And the Empire Crumbled, ’til All that Was Left…
By Argentines getting twitchy:
Fast forward to 2012, the 30th anniversary of the war. Prince William, a Royal Air Force helicopter pilot, is flying to the Falklands tonight to begin a six-week mission as Britain prepares to dispatch an advanced warship to the islands, prompting Argentina’s Foreign Ministry to declare that Britain is “militariz[ing]” the conflict and sending Queen Elizabeth II’s grandson “in the uniform of a conquistador.”
Mariano Rajoy, Spain’s new centre-right Prime Minister, meanwhile, is to demand talks over the future of the colony without the involvement of authorities in Gibraltar.
His call marks a hardening of Madrid’s position over its controversial claim for the return of the Rock. Under the previous Socialist Spanish government, the authorities in Gibraltar had been included in three-way talks with Madrid and London. Madrid was unimpressed after Mr Cameron told a meeting at the Council of Europe last week that the future of Gibraltar depended on the wishes of the colony’s 30,000 inhabitants.
Questioned by Spanish MEPs, Mr Cameron said that Britain backed the Rock’s right to self-determination and that going against the wishes of its people would amount to “recolonisation”. In response, Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo, the new Spanish Foreign Minister, wrote to William Hague, his diplomatic counterpart, stressing that there was no mention of auto-determination in the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713. Spanish diplomatic sources insisted that Mr Garcia-Margallo’s letter was “not in the tone of a protest”. But Mr Garcia-Margallo called on Mr Hague to explain the British stance regarding the Rock.
Scotland is barely hanging on:
The Scottish Government was formed after the May 5, 2011 parliamentary election at which the SNP gained a clear majority with 69 of the 129 seats at Holyrood and a mandate to govern until the next election in 2016.
Prior to the Your Scotland, Your Referendum consultation, the Scottish Government conducted the National Conversation between August 2007 and November 2009 inviting public comment on a range of potential changes to the country’s constitution.
It began with the publication of a discussion paper Choosing Scotland’s Future, and culminated in the publication of Your Scotland Your Voice, a White Paper laying out options supported by detailed policy papers. The independence referendum consultation, Your Scotland, Your Referendum was launched by the First Minister on Burns Night, January 25, 2012.
At this rate, William will be lucky to succeed to the crown of Wessex.