Slave trade: repaying the debt?

Last Modified: 24 Aug 2007
By: Helene Cacace

Two hundred years after Britain led the way in abolishing the slave trade, should the City of London now lead the way in offering restitution for it?

All sane people agree that the slave trade - which saw millions transplanted by force from Africa to the United States and the West Indies - was an appalling injustice.

But is it really meaningful to apologise for it - and is it really possible to compensate for it ?

Yesterday Ken Livingstone drew attention to the extent to which Britain's wealth in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was contaminated by involvement in the trade.

And in the opinion of some, this is no historical conundrum - it's a crime whose effects are still felt on the streets of Britain's cities. Helene Cacace reports.