Fredbargate

It was due to the conflicting reports that I did not bother to post this story.
Choosing to wait for a more consistent update.

Domino

presumably commercial aircraft don't have to be controlled from Seville but can and do end up joining the northbound traffic flow from Malaga
(well according to flightradar movements).
Was Malaga traffic disrupted ??

Fredbargate

Permission is required from Seville for them to enter Spanish airspace, so before they take off due to the limited amount of Gib airspace.

However I believe UK military flights in and out of Gib still have to avoid Spanish airspace ( Our NATO neighbour ) and fly around Portugal

EMR

MY opinion has nothing to do with the varying economies and there is no relevant comparison with the falklands.
They were a distant set of islands that nobody really wanted and because the UK was the bigger naval power at the time we gained possesion.
Gib was a miltary victory and for a few centuries was an important link in the UK naval power.
Today the UK has no reason whatsoever to keep the Rock.
We gave back HK which had a few million inhabitants who would rather we had not so why keep the Rock ???

Dick Dasterdly

I take it you're not a great believer in democracy then ?

agoreira

Doesn't sound like it, Spain want it, so we should give it to them, never mind that the folk from Gib want no part of it. I guess it follows that Spain has no problem handing over Melilla, Ceuta etc. Why would they want to hang onto them?

Domino

that was the fault of the fluffy bunnies in the Foreign Office who had pinned on the wall Palmerston's comment "What do we need a barren bit of rock for??"
legally the only part that had to be returned was New Territories which were on a 99 year lease. HK and Kowloon were ceded to Queen Victoria and her descendents in perpetuity. which to me means until hell freezes over.
administratively it made sense - if you worked in the FO.

Have you ever been given a gift and then had the giver ask for it back once it is working well ??

Dick Dasterdly

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...n_3346125.html

Like this you mean ?

EMR

Those part of HK that were ceded to Victoria were as a result of the opium wars where the East India company flooded China with cheap opium in return for silver which the chinese insisted was the payment for tea.
The Chinese Empire seeing its people becoming increasingly addicted to imported opium rightly objected but of course against the might of the largest and most modern navy in the world could do nothing.
Not one of the best chapters in our history.
We gave HK back because in China had wanted it they would have taken it in a couple of hours and there was nothing we could have done about it.
Better to leave with our heads up rather than like a dog with its tail between its legs.
By negotiation the huge business community in HK was able to stay and thrive as it was given access to the emerging Chinese markets.
What has the Rock got in comparison , " not a lot ".

Dick Dasterdly

It's already been well explained what Gib has to offer.

A thriving economy and a population who are very content living there as it is now.

Obviously democracy and the will of the ppl means nothing at all in your eyes.

Let's clap them all in irons and forcibly transport them back to Blighty, old folks and all.

I mean who really cares a toss about them ?

Meantime we'll hand Gib on a plate to the Spanish and watch it slowly disappear down the plug hole with the rest of the country.

jimenato

Hong Kong Island and Kowloon were ceded to the United Kingdom in perpetuity but the control on the New Territories was only a 99-year lease which ended in 1997. It had always been acknowledged that Hong Kong was not viable on its own. The situation in Gibraltar is different.

You really should go to Gibraltar to get some knowledge before you make uneducated statements. Try talking to the Gibraltarian people - I do practically every day. Ask them about being given back to Spain. If as you say Gibraltar has no use for the UK (and that is highly disputable) why on earth do you thing that the UK government doesn't just give it back?

EMR

Because it does form a part of the UK/NATO GCHQ systems and there are still too many people in the UK who think that it is 1955.
When Franco was in Power of course it should not have been handed back, remember that is the correct word back to its original owners.

How would you feel if the IOW had been lost to the Spanish in 1588 and they had somehow managed to keep it . Would you think that it was OK, of course not. IOW or Gib no real difference.

stuboy

I live a stones throw from the IOW. The Spanish are welcome to it

Fredbargate

I don't think there many Neaderthals about.

Not sure who came before them, but I guess they were the ones who lived here the longest.

agoreira

Spain ceded Gib to the British for perpetuity, we did the same with Menorca, so can we have Menorca back please? Or a straight swap?