They may or may not have had that puritanical fear that someone, somewhere was enjoying themselves, but their legacy as a cruel, grasping and intolerant society has become clearer.

Their wars in Burma and against the Zulus were out and out money grabs. Famines in India and Ireland can be directly attributed to their colonial indifference. And they gladly tried to foister Opium addiction on the Chinese to get their grubby hands on tea and porcelain.