James Peck, the first Falklander to renounce UK citizenship.

The first Falklander to renounce UK citizenship. Crikey.

According to the BBC,

Prime Minister Cameron said "as long as the Falkland Islands want to be sovereign British territory, they should remain sovereign British territory - full stop, end of story."

Hmmm. What if we ask the Chagos the same question?

Elsewhere the BBC says of the Chagos Islands:

"A very sad and by no means creditable episode in British history."

How so? Because

In the mid-1960s, the US was worried about possible Soviet expansion in the Indian Ocean and wanted a base in the region - but one without a "population problem" which might upset the base's operation.

The Americans' first choice was the island of Aldabra, north of Madagascar.

Unfortunately, Aldabra was the breeding ground for rare giant tortoises, whose mating habits would probably be upset by the military activity and whose cause would be championed noisily by publicity-aware ecologists.

The alternative was the Chagos Islands, part of Mauritius, then a British territory campaigning for independence.

The islands were home to some 1,800 people - mainly descendants of slaves - but no tortoises.

Independence was granted to Mauritius, but only after the Chagos Islands were separated in November 1965 by an Order in Council and renamed the British Indian Ocean Territory, or BIOT.

And when it came to having rights, the local population proved to have considerably less clout than giant tortoises.

British politicians, diplomats and civil servants began a campaign - in their own words - "to maintain the pretence there were no permanent inhabitants" on the islands.
BBC

Perfidious Albion.

I admire Peck's position, it's very brave, perhaps. On the other hand, if the inhabitants really do wish to remain 'British' it shouldn't be ignored.

Britain isn't going to easily renounce any 'rights' to the land there? There's oil, isn't there? And why give it up, no matter how crazy it is that it's thousands of miles away from the UK?

Nationalist capitalist competition is the drive, really, isn't it? As a British citizen, I'll say I don't care for keeping Falklands.....nor do I care for international national-capitalist competition.