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it couldn't have been a clearer

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statement from the Faulkland Islanders

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um obviously nearly 100% of people voted

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in favor Argentina should sit up take

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note and back off well it's a bit like

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the residents of nether Wallop voting

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nearly unanimously nether Wallop may be

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an imaginary Village of 1,600 people

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which is the population that voted in

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this uh referendum and it's like nether

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wop's population voting nearly

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unanimously against a High-Speed Rail

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Link it's interesting but it cannot be

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allowed to Trump the whole country's

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National Economic and geopolitical so

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their voice doesn't count and it should

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be ignored it's uh interesting but it

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cannot uh be a veto because by

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definition if this is a British overseas

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territory the sovereignty lies with us

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not with them you can have an Antarctic

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Ice Station declaring itself to be a

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country and having a v over British

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policy towards the Antarctic so what

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I've argued here and Elsewhere for a

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long time is that we should reach an

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agreement with Argentina for joint

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sovereignty over the territory the

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people can remain British they can have

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British passports full of British

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Customs wear absurd Union Jack waste

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coats and bow ties like the one on the

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picture behind you they can continue all

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of that it's a Gilbert and Sullivan Show

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so far as I'm concerned but the actual

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Waters and land must must be shared with

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Argentina not least because if we don't

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the day will come when we have no

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sovereignty at all because we cannot

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defend for all the Bluster of hugos you

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don't think it's bankrupt country let's

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just take the point though this idea of

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shared sovereignty they can stay the the

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Forkland Islanders as British as they

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want and they want to but we have to be

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practical about sovereignty this was the

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idea of leaseback which is what the

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foreign office was running hard with

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before the fand's war in 1982 slightly

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different version of George's where he

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puts it um George I really don't think

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you should patronize them in this way

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you wouldn't patronize the people in the

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western Western Isles storn away or sky

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for being few in number and having views

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I remember when the war erupted it

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struck me as if it was the equivalent of

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stor away being invaded by a military

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Hunter with pronounced fascistic

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Tendencies how could it be because

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stornway lies a few miles off our the F

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lies a few miles off Argentina's and

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tens of thousands of kilometers from our

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cour shouldn't poniz

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comp Gilbert and Sullivan people it's

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not worthy of you ge it is not worthy of

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you to patronize these people a

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Preposterous appendage of British

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colonialism it lies off the coast of

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Argentina tens of thousands of

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kilometers from here we're a small

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almost bankrupt country off the west

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coast of Europe the idea that we're

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going to war and going to uh uh allow

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our uh relationships with the whole of

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Latin America to be subject to veto of

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1600

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respect to use your own word to those

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people that's all I ask this this we've

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met before Hennessy George

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Galloway Peter Hennessy let's let's

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let's get back to the practicalities of

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this because as I put to hug goar there

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is a real issue that tensions May well

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have escalated as a result of this that

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actually rather than sort of

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deactivating um Rel you know the

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tensions between the two countries it's

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made it worse well the tension is higher

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now than it's ever been since the

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immediate War and the immediate

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aftermath there's no question about that

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and indeed in the anniversary of the

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150th anniversary it was very tense and

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going back to the submarines uh Trafalga

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class hunter killer submarine was

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carefully put in the South African press

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in simonstown on the way to the South

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Atlantic as a deterrent so I in no way

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diminish the seriousness of all this and

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indeed leaseback was a serious proposal

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and one of the fascinating things in the

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evidence to the Franks inquiry that Mrs

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thater gave unlike chilcott inquiry into

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Iraq it was Private was Declassified in

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January was that she said that if the

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negotiations continued in New York and

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got really serious and deadlocked and

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had got very fraud she would have taken

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it to the international court and tried

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to negotiate through an arbitration

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system it's very interesting and that

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the the sovereignty question has been

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there ever since the 1830s as as George

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knows as well as I do but the I think it

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was very important for the people of

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this particular British overseas

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territory to express themselves because

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every every government has since 1982

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and indeed before said the wishes of the

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Islanders are Paramount and I agree with

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that and it's a fundamental disagreement

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with George but that just to just to

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clarify of course the vote doesn't have

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any credibility in terms of

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international law doesn't have any any

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sway in that sense no but in any open

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Democratic Society if the people

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concerned want to express themselves

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through a referendum who are we to deny

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and in a way George G I put to you has

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the attitude that you've expressed also

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just motivated the folkland Islanders to

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go out and restate again in in such um

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terms as they did in this vote rather

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than opening channels for dialogue yes I

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think it has increased the tension and I

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think it has but that's your made

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matters uh worse the United Nations has

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asked us to negotiate the Latin American

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countries as a block unanimously and by

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the way Latin America is one of the few

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happening places in the whole world

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economically it's in our interest to

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have good relations with them uh have uh

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have blocked with Argentina con but

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what's the connection apart from

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geographical which I grant you is is

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obviously a fairly strong point in favor

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what else is there connecting the

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Faulkland Islands to Argentina you look

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at those pictures there's nothing

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connecting no that's the people not the

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territory well the people are important

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well they are but we're talking about a

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British territory so what matters above

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all is what's in Britain's interest not

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the interest of 1600 people it's the

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point I'm trying to make you wouldn't

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allow the high-speed real link to be

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stopped by a near unanimous vote of a

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small village in England through which

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it was going to pass because you'd say

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our bigger National interest lies in

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building the railway right what about

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this idea of survival as was put by the

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ambassador to London I mean there is

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there is a pragmatic view that says look

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we have to sort this out that there has

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to be some sort of shared sovereignty

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for the Islanders to perhaps have a

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better quality of life um to have better

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connections between the they they can

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keep going they've kept going since 1982

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and indeed the runup to the war quite a

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lot of our Forkland school children went

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to Secondary School in Argentina there

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were trade links and there were sea

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links and so on and that was severed by

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the war understandably and the aftermath

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but those islands can be kept going

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there's no question about it what about

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George Galloway's point that actually

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going to war just isn't really a

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possibility no but there it is always a

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possibility isn't it is it actually out

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of the question in terms of capability

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in terms of the deterrent capacity of

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the aircraft on the island and the

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presence of the hunter killer submarine

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when it's needed down there that is

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enough to prevent a rerun of

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1982 George way thank you no I'm afraid

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I'm going to have to stop a great pity

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yes what a great pity but there you go

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all great things have to end sometime