Kicking the Can Down the Road

Some nations build their legacies on invention, others on art, some on revolution. Britain?

One of the key ways Britain has built its legacy is by perfecting the fine craft of delayed accountability.

No one does “let’s form a committee, drag out the paperwork, and wait until everyone involved is either dead or too exhausted to fight” quite like the British government.

Justice, we are told, must be measured, careful, respectful.

And yet, when the UK is caught red-handed in a scandal of its own making – particularly when it involves the old colonial playbook – the response is as predictable as rain on a bank holiday: stall, distract, dilute, deny.

Kicking the can down the road isn’t just a strategy; it’s practically a Westminster Olympic sport. Here are six cases that prove it.

1. Bloody Sunday Inquiry (38 Years of Stalling)

On 30th January 1972, British paratroopers gunned down unarmed civilians in Derry during a peaceful civil rights march. Fourteen people died. The immediate response? A whitewash inquiry (The Widgery Report) that exonerated the soldiers. The families fought for truth. The British government fought for time.

It took 38 years for the Saville Inquiry to conclude in 2010 that the killings were “unjustified and unjustifiable.” David Cameron apologised. And then? Nothing. No prosecutions. No real justice. Just a sigh of relief from the establishment that they’d dragged it out so long that most of the perpetrators were retired or dead.

2. The Ballymurphy Massacre (50 Years to Acknowledge the Truth)

Before Bloody Sunday, there was Ballymurphy—a massacre carried out in August 1971, when British paratroopers killed 11 unarmed civilians in West Belfast. Among them was a Catholic priest waving a white flag and a mother of eight.

For decades, the British government refused to acknowledge it happened. Families fought tirelessly, but it took until 2021—50 years later— for a coroner to confirm that all 11 victims were entirely innocent. And yet, just like with Bloody Sunday, the UK government blocked any real accountability.

3. The Mau Mau Uprising (60 Years to Compensate Victims)

Not content with delaying justice in Ireland, Britain exported its “delay, deny, and dilute” strategy worldwide. During the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya (1952-1960), British forces tortured, raped, and executed thousands of Kenyans fighting for independence. The UK government denied any wrongdoing for decades, painting the fighters as “terrorists” rather than anti-colonial freedom fighters.

In 2013—over 60 years later—the British government finally agreed to compensate 5,000 survivors (many of whom were in their 80s and 90s) with £19.9 million. But true justice? Forget it. The British Foreign Office even admitted that thousands of documents detailing British war crimes had been deliberately hidden or destroyed.

4. The Hillsborough Disaster (30 Years to Admit Police Failure)

On 15th April 1989, 97 Liverpool fans died in a police-induced crush at Hillsborough Stadium. The immediate response? A smear campaign. The government and press painted fans as drunken hooligans, shifting blame away from the catastrophic policing failures that had caused the disaster.

For decades, the families of the victims fought tooth and nail against police cover-ups, legal stonewalling, and government obstruction. In **2016 – 27 years later ** a new inquest finally ruled that the fans were unlawfully killed. But even then? No one was held accountable.

5. The Grenfell Tower Fire (Still No Justice)

On 14th June 2017, 72 people died in a fire that tore through Grenfell Tower – a disaster caused by cheap, flammable cladding, government deregulation, and decades of neglect for working-class communities.

The survivors were promised justice. Yet, nearly seven years later, no one has been jailed. The inquiry has dragged on, bogged down in legal delays and procedural excuses. The corporations that sold deadly cladding continue to operate freely, and politicians shift the blame in endless circular arguments.

6. COVID-19: The Grandest Cover-Up Yet

If you thought justice moved slowly before, COVID-19 mismanagement has taken “kicking the can down the road” to new heights.

220,000+ dead in the UK, one of the worst death rates in Europe.
PPE contracts handed out like raffle prizes to Tory cronies, with billions disappearing into ghost companies.
“Partygate” -?government officials who made the public suffer in lockdown having boozy gatherings at Downing Street while families couldn’t even hold funerals.
An underfunded NHS, crumbling under the weight of deliberate government negligence.

The official COVID inquiry is happening now, but let’s be real – does anyone actually expect accountability? The pandemic exposed Britain’s rotten, self-serving leadership, and the people who let thousands die unnecessarily will likely walk away richer, with some vague promise of “learning lessons.”

Meanwhile, the families who lost loved ones? The NHS workers left traumatised? The ones still suffering from long COVID? They get silence. They get “moving forward” rhetoric. They get nothing.

The Playbook: How Britain Perfects Delay Tactics

Deny Immediately – Call it a “tragedy” or an “unfortunate event”, but never admit culpability.
Blame the Victims – Accuse protesters, civilians, football fans, or colonial subjects of “bringing it on themselves.”
Start a Long Inquiry – Launch a committee or investigation that takes decades.
Let Time Do the Dirty Work – Wait until victims and perpetrators are dead, then apologise without consequences.
Say ‘Lessons Have Been Learned’ – Issue a statement of regret, then move on without systemic change.

No Justice, No Peace

The British establishment does not fear justice. What it fears is time – running out on its delay tactics – people staying angry, staying vocal, and refusing to let truth be buried under layers of bureaucracy.

Because make no mistake—when it comes to accountability, Britain isn’t just kicking the can down the road. It’s cementing the road over the can, setting up a toll booth, and charging the victims to walk past.

And they’re getting away with it.

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