They` re British.

Look at the facts, for goodness sake!

They`re miserable, cold, rainy and the sheep marginally more attractive than the women.

It`s British to the bone!

Gibraltar, on the other hand, is clearly only pretending. British with a siesta? I don`t think so.

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Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
Marx (G.)

or even most of the people can 'think of themselves as British' - if it comforts them to do so - the islands are not.

Islands dont conjure fantasies, people do.

Some fine looking sheep, though (ever been to Ireland?).

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"A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened."

Subject to a court order I`m not allowed within 200m of a sheep rearing/holding facility anywhere in the EU.

And I swear to you, Nawbut, I was just taking a shortcut across that field.

But I have sympathy with Lunecat`s point. If geographical proximity is to be the overriding principle then shouldn`t Ireland fall under the UK`s banner? Personally I have no problem if the people of Ireland collectively want something different and similarly with the Falklands.

In the absence of diplomatic inconveniences like...ahem...displaced, indigenous populations... I would favour Raytri`s approach and leave it up to the inhabitants.

After careful consideration of your point I`ve come to the conclusion that it`s the people who are important and I don`t give a hoot about the bit of dirt they happen to be standing on except insofar as it effects them. What`s important, as you have alluded, is the fantasies concocted by the people concerned. And I will persist in my own fantasy of considering the Falkland Islanders to be some of us rather than some of them as long as they don`t consider us to be `them`.

How can we resolve this?....Oooh, I know! The Law! What is the status of the Falkland Islands in International Law?

And why, oh why blame the British of the idea of Empire? With such a spectacular choice of British inventions from shrapnel and eugenics to mustard gas and concentration camps, why blame us for a concept that was a proven disaster long before we bought it?

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Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
Marx (G.)

Now, see how easily you fall into that lazy thinking that got us all in bother in the first place - (now listen carefully)

IRELAND IS A DIFFERENT COUNTRY

...where 'Ireland' is, there Britain is not.

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"A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened."

But, Nawbut, it was not I who fell into that lazy thinking (note the conditional "if" at the start). I agree that the gross oversimplification of determining a region`s nationality based solely on its geographical proximity to another larger region overlooks all manner of complexities such as culture, economics, tradition and so on.

Hang on a second - I`ll just scan back up the thread to see who proffered such careless hokum that has tempted us into this lazy thinking.

oh!

Quite so. Because the people of Ireland say so.

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Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
Marx (G.)

Again....look-at-the-map.

Two different places; Britain is Britain, the Malvinas are the Malvinas. Its yourself that got all hung up on 'proximity', not I.

"Becasue the people of Ireland say so"?

Now when did we start paying any heed to what that crowd say?

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"A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkland_islands

Did you see that, Nawbut? The Falkland Islands even had their own "Thank ye for notte invading" sign!

How much more British can an island be!

But, when their checkered history is examined and all is said and done , they were British when I woke this morning.

Would that they were not. But they are. British in the eyes of the UK, the UN, the international community, the local population, everyone (except Argentina, obviously).

I can see no compelling reason to change the status quo especially when it would be contrary to the wishes of the inhabitants (the ones who would be most affected by this).

Now, if they were to ask for independence, or unification (with Argentina, Finland, whoever) I would happily see them go. Same for the Pitcairns and Diego Garcia (except in this instance, of course, the local population ain`t so local any more) and probably a dozen others I`ve never heard of.

Given the Islanders heritage, I was disappointed that the responsibilty wasn`t palmed off onto Scotland in some obscure sub-clause of the devolution process. But, alas, that didn`t happen so the UK government represents the interests of, and retains a responsibilty for, the inhabitants of the Falkland Islands.

Maybe they should be returned to the orginal claimants - France.

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Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
Marx (G.)

...they could have the decency to locate themselves on the appropriate continent, and in the North Atlantic Ocean

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"A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened."

Be reasonable, old chap, it was simply not feasible to move the islands to another hemisphere .

So our great Lords, in their boundless benevolence, did the next best thing. They moved the Empire (or at least expanded it) so as to comfortably absorb these territories into our bossom of enlightenment and prosperity for all*.

But then there was a hullabaloo about that and...well, you know.




* Excluding Boers, Native Australians, Native Americans, Palestinians, Irish, Afghanis, Cypriots, quite a lot of Africans and anyone else who wasn`t British.

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Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
Marx (G.)

location has nowt to do with it..


The Falklands are British
as too is Gibraltar and Ulster

The World accepts these facts - except for a few malcontents - but who cares what a small minority says


"thats the deal and it is NOT open to negotiation" as someone once said