HSD1

http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/sophia-9781408835456/

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/sophia-princess-suffragette-revolutionary-by-anita-anand-book-review-9965418.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/11310273/Sophia-Princess-Suffragette-Revolutionary-by-Anita-Anand-review.html

http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/books/552338/Sophia-Princess-Suffragette-Revolutionary-book-review

Ekomkar, from sikhs point of view- hindu nationalist, british imperalism, and islamic fanatic nationalist are all crooks - one and same. They all cannot be trusted. As far as sikh raaj goes , everyone was happy under maharaja ranjit singh shera punjab raaj before dogra and british divide and rule destroyed the raaj.

+ 1000.

Gloat whilst you still can.

Just like the Marathas ruled over everyone and Hindustanis won independence by themselves? Keep your nation, it's a joke.

Rebels need no home or name.

First War of Independance? How American of you. Cant you guys just be yourselves? Or is that so embaressing and just fuel your insecurity?

The Indian Mutiny was an attempt by dumb Hindus and Muslims to get the Mughals back in power. Is that what you wanted? One minute he talks about HIndu sovereignty, then he wants to be ruled by a sulleh rather than anyone else. These people are never happy.

The only one here who has drunk cow piss is probably you. Your evidence was contrived and easily refutable. My evidence was far less so. Hang on to your inflated superiority complex - you'll need it.

HSD1, we don't like e in cow shit we live in our nation our homes, u lot live in our shit! Infact beg to stay there instead of Pakistan see sikhs in Pakistan begging to come to India, Lolz

No one said Nehru was a Muslim Amarjeets confused again must be the cut and pastes Lolz CONFUSING HIM LOLZ

GOID SIKHS SHUD PAY TAX, infact double as we r letting u live in our nation!

You hsd1 cudnt prove or take the fact that we HINDU PUNJABIS ARE MORE SUCCESSFUL THAN YOU HEY? Even tho written by a sikh!

Here the biggest proof 2014, Hindus have a NATION,billion strong , 2 ms fastest growing economic power in the world!

Sikhs got nothing .... Pick up the begging bowl fill it with donkey dung from the farms and wLk the streets of uk USA India begging

I've proved your evidence is inconsequential and statistically insignificant. Jumping up and down like a monkey wont change that.

Well if they were so strong, why didnt they get Lahore? lol.

Just because you sucked up to the British to get your own country doesnt make you better than us. Just because we fell for your promises and lies does not make you better than us.

The only reason India is independant is due to Germany and Japan humiliating Britain during the Second World War. You honestly think the Brits would have left due to peaceful protests by that paedo Gandhi? lol.

To this day the British stitch up the subcontinent. Only a Hindustani would be so proud of how he still gets milked by his former colonial master for money and acceptance. Let them suck on your dirty titties. You deserve each other.

Indian women are seen as so low due their treatment in India that a top Indian diplomat was assaulted by American authorities. There seems to be a shift amongst the world to see South Asian women as weak and submissive where as it used to be East Asian women who were seen that way. No doubt you will claim this as a great sign of how India has made it. ASAN! ASAN! ASAN! As they say in China lol.

HSD1, don't worry at least we have a nation to defend, if u ever have one you may undestand, Lolz

We beat Pakistan in three wars will do so again, we are 2nd fastest growing economic power in the world, u worry bout walking British streets begging for justice and let us worry bout the big boys!

China won't mess with India as both countries have nuclear weapons and USA AND RUSSIA WILL NEVER ALLOW A War!

It's economics today little man not weapons! And we r quickly becoming number 1!

Johnny , keep making stuff up as you go along!

Bottom line bhaiyas coming in are HINDU THEIR KIDS WILL BE HINDU PUNJABI adding to our population! Yes they have 5 kids more power to them and HINDU punjabis usually have 3 to 4, we don't kill our daughters like u sikhs are famous for!

It was stated as fact that as Hindus punjabis live I towns and are more educated, they don't kill daughters whereas sikh in villages still have that village mentality - to kill girls have boys to run land businesses - BUT SOON THE BHAIYAS WILL TAKE OVER LANDS JUST AS THEY LIVING IN SIKHS ABROADS KOTHIS TODAY, while the cats away hey ?

Already u hear stories of sikhs from um etc being poisoned with rat poison etc his land and home being taken over, what will a British sikh who can hardly speak punjabi do ?

Amarjeet, cow piss is what all those poisoned sikhs above will be drinking along with the others who kissed British ass to get justice for 30 years only to find the British thought they were terrorists too Lolz start drinking

India is a failure. Inflation out of control, falling car sales, declining living standards, low investor confidence etc.

Meanwhile China powers ahead. Building homes and infrastructure for it's poor, raising it minorities and Han people with enough respect that they dont have to settle working in the service sector for Western countries. Other countries like Malaysia/Indonesia/Mexico/Turkey/Nigeria have far better prospects than India. The only reason people still big up India is because they want to sell India junk or for them to pay for advice - ask any English consultant coming back from there loaded with cash taken from selfobsessed idiots there. Pride comes before a fall, as they say.

Don't worry they will ensure advanced commercialism via the global sale of cowpiss.

And then diversify with Diet Piss, CPiss Zero, CowUrine Lite etc. Even sell it in those shitty fast food resaurants they build in India to ape the Americans.

I can imagine it now, millions of podgy bloated Indians jiggling their heads side to side whilst slurping this junk and sitting in these kinds of take away places with a stupid smile on their faces whilst thinking they have achieved the high life by imitating the diets of chavs in the UK.

HSD1, the fact you tried to demean the documentary by bringing the point about who was to blame, shows how insecure you are! READ the thread I never even mentioned that point!

I spoke of how it confirmed that us Hindus were the financial power house of LAHORE and Punjab as a whole, ur little ego couldn't take it, which shows how small the size of ur p.....s is! Ps what's the sudden obsession with P......s? U must be insecure in that department too Lolz

2. You look at the richest people in India, the sikh aren't even in the top 10, 20, 50!

3. You look at rich list of the UK, no sikh comes close to the HINDU MITTALS! Not even ur family, caste put together Lolz

4. You cry bout the fact that as you put it, Hindus must have paid to be in the directory wawawawah like a child! I said the directory was a researched piece of work to which Hindus had no problems contributing, we are used helping you sikhs monetarily and physically! As for egg on the face u got a dustbin sized piece of humble pie full of eggs and bacon and beans on ur face. Just read back on the thread!

5. U bring gang rapes into it how low! No it's u lot who gang rape ur women in Punjab, are famous worldwide for killing ur daughters at birth, it's so bad punjabis are begging for women from other states to come in! Sikhs have seining clubs all over Punjab the most in India swapping wives , it was all over the media last year !

We have female depictions of god, unlike u lot who wud never have a female guru!

6. Yes experts, interviews with people who lived and breathed in pre partition Punjab! And a directory circulating worldwide with a 300, 000 readership, is what I have! YOU THROUGHOUT PROVIDED NOTHING EXCEPT UR OWM BORING RUBBISH

If it was such a Hindu powerhouse why did Nehru give it away? He was secretly muslim? lol.

I know full well who were the two powers in Lahore back then. It sure as hell wasnt the Hindus.

2. The highest contributor in tax is a Sikh. They pay far more in tax than any other subdivision. Check that reference above.

3. Doesnt make up for the rest of you living in cow shit does it though?

4. It's a directory. Like a phone book. It's not a census or a study. How thick are you?

5. Indians are world renowned for their treatment of women. To pin it on Sikhs is laughable.

A god is female =/= sexual equality.

Schindler =/= Nazis are not mass murderers.

Badal =/= Sikhs are doing ok.

Obama =/= racial equality in the US.

Get it thicko?

6. Experts? Half a dozen witnesses? Interviewed by the British Propaganda Service? Your taking the mick.

300,000 readership? How many dozy Indians buy that crap? There are millions of Punjabis. Again phonebook =/= census. Got it?

Johnny ur living in cloud cuckoo land, Bhayas ate treated badly by sikhs ESP jats, everyone knows it and sees it, if I'm doubt ask them!

Bhayas are learning punjabi and are settled in Punjab there kids are HINDUS speak punjabi and are the next generation adding to population of punjabi Hindus!

I love seeing their little MANDIRS on every street corner of Jullundhar Ludhiana etc

Sikh population of Punjab is shrinking as they leave to canada America uk mostly on student or visitors visas, and often overstay illegally and the homes or kothis they build are taken over by live in naukars maids etc the lovely bhaiyas, when these sikhs abroad die, and their kids go to India once a year for 2 weeks the bhaiyas will take over!

Sikhs have 1 or 2 kids a lot kill daughters, whilst bhaiyas have 5 or 6 HINDU kids and don't kill their daughters!

In just 20 years sikhs will be a clear minority in Punjab!

Enjoy

Good luck defending East Punjab from China and Pakistan. Especially as India has been described as 'the failure of the BRICs' whilst Pakistan is on the verge of enjoying better trade with China, Chinese investment in Afghanistan which will prove a calming influence after NATO's departure as well as vast shale oil reserves in southern Pakistan. Oh dear, it seems your typical Hindustani smugness will be short lived. Nothing changes there then.

HSD1, Lolz you crying bout the bbc documentary which interviewed Hindus sikhs and Muslims as well as the British! I never even mentioned who they said was to blame for partition, I clearly mentioned what the Muslims and Hindus on the show all agreed upon and is well documented!

Pre partition LAHORE, Muslims working class jobs, Hindus ran the big businesses and Sikhs did the agricultural work on the outskirts of LAHORE, that's why when the Hindus left almost last because of their businesses as shown on the show it hurt them so much , and the working classes were burning HINDU shops and businesses!

2. It hurts ur crooked who so much that in a SIKH CREATED ANNUAL directory , by sardar N S Shergill it clearly says that HINDU punjabis are doing the best in professional jobs and businesses abroad! You cry and say only. HINDU punjabi would be dumb enough to pay him? Well only a sikh like you would be dumb enough to believe he needed to be paid! He printed the names as per research , and was given very small fees! Just because ur little ego can't take it, u make silly excuses!

3. First u lie and boast bout HINDU girls going to gurdwaras instead of police Lolz for help due to grooming , them when I ask you to provide proof u back track ? We Hindus don't need sikh help for anything, we saved your women in 84 in Delhi but don't brag about it!

IT IS YOU THAT SEES WHAT HE Wants to see. , I have u bbc sources in which experts from all sides who know much more than you backed up what u say! I have the name of the directory and writer a sikh , to back up what I said!

You response ? Nothing just ur own boring weak rhetoric!

1. It never mentioned who was to blame. It implied it though. Stop obscuring the point.

Your lies about Lahore are ridiculous. The documentary proves nothing - just that muslims saw non-muslims as richer than them and had a chip on their shoulder about it. Just like Hindustanis felt annoyed by the wealth of the Sikh community that they seeked to demonise or belittle them. Just like the Nazis did to the Jews. Taking the words of the muslims and extrapolating all sorts of nonsense to make out that you guys had any kind of real power is ludicrous. The hindu middle class in Lahore was only there due to British patronage.

2. One minute you say I am stupid to believe he was paid, then you admit he took small fees. Lol, clear that egg off your face.

3. You cant save anyone's women, let alone your own. Hell, you gangrape your own. You guys are just angry about how big your egos are but how small your **** is.

4. Experts? A few interviews with survivors, editted to imply Sikhs messed it all up? That's propaganda. Just because a Sikh writes a directory, it isnt the same as a census or conclusive study. Go read a book on statistics or how to run a survey. It is you who is exaggerating a small list of piecemeal evidence that is completely unreliable. I also notice you havent been able to refute my links from before. Says it all really.

That BBC documentary painted Sikhs as aggressors. It wouldnt make sense for them to talk about the Sikh community in Lahore as anyone with a brain would conclude that 'Sikhs attacked in Lahore -> Sikhs in East Punjab attacked Muslims'. That's not the image the BBC wanted to give. Sikhs have always been and always will be seen as those who ruined the break up of India. The documentary also had interviews with Sikhs who used to live in Lahore! How much more in La-La Land can you get? Why didnt the documentary tell the truth about Montbatten either? His demands for the RAF and IAF to carpet bombs Sikh towns and villages? His demands for the army to deport the Sikhs from East Punjab to Central India? Because it's British propaganda - telling the world that the Sikhs were the biggest losers of Partition is not how they want to spin things.

I said Indian. Stop twisting to hide your racist skin.

LIke I said, that directory is not comprehensive. Only a HP would be dumb enough to pay a Sardar to get their name and company in a book that only dumbasses like you would buy.

I dont believe in triumphalism either - I take no pride in the grooming of Hindu girls and the inability of their loved ones to help them. Not all of us of South Asian heritage suffer from a uber case of schadenfreude, unlike many people back home.

I also never said that Badal wasnt a Sikh, In fact I said he is a Sikh. Again you are seeing what you want to see rather than seeing what is right in front of your eyes. I just said that because he is Sikh doesnt mean he acts in Sikh interests or that Sikh issues are automatically resolved. Schindler was a Nazi who saved lots of Jews - it didnt stop the Nazis carrying out the Holocaust. Obama is black - I guess there is no racism in the US then?

I said Indian. But it seems you feel there is no difference. So Hindus are responsible for these atrocities then is what you're saying?

It is good that you admit it.

I am doing the typical HINDU punjabi thing if telling the truth whilst u r doing the typical sikh thing of DENY LIE AND IGNORE FACTS!

Ah ha! The typical racism and hatred shines through eventually. You only claim brotherhood to keep us close and smother us - it makes you feel good about yourself to make SIkhs suffer. Same old story through the ages.

http://www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2013/03/14/comment-british-sikhs-are-the-best-example-of-cultural-integ

http://yespunjab.com/trade-and-industries/item/99-analjit-singh-the-highest-tax-payer-in-india

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-praises-immense-contribution-of-british-sikhs-at-vaisakhi-reception

All that is from a 10 second search on Google. I didnt need to bring up propaganda documentaries from years ago or other egosyntonic garbage.

Hindu women get groomed as bad as anyone else. Worse in some cases. Their families come crying to Gurdwaras and young sikh groups, thinking we'll get all emotional and charge around like we used to. Unfortunately our tears ducts are dry as we know what you are really like. Dozens of Sikhs boys are in jail for being in gangs that were egged on by British Hindus to fight muslims and whites. Yet those Hindus never went to jail. Says it all really.

As for DJs/Sonia Deol, we all know that these people are of a certain persuasion. As the recent revelations of 1984 show, some people are waiting to come and confuse the issue. Mark Tully, a British propagandist was quick to offer a halfarsed explanation. DJ Nihal said the documnets were fake. How would he know? Considering his wholehearted anti-Sikh agenda it's no surprise he comes out with this garbage.

Shergill can write what he wants and idiots can buy it too. Just because he is SIkh doesnt mean a thing. Badal is a Sikh. Schindler was a Nazi. Obama is black. See what I mean?

The documentary also accused Sikhs of preparing for violence for no reason when in fact the British establishment and the Muslim leaders were preparing for bloodshed. If you're doing that typically Indian thing of taking one bit of evidence and extrapolating all sorts of theories and beliefs out of it then it's up to you how you want to make things up. Hindus never owned large businesses and factories in WP, they were better at making money off British rule. I dont know why you keep saying otherwise, it's almost as if you're ashamed of it. It was the Sikhs who were forced to farm, fight or find opportunities in the private sector that hadnt been ruined by British rule.

Sikhs are the highest contributors to the treasury per capita according to racial lines in the UK. It's probably why so many non-Sikhs are trying to hook up with Sikhs for long term relationships. HIndus are no different here. One minute whining about issues like grooming and racism, demanding Sikhs do something about it. Then crying about the Kirpan and stabbiing us in the back or grassing up young sikhs to the police who've had trouble with muslim/racist gangs. With friends like these........... We're also on top because the Jews are legging it to greener pastures. Anyway, I doubt some directory on NRIs is a comprehensive list of all those of Punjabi descent outside of India. Especially as it seems to be more of an advert of contacts for those back home who dont know anyone abroad. Though no doubt you will not see it that way and make all kinds of assumptions based on incomprehension of facts and books to suit your own opinion. Typical.

After 1849 a lot of Sikhs left Lahore as it wasnt safe. They went to places which would have been a lot easier to protect themselves, their families and their wealth. When they returned over the next century they never made a big song and dance about it. It is obvious why when you consider why they left and who was still in charge. Just because they were referred to as Hindus by the administration at the time doesnt matter much as it didnt make sense to challenge it. Plenty of the well off Hindus in Lahore were involved in the administration and support of the British occupation. You cant deny that.

It's also well know that most of the land and businesses/factories in West Punjab were owned by Sikhs. It was why Churchill wanted a Sikh state and why Sikhs were so apathetic about Congress/Muslim League - we thought we were untouchable. A mistake that cost all Punjabis, not just Sikhs, a lot.

LK Advani said that because of the terrorist activities of bhindrawala and his men leading to unrest in Punjab caused him and many other political figures to put pressure on INDIRA Ghandhi to take firm action, to FLUSH THEM OUT.

Johnny if u hate Hindus that much I suggest you change the name if HARIMANDIR to Hari gurdwara or just gurdwara, you also might want to remove the writings of the 18 HINDU bhagats in the Granth sahib as well as the 15,028 REFERENCES TO RAM BRAHMA KRISHNA HARI OM SHIV LAXMAN HANUMAN LAXMI VISHNU IN THE GURU GRANTH SAHIB BUT I GUESS YOU WILL JUST BE LEFT WITH A BOOK COVER AND THE 5 or less references t Allah. Lolz

You may also want to cancel Lohri Rakhri Diwali too as they have nothing to do with sikhs like you!

Also Bhai gurdas hi described the 4 syllables of VAHEGURU as representing Vishnu shiva GOVIND ( krishna) and Ram so you might want to stop saying that word

If we did that would you leave us alone? i thought not.

As for Lahore, there were plenty of rich Sikhs there. Just because they didnt make a song and dance about their wealth (most of which wasnt due to the British - something the Hindus in Lahore couldnt say the same about) doesnt mean they werent there.

It is obvious that EkOmkar is trying to turn this into a Sikh -v- Hindu issue as he knows that he can then accuse Sikhs of sectarianism and bigotry. Typical obfuscation and twisting you'd expect from such people - the mods need to do something about it.

• Beauty therapist Rosie Kular, 33, realised son was missing on Thursday morning from Edinburgh flat
• Aged 24, she married Nigerian taxi driver Omotoso Adekoya
• Although they are not divorced, Mr Adekoya lives in an apartment near her
• By 2010, Miss Kular gave birth to fourth and fifth children – twins Mikaeel and Ashika, who have had no contact since with their Pakistani father
• Among Miss Kular’s friends was Mohammed Omar Abdi, 25, who was killed in a gang gun battle in Edinburgh last year
• Miss Kular links to groups promoting local parties and DJs on Facebook

Mikaeel’s mother Rosie Kular, 33, was brought up in a detached house in an upmarket part of Edinburgh.

Her father Gurbux, who was from India, died aged just 43 when she was in her teens.

Her mother Harjinder, 60, has since married twice, most recently to Dr Bangarpet Krishnaswamy, 69, a GP originally from Bangalore, who also develops properties in Scotland.

Rosie Kular (left), the mother Mikaeel Kular (right), was brought up in a detached house in an upmarket part of Edinburgh

He is the director of East Neuk Healthcare, which owns a 40-bed nursing home in Anstruther, Fife.

The family live in a large two-storey detached home on a small upmarket estate, with a navy Jaguar and dark blue Volvo parked in front of the property.

After studying at comprehensive Balwearie High School in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Miss Kular went to Fife College and graduated with an HND in beauty therapy, which she now uses to run her own mobile health and beauty studio.

She works full time and has also been listed as a director at an IT company.

For a time she was a customer services assistant with a gas company.

At 24, and heavily pregnant, she married Omotoso Adekoya, a Nigerian taxi driver who had originally come to the UK to study.

Three months later she gave birth to son Tarun, their first of three children born in four years. David was born in 2006 and daughter Renuka came two years later.

Among Miss Kular's friends was Mohammed Omar Abdi, 25, who was killed in a gang gun battle in Edinburgh last year. Both pictured, above

The relationship broke down, however, and although the couple are not divorced Mr Adekoya lives in an apartment near Miss Kular in Edinburgh.

His mother said he is a ‘gentle person’ who was so devastated by the breakdown of his marriage that he has not met anyone since.

By 2010, Miss Kular gave birth to her fourth and fifth children – twins Mikaeel and Ashika, who have had no contact since with their Pakistani father.

Among Miss Kular’s friends was Mohammed Omar Abdi, 25, who was killed in a gang gun battle in Edinburgh last year.

Abdi, the son of a senior Muslim cleric, was often seen at Miss Kular’s family home and posed in pictures with her on Facebook.

After studying at comprehensive Balwearie High School in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Miss Kular went to Fife College and graduated with a HND in beauty therapy, which she now uses to run her own mobile health and beauty studio

He was gunned down during a high-speed chase between two rival gangs in the early hours last May.

Abdi was facing drugs charges at the time after officers found a ‘significant quantity’ of crack cocaine and cash during a raid. Six men face trial accused of killing him.

Miss Kular, in one online posting, says of herself: ‘Just me, myself and I... oh yeah, with a brood of five monsters, six if you count the man indoors!’

In another, she adds: ‘Work full time which is a bit crapiola but it’s got to be done eh!’

Miss Kular links to various groups promoting local parties and DJs on Facebook, and writes on Twitter that ‘boring is only a state of mind’.

After a busy evening a couple of years ago, she posted: ‘I’m good, slightly hungover lol but nothing I can’t handle.’

And in another online message, she said she was ‘still alive... just!'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html

http://www.tom-watson.co.uk/

DG was a code word to indicate papers were for British officers of European descent only.

A colonial policeman and an auxiliary guard Mau Mau suspects in 1954. Photograph: Popperfoto

The full extent of the destruction of Britain's colonial government records during the retreat from empire was disclosed on Thursday with the declassification of a small part of the Foreign Office's vast secret archive.

Fifty-year-old documents that have finally been transferred to the National Archive show that bonfires were built behind diplomatic missions across the globe as the purge – codenamed Operation Legacy – accompanied the handover of each colony.

The declassified documents include copies of an instruction issued in 1961 by Iain Macleod, colonial secretary, that post-independence governments should not be handed any material that "might embarrass Her Majesty's [the] government", that could "embarrass members of the police, military forces, public servants or others eg police informers", that might betray intelligence sources, or that might "be used unethically by ministers in the successor government".

In Northern Rhodesia, colonial officials were issued with further orders to destroy "all papers which are likely to be interpreted, either reasonably or by malice, as indicating racial prejudice or religious bias on the part of Her Majesty's government".

Detailed instructions were issued over methods of destruction, in order to erase all evidence of the purge. When documents were burned, "the waste should be reduced to ash and the ashes broken up", while any that were being dumped at sea must be "packed in weighted crates and dumped in very deep and current-free water at maximum practicable distance from the coast".

Also among the documents declassified on Friday are "destruction certificates" sent to London by colonial officials as proof that they were performing their duties, and letters and memoranda that showed that some were struggling to complete their huge task before the colonies gained their independence. Officials in more than one colony warned London that they feared they would be "celebrating Independence Day with smoke".

An elaborate and at times confusing classification system was introduced, in addition to the secret/top secret classifications, to protect papers that were to be destroyed or shipped to the UK. Officials were often granted or refused security clearance on the grounds of ethnicity.

Documents marked "Guard", for example, could be disclosed to non-British officials as long as if they were from the "Old Commonwealth" – Australia, New Zealand, South Africa or Canada.

Those classified as "Watch", and stamped with a red letter W, were to be removed from the country or destroyed. Steps were taken to ensure post-colonial governments would not learn that such files had ever existed, with one instruction stating: "The legacy files must leave no reference to watch material. Indeed, the very existence of the watch series, though it may be guessed at, should never be revealed." Officials were warned to keep their W stamps locked away.

The marking "DG" was said to be an abbreviation of deputy governor, but in fact was a protective code word to indicate that papers so marked were for sight by "British officers of European descent only".

As colonies passed into a transitional phase before full independence, with British civil servants working for local government ministers, an entire parallel series of documents marked Personal were created. "Personal" files could be seen only by British governors and their British aides, a system that appears to have been employed in every territory from which the British withdrew after 1961. "The existence of the 'Personal' series of correspondence must of course be scrupulously protected and no documents in this series should be transferred to ministers," colonial officials were warned.

While thousands of files were returned to London during the process of decolonisation, it is now clear that countless numbers of documents were destroyed. "Emphasis is placed upon destruction," colonial officials in Kenya were told.

Officials in Aden were told to start burning in 1966, a full 12 months before the eventual British withdrawal. "It may seem a bit early to start talking about the disposal of documents prior to independence, but the sifting of documents is a considerable task and you may like to start thinking about it now."

As in many colonies, a three-man committee – comprising two senior administrators and one police special branch officer – decided what would be destroyed and what would be removed to London. The paucity of Aden documentation so far declassified may suggest that the committee decided that most files should be destroyed.

In Belize, colonial administrators officials told London in October 1962 that a visiting MI5 officer had decided that all sensitive files should be destroyed by fire: "In this he was assisted by the Royal Navy and several gallons of petrol."

In British Guiana, a shortage of "British officers of European descent" resulted in the "hot and heavy" task falling to two secretaries, using a fire in an oil drum in the grounds of Government House. Eventually the army agreed to lend a hand.

The declassified papers show colonial officials asking for further advice about what should and should not be destroyed. In 1963, for example, an official in Malta asked London for advice about which files should be "spirited away out of the country", and warned that while some documents could be handed over to the new government: "There may again be others which could be given to them if they were doctored first; and there may be files which cannot be given to them under any circumstances."

In June 1966, Max Webber, the high commissioner in Brunei, asked Bernard Cheeseman, chief librarian at the Commonwealth Relations Office, for advice about 60 boxes of files. "My Dear Cheese," he wrote, "can I, off my own bat, destroy some of these papers, or should the whole lot be sent home for weeding or retention in your records?"

Not all sensitive documents were destroyed. Large amounts were transferred to London, and held in Foreign Office archives. Colonial officials were told that crates of documents sent back to the UK by sea could be entrusted only to the "care of a British ship's master on a British ship".

For example, Robert Turner, the chief secretary of the British protectorate of North Borneo, wrote to the Colonial Office library in August 1963, a few weeks before independence, saying his subordinate's monthly reports – "which would be unsuitable for the eyes of local ministers" – would be saved and sent to London, rather than destroyed. "I ... have been prevailed upon to do so on the grounds that some at least of their contents may come in handy when some future Gibbon is doing research work for his 'Decline and Fall of the British Empire'."

Those papers that were returned to London were not open to historians, however. The declassified documents made available Friday at the National Archives at Kew, south-west London, are from a cache of 8,800 of colonial-era files that the Foreign Office held for decades, in breach of the 30-years rule of the Public Records Acts and in effect beyond the reach of the Freedom of Information Act. They were stored behind barbed-wire fences at Hanslope Park, Buckinghamshire, a government communications research centre north of London, a facility that it operates along with MI6 and MI5.

The Foreign Office was forced eventually to admit to the existence of the hidden files during high court proceedings brought by a group of elderly Kenyans who were suing the government over the mistreatment they suffered while imprisoned during the 1950s Mau Mau insurgency.

Even then, however, the Foreign Office failed to acknowledge that the 8,800 colonial files were just a small part of a secret archive of 1.2m files that it called the Special Collections, and which it had held unlawfully at Hanslope Park.

The Foreign Office is understood to have presented a plan to the National Archive earlier this month for the belated transfer of the Special Collections into the public domain. On Thursday it declined to disclose details of that plan.

The newly declassified documents show that the practice of destroying papers rather than allowing them to fall into the hands of post-independence governments pre-dated Macleod's 1961 instructions.

A British colonial official in Malaya reported that in August 1957, for example, "five lorry loads of papers … were driven down to the naval base at Singapore, and destroyed in the Navy's splendid incinerator there. The Army supplied the lorries (civilian type) and laid on Field Security Personnel to move the files. Considerable pains were nevertheless taken to carry out the operations discreetly, partly to avoid exacerbating relationships between the British government and those Malayans who might not have been so understanding ... and partly to avoid comment by the press (who I understand greatly enjoyed themselves with the pall of smoke which hung over Delhi during the mass destruction of documents in 1947)."

A few years later, colonial officials in Kenya were urged not to follow the Malayan example: "It is better for too much, rather than too little, to be sent home – the wholesale destruction, as in Malaya, should not be repeated."

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/nov/29/revealed-bonfire-papers-empire?CMP=twt_gu&commentpage=3

Of course I still hold the same attitude. I'm surprised you mind so much about some jingoistic starry eyed numbnuts getting blown to bits either.

Kidding aside, the armed forces arent just a bunch of infantry regiments. They offer a lot of other stuff and for some level headed apneh a military career offers a route out of poverty or to a better future their own community here or abroad could ever provide. Of course if you're one of those Sikhs who's idea of being British is simply whatever people tell you to be then it maybe isnt such a good idea. Chances are your naivete will be used and abused. But you've got to face that on some local level in some parts of the UK it can be a good idea. A Sikh regiment would have done a lot to provide an area within the military far more accomodatiing to Sikhs than other infantry regiments can be. With Scotland becoming possibly independant it also isnt the same decision it was before. I'm surprised the SNP havent capitalised on the recent revelations to rub Westminster the wrong way and try to get Sikhs on their side.

Ultimately, it's up to the individual. Just because some British people are sanctimonious or begrudging in respect isnt a reason to storm off and not do anything nor is it a reason to say things you think people want to hear or try to appease them with a silly show of love. It's not an on/off switch. You can still be an individual, collect a pay cheque, achieve what you wanted and then get the f*ck out of there.