Many and sharp the num'rous ills
Inwoven with our frame!
More pointed still we make ourselves
Regret, remorse, and shame!
And Man, whose heav'n-erected face
The smiles of love adorn, -
Man's inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands mourn!Robert Burns
On 25 March, we will be commemorating the bicentenary of the Act of Parliament which abolished the slave trade in the British Empire: an Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Some details of the history can be found in the National Archives website, and more on the government site.
All this week BBC local television is broadcasting programmes showing the local connections with the slave trade - it has touched people all over the country. We are not so far from a large naval base which has a special exhibition "Chasing Freedom" to show the navy's role in combating the slave trade.
Is any of this enough to stop it happening again, albeit in a different form? Modern day slavery remains a huge problem. When will we ever learn?
