Ours, that is.
Geoffrey Robertson is absolutely right that we must forbid any American use of Diego Garcia in any war against Iran. But he is absolutely wrong that the Chagos Islands should be "returned" to the independent state of Mauritius, to which they have never belonged.
The Chagossians have no desire to be Mauritian, and are not well-treated
in Mauritius, which is even worse for them in practice than being not
well-treated, to say the very least, by Britain. They remain proudly
British, doubtless a contributing factor when the famous David Miliband
lied to Parliament in order to create the world's largest marine reserve
where they are properly entitled to live, thereby ensuring that they
could never return. Over to his brother.
The British Overseas Territories are British by choice, and those which remain even now always will be. The same is true of the Crown Dependencies. To be British is to be not just any, but at some level all, of English, Scots, Welsh, Irish, Manx, Channel Islander, Mediterranean, North American, Caribbean, Southern African Creole, Indian Ocean Creole, Polynesian, South American in the sense of a product of the British "informal empire" that once dominated South America.
Sort out the problem of the British tax havens. But do so while charging the British people of the Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies only home fees to study at British universities. Do so while building the airport on Saint Helena, which is essential to the defence of the Falkland Islands, and while holding a proper inquiry into the healthcare situation on Saint Helena. Do so while giving justice to the Ascension Islanders and to the Chagossians, in both cases regardless of what a foreign power might think. Do so while restoring the BBC English for the Caribbean Service. And do so while recanting David Cameron's pre-Election pledge, barely reported by his media creators, to give a share of Falkland Islands oil revenue to Argentina without requiring the slightest movement on the sovereignty question.
Come back to Number 10, Jim Callaghan.
Come into Number 10, Ed Miliband.
The British Overseas Territories are British by choice, and those which remain even now always will be. The same is true of the Crown Dependencies. To be British is to be not just any, but at some level all, of English, Scots, Welsh, Irish, Manx, Channel Islander, Mediterranean, North American, Caribbean, Southern African Creole, Indian Ocean Creole, Polynesian, South American in the sense of a product of the British "informal empire" that once dominated South America.
Sort out the problem of the British tax havens. But do so while charging the British people of the Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies only home fees to study at British universities. Do so while building the airport on Saint Helena, which is essential to the defence of the Falkland Islands, and while holding a proper inquiry into the healthcare situation on Saint Helena. Do so while giving justice to the Ascension Islanders and to the Chagossians, in both cases regardless of what a foreign power might think. Do so while restoring the BBC English for the Caribbean Service. And do so while recanting David Cameron's pre-Election pledge, barely reported by his media creators, to give a share of Falkland Islands oil revenue to Argentina without requiring the slightest movement on the sovereignty question.
Come back to Number 10, Jim Callaghan.
Come into Number 10, Ed Miliband.
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