This article by The Guardian's ex-Editor, Peter Preston has caught the tone of the political hypocrisy over The Falklands. We are adopting a neo-colonial attitude to the Islands which needs the political, logictical and economic support of its South American neighbours more than a false attachment to Britain. Leaseback will come and there could be an orderly handover across a period of, say, 50 years.
I am as patriotic as anyone but I was billeted with a Falklands family after the War and have walked and explored the Islands.
Argentina is now a peaceful democracy and, putting yourself in their position, would you resent The Scillies occupied by an ailing power, defended by colonial bluster and sending an heir to the (rather old-fashioned hereditary) monarchy on military service to your nighbouring islands?
Sabre-rattling it is. Unfortunately, our sabres are rather smaller than they were and the world needs peace, reconcialiation and mutual respect, not threats of violence.
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Political bluster comes easy; political honesty has to be ground out clause by clause. And there, for 3,000 Falklanders far away, is the message to cut out and keep, as David Cameron, amid all-party harrumphing, pledges eternal security for the islands. He may believe it for a few days. The next prime minister in line, and the one after that, may profess to believe it too. But it's still self-serving rubbish; and it still sells the best future for the Falklands perilously short.
Nicholas Ridley, a stalwart rightwinger when he wasn't being a Foreign Office minister, went to the islanders 33 years ago and gave them a sensible option. Britain couldn't bear the cost of supporting and defending them any longer. Too much cash, too much redundant toil. They'd get on far better if Argentina was a helpful neighbour. Geography and commonsense dictated a peaceful solution: leaseback. That way the islanders lived their lives as before, but Buenos Aires took sovereignty in the long run. It was what Ridley and, by inference, even Margaret Thatcher thought best.
But the 3,000 said no, the Argentine junta got its messages mixed and disaster ensued. There was one huge benefit: a vicious military dictatorship collapsed. Argentina gained a stable democracy and there were warm promises against any further attempt at a military solution (and the defence budget anyway declined). Diplomacy was left to rule OK. Except that there was no diplomacy.
And now, 30 long years on? Our own defence budget is shrivelling too. We manifestly can't fulfil all the commitments we've made. But 1,000 men, with planes, boats, radar stations and swimming pools, sit in the Falklands, supposedly deterring some non-existent invasion – while a flotilla of admirals lobby the Treasury to get their aircraft carriers back. Billions dribble away over the years to no lasting avail. The Argentinians, who might be our loudest supporters in South America (try seeing how the long ago settlers from Wales enjoy Patagonia), grow bored and frustrated. Prince William sparks predictable tabloid bombast. Nothing gets addressed, let alone resolved.
Things will get worse, much worse, if Buenos Aires plays its cards shrewdly. The Falklands need their air link with Chile. Cut that and supply lines, let alone a semblance of normal life, become impossible to maintain. Will Santiago oblige? The tide of South American opinion has moved against Britain. Barack Obama isn't Ronald Reagan. Nicolas Sarkozy won't lend us a carrier. The squeeze, if President Fernández de Kirchner wants to exert it, is on.
A union flag flies from a British war cemetery overlooking San Carlos Water, Falkland Islands. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian
And all we can do is what we always do in such binds: cry God for Harry, William and St George. Summon up the dispatch box blood. Replace fair dealing with synthetic rage. Forget the Falklanders' best interests yet again.
There's oil in the seas around the islands. There are oilmen flocking to Port Stanley. What there isn't, though, is any big company involvement in looking for it or developing a proper industry that would make the 3,000 (though not George Osborne) rich. For where do you sell that oil? Where do you bring it ashore? How do you unlock a potential future that axiomatically excludes Argentina?
Honesty includes the one element that David Cameron leaves out. If you're going to give the Falklanders a choice and referendum on what comes next, then the choice needs to be real, not rhetorical mush. Could the heirs of Ridley do a deal with Fernández de Kirchner? Of course they could. That's option A on the ballot form. But what can we, the taxpayers of Britain, offer as option B? Do we want to keep paying and paying as the decades roll away? Paying to sustain a little colony that can't grow and prosper without fear. Shouldn't we be allowed to say what future we can afford to offer the Falklands beyond a status quo we can't sustain? Our choice for them.
For, sooner or later, oil and forgetfulness will contrive to sell the islanders out in any case. That's the dirty secret behind the bluster, and the truth that needs recognising at last. If Cameron's vetoes in Europe don't last three weeks, why suppose they will last three centuries in the south Atlantic? Why not solve it now?
Moving a Blog from WordPress.com to WordPress.org is something I’ve had a lot of questions about – today
To start things off, login to your WordPress.com account and browse to your administration panel. From the menu on the left, click on TOOLS – EXPORT. At this point, you have the option to confine the export to a particular author or all authors. Using the export tool will compile your posts, pages, comments, custom fields, categories, and tags. This information is placed into a WXR file or, WordPress eXtended RSS file. Essentially, this file is just a normal XML RSS based file with a couple of custom fields added to it which makes it specific to WordPress. Once you’re finished, click on the Download Export File button and save it to your desktop.
