried over this bridge. Its borne silent witness to history. Remnants of indias colonial past remain imprinted on it but do they matter today . At independence, india was a nation born in hunger, some have said. And so immediate priorities trumped any retrospection about british rule. But today, a generation of indians more confident about our place in the world are questioning why there hasnt been more widespread condemnation of the dark chapters in our colonial history. Judging leaders of the past through the lens of the present might leave the world with no heroes at all. But theres likely to be little progress on equality without accepting the full truth of their lives. Land the whole question of who lost it and who took it is central to the debate about colonialism. And nowhere is this more true than in kenya, where white settlers took the best land available. Anne soy has gone back to the rift valley where she grew up to look at the legacy of colonial land policies. Anne soy the highlands of the rift valley where i was born and raised. Its here that the Colonial Administration faced one of the fiercest resistance movements to their settlement in east africa. At the turn of the 20th century, british settlers arrived here and found conditions perfect for agriculture. Rich, volcanic soil, constant rainfall, and high altitudes suitable for growing tea. These fields have supplied britains breakfast staple for over a century. But it came at a huge cost 15 years of resistance by the kalenjin ethnic group, then led by the talai clan. Translation the settlers used divide and rule tactics. They turned the community against us. They convinced them that the talai were evil people. You see, they had guns and bombs, and all we had were arrows and spears and we fought against them for more than ten years. So they said we were evil. Once they had subdued the locals, laws were created in nairobi and london allowing them to push the locals to the fringes,
and the best land was divided up amongst a handful of settlers. They also introduced taxes. And, because the locals did not have money, they had no choice but to work in the settler farms to make money to pay the taxes. That subjugation lasted about five decades. In the 1950s, resistance was growing again across the country and continent. Closer to the colonial seat of power in nairobi was the mau mau movement. They fought for freedom from colonialism and to get land back. Many were rounded up, detained, and tortured. The official death toll is disputed some historians estimate that more than 20,000 died. At midnight, the unionjack was lowered for the last time, and kenya ceased to be a colony and became independent. 1963 statues of colonial leaders were removed and later replaced with kenyan faces. Good luck to kenya in her new role
as an independent nation. And, decades later, as statues of leaders of colonialism and slavery are brought down across the world, some kenyans are now questioning how deep the change here really went. We just changed the face of the monuments. We were conned at independence. We were handed over to the people who were, you know, subservient to the colonial authorities. The biggest beneficiaries of independence, they say, were those who worked for the Colonial Administration and fought against their opponents controversial views in kenya today. What have i done . They landed activist mutemi wa kiama in trouble with authorities last month. Police raided his home and arrested him. I do a lot of social media activism, and my premise is that kenya has never gotten independence. The thread that i did before they arrested me, i traced these colonial chiefs to the current political elites, and their etymologies and linkages, their business linkages, and that kind of thing. And kenayns could now see and actually connect the dots. And i guess they werent comfortable with that. The elites grabbed the independence and ran off with it. And the mau mau were left landless. Nothing had changed. And in the rift valley, the talai are today some of the poorest People Living here. Translation when land was being subdivided among the locals, we asked for some but we got nothing. They said we were the evil ones. For decades, this was a detention camp. They were not allowed to interact
with other communities. The Colonial Government tagged them an evil clan. And even after independence, that tag remained. The Lasting Legacy of colonialism in this village. A lot of the land in kenya is now owned by locals, and tea remains one of the countrys biggest exports. But the inequalities created during colonial times and adopted at independence persist. There may be no precolonial statues here, but this is a country still ill at ease with its past. Imperialism and slavery are fatefully intertwined. It was an act of the British Parliament in 1833 that abolished throughout the empire. But it was also the british who first imported african slaves to north america. Aleem maqbool looks now at the effect on that early traffic in human lives on American Society. Aleem maqbool it was here
on the coast of virginia that an english ship brought, against their will, the first 20 africans to what was already a british colony. And so began the horrific legacy of slavery here, from which more than 400 years on, some of the greatest ills in American Society can be traced. There are those who feel some people in britain looked at americans with contempt during the recent race troubles that need to acknowledge their own role. Britain put its stamp on america from the beginning. If you claim that america has its foundational culture based on england, then youve got to take it all. And that includes slavery. That includes the systemic racism in our laws, in our practices, and in our culture. Whys you kneeing on her neck . Policing in the Southern United States traces its origins to slave patrols set up under the british, who also
passed laws which regarded black people as inferior. The policing that we see that automatically assumes that a black person is a criminal that starts from, really, the founding of our country that viewed africans as systemically different as people. But americans of course have to shoulder responsibility, too. They won independence, but then there was civil war, with the confederate south fighting to keep slavery. Many british elites backed the south. But their side lost and slavery was banned. But decades later, statues to confederate leaders were put up here to rewrite history and remind black people of their place. We were told, dont look up at them. We were told, keep walking straight. Keep driving straight. You dont have to look up to that white man. They made it that big so you would have to hurt your neck
to look up to them. And were done with that. In fact, were now going to create a space thatsjust comfortable us to be around. Statues in the former confederate capital of richmond have now been daubed with graffiti or torn down. Including one of former confederate president jefferson davis, who died utterly unrepentant about his role in fighting his own country over slavery. But some of his descendents say we need to look past that detail. None of the individuals that are being attacked today were solely slave perpetuations. They had an illustrious history that was associated with many more acts that may preclude that scenario of slavery. Britain may have brought slavery here, but some americans are still commemorating its legacy. Remarkably, there are 11 confederate statues that still stand
in the us capitol building. The question is, what message does it send to African Americans when some people whose fame, notoriety is derived from the fact that they defended and even fought to keep the institution of slavery are celebrated here in the most exalted corridors of American Power . There are now moves to take away the statues. But progress towards a more complete representation of americas past is slow. The debate over imperialism and its discontents isnt new. But its been revitalised by black lives matter and by the emergence of a new generation of historians and writers determined to put the experiences of the enslaved and the oppressed at the forefront of history. Confronting that history can be deeply uncomfortable, but its an essential part notjust of facing the injustices of the past, but the
challenges of the presence. Hello there. After an unseasonably blustery few days of weather, the winds are now gradually easing and will continue to do so through the rest of the weekend. We have spells of sunshine out there but we also had some really heavy showers through today and that sort of weather will continue on into tomorrow. This is the earlier satellite picture, the speckled clouds showing where we have had showers. This stripe of cloud has been bringing some slightly more persistent rain across Northern Ireland, that getting down to north west england, parts of wales as well,
those are the temperatures you can expect as we head into saturday evening. Through the night, many of the showers will fade, but i think some will return later in the night to south west england, parts of wales, Northern Ireland as well. Temperature wise, feeling quite cool and fresh, particularly in northern scotland, some spots down into single digits. Elsewhere, generally between ten and 15 degrees. So, tomorrow, just like today, will bring some spells of sunshine, but also some patchy cloud and some showers. Some of the showers will be heavy and possibly thundery through Northern Ireland, southern scotland, northern england, perhaps into Eastern England later on. Not a particularly windy day, those Winds Continuing to ease, but it is going to feel cool across the northern half of the uk 1a degrees for aberdeen, 16 in belfast, still getting up to 23 towards the south east. And then what about the week ahead . Well, actually, it looks as if the winds are going to strengthen once again, at least for a time. We will see some rain as well. On monday, the rain will come in the form of showers, really, just working their way eastwards across many areas. I think some spots will stay dry with some spells of sunshine. Temperatures no great shakes. 15 to 21 degrees, but down here to the south west, you can see another area of very wet weather. And it looks as if we are going to develop an area of low pressure, just a bit like the one we saw last week, lots of white lines on this chart, lots of isobars. That shows the winds will be pretty brisk, we will see some outbreaks of heavy rain driving across many parts of the uk. It is going to be very gusty out there, we will easily see wind gusts of 30, 40, maybe 50 mph but i think in some spots, the gusts could get a little bit stronger than that. And what about the temperatures . Well, again, none too impressive for this time of year. 13 degrees in aberdeen, a high of 21 in london