It is difficult to travel in
Britain without seeing evidence of its colonial past. Just this week a British
High court order that the United Kingdom should pay reparations for people tortured
and abused during the Mau Mau rebellion. There is speculation that this
will lead to more such cases. The legacy of British colonialism, from
immigration to foreign policy, is ever present in the politics of today’s Britain.
There is a statue that sits in
the middle of North Bridge, a major thoroughfare in central Edinburgh, dedicated
to the King’s Own Scottish Borderers.
The inscription on the statue remembers the lives of those who fought in six
campaigns between 1878 and 1902. In
light of the ruling this week, it was hard not to see the irony that the head
of the lead officer on the memorial had been covered in seagull excrement. To
be fair, this was not the only statue in central Edinburgh to have his head
covered (there are not many women who have a statue), but it did catch my eye. 
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