Hit or miss ...

Blair slave-trade 'regret' backfires Tony Blair's partial apology for the slave trade, published in New Nation, received criticism across the political spectrum this week. Many claimed his 'expression of regret' - made ahead of the bicentenary of slavery's abolition next March - did not go far enough, and The Indie mocked the PM's efforts to 'involve the whole population in a bout of collective hand-wringing'. The Daily Express even asserted that, as the first country to abolish slavery, Britain should be proud of its ancestors' conduct.