What we must know about this controversial set of demands:
One of the more important Christian thinkers around today is Oxford University’s Nigel Biggar. He has penned a number of quite important books that warrant careful attention, some of which I have done reviews of on these pages. His new book is no exception.
While he speaks to the scene in Britain primarily, places like Australia and Canada are also discussed. In his Preface Biggar reminds us that guilt can be a good thing, but false guilt is not. Things like white guilt, victimhood status, playing the race card, and historical revisionism have contributed to this talk about dealing (wrongly) with past wrongs.
He lays his case out early on: “The simple equation of British colonialism with slavery … is historically untenable. Indeed, it is cartoonishly simplistic. Equally, the BLM claim that British society today is systemically racist is empirically untenable.” (p. 10)
In nearly 200 well-documented pages he sets out to make this case. Any impartial reader will see that he has certainly succeeded in doing so. Indeed, given that his previous volume, Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning (William Collins, 2023), paved the way for this volume – and earned the wrath of leftists everywhere – he is well-placed to argue his position.
In early chapters he reminds us – with plenty of detail – that slavery was ancient, universal, and quite varied. People of every skin colour were involved in engaging in slavery. But present-day activists ignore all this historical background as they seek to make out that Britain is unique and exceptional in this regard.
Simply being aware of the fact that Africans had enslaved fellow Africans for centuries – and long before the British got involved in the fifteenth century – is just one of those inconvenient facts so cavalierly omitted by the reparation crowd.
Biggar finishes a chapter on British slavery this way: “There is no doubt that a century and a half of trading in slaves and employing slave labour profited some Britons directly and many others indirectly. Exactly how much it contributed to GDP is uncertain. . . . The truth is that little of what anyone, anywhere inherits is untainted by stain. All we can do is strive to use our inheritance better.” (pp. 52-53)
His chapters on African complicity in slavery are also eye-opening, and also overlooked by reparation advocates. Also overlooked is the role of Britain in abolition. He reminds us of the major role played by Christians in this regard. Not just famous names like Wilberforce, but many others were involved. Their tireless work paid off: in 1807 Parliament passed legislation to abolish the slave trade.
Reparations: Slavery and the Tyranny of Imaginary Guiltby Biggar, Nigel (Author)
After looking at the history of other areas involved, such as the West Indies (the Caribbean), Biggar looks at the demands of the reparationists. He asks some hard questions here:
[I]f reparations are demanded of nation-states that presided over historic slave-trading and slavery – such as Britain – surely the tax-paying citizenry of those nations includes a majority of people whose ancestors had nothing whatsoever to do with enslaving others. Indeed, it even includes the descendants of slaves. How, then, can it be fair to expect them to shoulder the burden of funding reparations?
Besides, if the intention is to right grave historic wrongs, why should slavery be the sole focus? The plight of medieval serfs or early industrial workers dwelling in urban slums may have been better than that of slaves toiling in the West Indies, but not very much better. Nor was that of white indentured servants who also toiled in the plantations….
Moreover, why should British slavery be the focus? If the historic injustice of slavery is to be rectified, then it needs to be done fairly and across the board. If the British are to be presented with a bill for compensation, then so should the descendants of the inland African chiefs who sold other Africans to the slave-traders, as well as the descendants of the Arab slave traders who sold the slaves to the Europeans on the coast. They all profited too. And the British themselves should seek compensation from the descendants of the Barbary Corsairs, who raided Cornwall in the 1600s and carted off whole villages into slavery on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa…. (pp. 122-123)
He sums things up by offering ten important points to bear in mind. The last of these is this: “Britain today is not systemically racist. Indeed, it is one of the least racist countries on Earth. And such racism as does persist today cannot be traced back to historic slavery through ‘colonialism’, since for the second half of its life the British Empire was committed to anti-slavery on the basis of fundamental racial equality.”
He goes on to write:
The case for the British making reparations for slavery does not add up. That is not to say, however, that they should not give aid to Caribbean states. Britain is a relatively prosperous country, partly thanks to its own endeavours, but also thanks to good fortune. It is right that those with more should give to those with less, if the latter need help and the former can afford to give it – all other things being equal. So, in principle, Britain should aid other less well-off countries. However, wealthy though Britain may be, it does not have the resources to save the whole world. Therefore, it must select which parts to help. And one reasonable criterion for the selection is historical association. So, for example, since Britain did have responsibility for the welfare of West Indian colonies for several centuries, and since it retains cultural, institutional, legal and sometimes constitutional links with post-colonial Caribbean states, it would make sense to target its aim there rather than elsewhere. (p. 143)
That last quote makes it clear that Biggar is no hard-hearted intellect with no concerns for the needs of others. But he is realistic – as we all must be – about what are past wrongs and how they might be addressed – if they can and should be addressed at all.
As he said in an interview a few months ago: “With reparations, people talk as if we could go back 200 years ago, unravel history and return it to where it was. The thing about guilt is that there’s no end to being exploited. How on earth can we make up for the slaves who were worked to death?” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/14/nigel-biggar-reparations-interview/
Others have written on this issue of reparations and white guilt, including the great Black economist and social commentator Thomas Sowell. But if you are looking for a single volume that brings together history, ethics, and common sense, this book is a must read.
