Dear Editor,
Oh dear? My Guyanese mother would have called it ‘stupidness’. I just call it impolite. Guyana has not shown itself to the best recently. A relative of Nineteenth century British Prime Minister William Gladstone, Charles Gladstone, flies in to apologize for slavery on their plantations and offers UG a £100.000 cheque (with more to come) to set up a Centre for Migration Studies as ‘reparations’. He is met with posters at the airport and lecture demanding the money now and plenty more later.
A black British MP (of Guyanese heritage) David Lammy flies in with a more recent British PM Tony Blair with money to set up a scientific centre about the rainforest. One presumes with finance provided by Lammy’s family. He is met by questions about whether Guyanese scientific knowledge will be ‘stolen’ by new colonisers. No way to treat guests bearing gifts. Not reparations. Simple politeness would suffice. My Mother Clara must be turning in her grave.
Sincerely,
John ‘Bill Cotton/Reform’ Mair