Did Tony Blair want to give Gibraltar to Spain in order to ease what was always his own fanciful progress to the Presidency of the EU? Perhaps he did.
After all, in May 1940, Churchill had been all ready to give Gibraltar, among several other places, to Mussolini.
As the Second World War raged in the Pacific, he had been all ready to hand over Australia and New Zealand to the Japanese.
As the Second World War raged in the Pacific, he had been all ready to hand over Australia and New Zealand to the Japanese.
The territories that the so-called "Greatest Briton" had been prepared to cede to the man whom he had called "the greatest living legislator" had also included the ones inhabited by the white settlers in Kenya and Uganda.
Fascist rule might have suited the Happy Valley set down to the ground. But whether or not it would have done so was of no interest to Churchill.
Not very long afterwards, Britain did simply walk out on them. Under a Conservative Government, of course. No African country ever became independent of Britain under a Labour Government. Not one.
The "kith and kin" populations that Britain has at some point just upped and left behind, almost (if almost) always after having very recently fought wars in order to hold onto them, are collectively larger than the No vote in the Scottish independence referendum.
Those populations are far larger than the Unionist vote in Northern Ireland, and enormously larger than the population of the Falkland Islands to which Andrew Marr decided to make reference in his bizarrely 1970s interview with Jeremy Corbyn this morning.
On Friday, BBC Two's documentary about the financial culture of the Cayman Islands, which does not even use sterling but its own currency pegged to the US dollar, will be most unflattering, at least if it is remotely accurate.
Still, there is never going to be a war over the Cayman Islands. Nor over Gibraltar. Even Franco never had one. So no one else is ever going to bother, NATO or no NATO, and EU or no EU.
Fascist rule might have suited the Happy Valley set down to the ground. But whether or not it would have done so was of no interest to Churchill.
Not very long afterwards, Britain did simply walk out on them. Under a Conservative Government, of course. No African country ever became independent of Britain under a Labour Government. Not one.
The "kith and kin" populations that Britain has at some point just upped and left behind, almost (if almost) always after having very recently fought wars in order to hold onto them, are collectively larger than the No vote in the Scottish independence referendum.
Those populations are far larger than the Unionist vote in Northern Ireland, and enormously larger than the population of the Falkland Islands to which Andrew Marr decided to make reference in his bizarrely 1970s interview with Jeremy Corbyn this morning.
On Friday, BBC Two's documentary about the financial culture of the Cayman Islands, which does not even use sterling but its own currency pegged to the US dollar, will be most unflattering, at least if it is remotely accurate.
Still, there is never going to be a war over the Cayman Islands. Nor over Gibraltar. Even Franco never had one. So no one else is ever going to bother, NATO or no NATO, and EU or no EU.
But this flooded out country, with its ramshackle infrastructure and which is about to go bust for the second time in a decade, does have the most expensive empire in history.
The cost of defending one of the British Overseas Territories, the only one that needs it, is greater than would be the cost of declaring them all independent, including the restored Chagos Islanders, each with a permanent annual grant of one billion pounds.
The cost of defending one of the British Overseas Territories, the only one that needs it, is greater than would be the cost of declaring them all independent, including the restored Chagos Islanders, each with a permanent annual grant of one billion pounds.
Why not do that?
Seriously, why not? There would be no need to ask them. We never used to ask in the past. We do not need to ask now. Like teenagers, they would get to be consulted when they started putting money in the pot.
St Helena would have had its airport, and a great deal more besides, a very long time ago under that arrangement.
Seriously, why not? There would be no need to ask them. We never used to ask in the past. We do not need to ask now. Like teenagers, they would get to be consulted when they started putting money in the pot.
St Helena would have had its airport, and a great deal more besides, a very long time ago under that arrangement.
Further south, if a billion a year did not include enough to provide for the defence of 4,700 square miles, then the 2,932 inhabitants of those square miles would not deserve to be defended.
Now with its own flag, and soon with its own anthem, England is beginning to feel that it, too, has a right of self-determination in relation to Scotland, which it is not obliged to keep merely because that is the wish of the majority of Scotland's inhabitants.
Like the BBC, Scotland blithely expects to be looked after by a Labour Party and a wider Left that in reality have never cared all that much for or about it, but which it is giving every reason to despise and detest at the moment and for the foreseeable future.
Labour won over one third of the seats in the House of Commons last year. Precisely one of those seats was in Scotland. It has the same number in Devon as in Scotland, and three times as many in Bristol.
Great Britain has a right of self-determination in relation to Northern Ireland, and would doubtless exercise that right if holding onto the place ever again threatened to become a source of annoyance.
And the United Kingdom has a right of self-determination in relation to each and all of the British Overseas Territories.
There is no question of forcing places and their inhabitants into Spain, or Argentina, or the Irish Republic (which does not really want the place in question, anyway).
But there is absolutely no obligation on Britain to keep them merely because they wish to be kept. That obligation simply does not exist.
Declare all of the British Overseas Territories independent, including the restored Chagos Islanders, each with a permanent annual grant of one billion pounds.
And then leave them to it. That is just what we do. We have done it often enough before.
Now with its own flag, and soon with its own anthem, England is beginning to feel that it, too, has a right of self-determination in relation to Scotland, which it is not obliged to keep merely because that is the wish of the majority of Scotland's inhabitants.
Like the BBC, Scotland blithely expects to be looked after by a Labour Party and a wider Left that in reality have never cared all that much for or about it, but which it is giving every reason to despise and detest at the moment and for the foreseeable future.
Labour won over one third of the seats in the House of Commons last year. Precisely one of those seats was in Scotland. It has the same number in Devon as in Scotland, and three times as many in Bristol.
Great Britain has a right of self-determination in relation to Northern Ireland, and would doubtless exercise that right if holding onto the place ever again threatened to become a source of annoyance.
And the United Kingdom has a right of self-determination in relation to each and all of the British Overseas Territories.
There is no question of forcing places and their inhabitants into Spain, or Argentina, or the Irish Republic (which does not really want the place in question, anyway).
But there is absolutely no obligation on Britain to keep them merely because they wish to be kept. That obligation simply does not exist.
Declare all of the British Overseas Territories independent, including the restored Chagos Islanders, each with a permanent annual grant of one billion pounds.
And then leave them to it. That is just what we do. We have done it often enough before.
Brilliant, you are so right, we are not obliged to keep them because they say so, we have our own right of self-determination. If that idea ever took off it would change British politics completely.
ReplyDeleteHave to disagree with Northern Ireland bit. Don't forget that it is part of the United Kingdom, not a British Overseas Territory. This includes thousands of British taxpayers (Overseas territories do not contribute tax into the pot). As you said, Ireland does not only not 'want us', The Republic of Ireland couldn't afford us (the 'Celtic Tiger' has turned into a pussycat after the bust)
ReplyDeleteI do believe as part of the United Kingdom we should have a say. As in Scotland, the majority of people want to remain part of the United Kingdom. Why should it just be down to voices in Westminster? Another way of putting it, why should it just be down to those on the 'mainland'?
Best make sure that you stay peaceful, then. Britain would just pull out if it all kicked off again. You wouldn't be in the Republic. But you would no longer be Britain's problem. We are the world champions at cutting and running. We have done it from the ends of the earth. It my not be our most attractive trait. But it is our most consistent.
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