Decent People's Burden

Even those undefiled by historical expertise will occasionally admit that the colonial experience as undergone by the lesser breeds was not always the uplifting and civilising process carried out by the British Empire. At the beginning of the twentieth century the Germans engaged in some very unsportsmanlike conduct against the peoples of what is now Namibia, and the two countries are now negotiating the terms of a possible formal apology and compensation. The Germans are wary of the word reparations in case it sets a precedent for claims by Poland, Greece or Italy over crimes committed during Mr Churchill's victory over Europe; the idea of crimes against Russia being self-evidently a contradiction in terms. Meanwhile, the mainland has dealt with its own little indiscretions in the characteristic national spirit of pragmatic fair play, alternating regretful noises with echt-Kipling blather while expending generous quantities of time and the British taxpayer's property waiting for our victims to die of old age.