Dining Duet

Slavery existed for over 5,000 years. Every major civilisation accepted it. For most of history, nobody seriously tried to stop it at scale. Then Britain did something different. It didn’t just pass a law. 👇 In 1807, Britain abolished the slave trade. Then it enforced it. For 60 years, the Royal Navy hunted slave ships. 1,600 ships captured. Around 150,000 people freed. And it cost lives. Around 2,000 British sailors died doing it. Then in 1833: Britain abolished slavery across its empire. 800,000 people set free. It paid £20 million to do it. Around 40 percent of government spending. This wasn’t quick. This wasn’t easy. And it didn’t start with politicians. It started with ordinary people. Women boycotted sugar. Hundreds of thousands of them. Thomas Clarkson rode 35,000 miles to gather evidence. A movement that took decades. This is part of British history. Not perfect. But not what most people are told either. Almost no one explains it like this. Proud Of Us is funded entirely by our community. No sponsors. No advertisers. If you believe this history deserves to be told properly:👇 Be part of us. 👉 proudofus.co.uk/support 🙏 Be proud of us 🇬🇧

They were starving. The cotton was right there. They refused to touch it. Lancashire, 1862.🇬🇧 The cotton mills that clothed the world. The cotton came from American slave plantations. Then the Civil War began. Lincoln blockaded the Southern ports. The cotton stopped coming. 331,000 people lost their jobs. The most prosperous workers in Britain were queuing for charity soup. Children went hungry. Everyone expected them to break. Demand the government side with the slaveholders. Get the cotton flowing again. They didn't. New Year's Eve, 1862. Manchester Free Trade Hall. Workers packed the hall. Hungry. Unemployed. Freezing. The Manchester Guardian told them not to come. They came anyway. They voted to support Lincoln. To keep the blockade. To keep starving. They refused to buy their survival with someone else's chains. Lincoln wrote back. He called it "sublime Christian heroism which has not been surpassed in any age or in any country." Then he sent ships full of food to Lancashire. There's still a statue of Lincoln in Manchester. His words are still on it. But here's what most people don't know. That hall, the Free Trade Hall, was built on the exact site of the Peterloo Massacre. In 1819, cavalry charged into working people on that same ground. Demanding the right to vote. At least fifteen killed. Same ground. Same working people. Two generations apart. In 1819 they were cut down for asking to be heard. In 1862 their children chose to starve for someone else's freedom. Lancashire. Every time. Help us get the stories of our ancestors out of the archives and into the people. 👉 proudofus.co.uk/support No sponsors. No ads. Just us. Be part of us. Be proud of us. 🇬🇧

I think this should be taught to all girls.

He was DEFEATED ELEVEN TIMES. Attacked. Threatened with DEATH. Nearly blind. Addicted to opium just to function. They told him to stop. He spent forty-six years refusing. His name was William Wilberforce. Born in Hull, 1759. He could have lived a comfortable life. Wealthy family. Safe seat in Parliament. Instead he chose to destroy the most powerful economic system in the British Empire. The slave trade. He didn't fight alone. Thomas Clarkson rode 35,000 miles gathering evidence. Olaudah Equiano, man who had been enslaved himself, gave testimony that no politician could ignore. Wilberforce took their evidence to Parliament. They voted no. He came back. They voted no. He came back. Lost by eight votes. MPs deliberately stayed away so they wouldn't have to choose a side. He came back. Again. And again. And again. By now his eyesight was nearly gone. His body was breaking. He'd been on opium since he was 29. Twenty years after he started, they voted again. 283 to 16. The slave trade was abolished. But he wasn't finished. Slavery itself was still legal. He fought for another twenty-six years. In July 1833, lying in bed, barely able to move, he received word. Parliament had voted. Slavery was abolished across the entire British Empire. Three days later, William Wilberforce died. He held on just long enough. They buried him in Westminster Abbey. Help keep our stories alive. proudofus.co.uk/support Be part of us. Be Proud Of Us. 🇬🇧

@Lfromthenorth I am so disappointed that our grandmothers and great grandmothers fought so hard for our rights, and there are women desperately stripping them away. Create a third category and apply rights to that, do not force women to give up the space we've had to fight so hard for!

No amount of gaslighting from politicians and legislators will ever convince me that "womanhood" is a feeling in a man's head. We're adult human females. Nothing more, nothing less. And we deserve the rights and protections that feminists before us fought so hard to achieve.

I’m not religious but I respect anyone’s beliefs providing they are based in peace & equality. Somehow we’re back here with one rule for one but not for the other. This is never ok in a country that must apply the law to everyone exactly the same or laws become worthless.

@StevenPayn5521 @darrengrimes That's why they want them shut

@darrengrimes The British pub is also where the world is put to right. Conversations where friends and strangers realise they are not alone in their thoughts against uk tyranny.

BRILLIANT EXPLAINER; THE DEATH OF THE BRITISH PUB 🍺 Ever wonder why your local is struggling? For every £6 pint you buy, the landlord is left with a pathetic 13p. The government snaffles £2.44 in tax, VAT, and "climate levies." They’re taxing our heritage to death to fund net-zero nonsense and open-border fantasies. While the London Government sip their fancy wines at home, the Great British pub is being bled dry by the Treasury. Support your local, or lose it forever.

I second this, Sunday's seafood boil is a huge delicious feast. And the Irish Martini might be my new favourite cocktail!

“Nobody has the right to live their lives being protected from offense or from insults or from hurt feelings. It is an occupational hazard of living in society.” — Ann Widdecombe

Shockingly there is a middle ground, or compromise in most arguments. Even now when life seems so thoroughly divide, there is a not polarised route to success #weonlyhaveoneplanet #onelife #humanity

@BrewDog With peach, on tap, yes please!!

So... Hazy Jane time?

If you are a public servant, or employed in public or civil service... you are funded by the the public, UK tax payers, and should be accountable to the UK tax payers. Surely this is not a difficult concept? #DWP #DSHC #DfE #NHS

Love a lazy Sunday breakfast at wellington farm shop

Monty Python's Life of Brian is 46 years old today. 13 Life of Brian Classic Moments - A THREAD Brian could well be the funniest movie ever made, and one clip alone won't do it justice. So dive into this thread and find out why Brian was a very naughty boy. You splitter! 1/

If you’re reading this… You are perfect, you are enough, and you are loved. Never forget it. Keep going. You’ve got this. ❤️💪 Bosh❤️

He knew the BBC would never let him on the show again but he said it anyway.

Well bloody said to that woman 👏👏👏

He speaks for millions of people in the UK. 🎯 “We end up with economically illiterate people in the government. There are not fit for office. This is our money. I’m sick of being asked to pay more and more for less and less.” We are being fleeced.

@AaronBastani As a country we train apprentices and engineers, military and civil service who could easily repair and build... but we don't allow them too as it would be 'unfair' to these companies that offer poor return on investment

More money to go to outsourced 'service providers'. It's genuinely staggering how much outsourcing firms rip the taxpayer off. I've seen over £100k for a zebra crossing; £250k for traffic calming measures down 1 small road. The answer isn't giving more money to these cowboys.

@ElonMuskAOC Mona lisa

If you can see this you deserve $19,000,000! Can you?