On this day [24 january] in 1965 Winston Churchill passed away.
In 1919, when presiding over the British Air Council, he had offered one of his frequent lessons in the art of war:
‘I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas… I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilized tribes… The moral effect should be so good… and would spread a lively terror.’
And in 1937, speaking before the Palestine Royal Commission, he offered one of his frequent lessons on the history of humanity:
‘I do not admit that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia… by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race… has come in and taken their place.’
Eduardo Galeano, Children of the days, A calendar of human history