NOT AN INDIAN TAKEAWAY.

It is so refreshing to read an article in the press, when the writer isn't bleating about a right that they feel should be their's automatically. The subject here is India, and Prime Minister Cameron's visit. Unfortunately, he soon got into apologetic mode on behalf of we Brits. The article to which I refer, written in this weeks press, is by a British born Indian, Nirpal Dhaliwal; giving a succinct history of the sub continent over the centuries, leading up to the British Raj. Mr. Dhaliwal makes it quite clear, that we did not subjugate the good folk of India, that had been performed by the Moguls (Muslim), who had overrun the country in the mid 16th. century, and who were very much into slavery. Although we appeared on the scene in competition with the French in particular, regarding world domination. This, as my informant points out, did the Indians a great favour. By the 1840's we had abolished the slave trade. We did exploit the continent, as so called conquerors always do. It is, however, because of Great Britain, that the second most populated nation on earth became the world's largest democracy. In addition, we introduced humane practices; stopping the burning of widows, the committing of female infanticide, and the burial of lepers alive.

All in all, our legacy was generally one of good. I recall the Canadian born, American economist, John Kenneth Galbraith admitting, that wherever Britain withdrew from Empire, they always left it in good order.

Regarding the Jewel in the Crown, the Koh-i-noor, I'm sure that it was a personal gift to Queen Victoria, which therefore makes it the property of the crown, not the nation.

WELL SAID, NIRPAL DHALIWAL.