Our ocracy's oligophrenia over outcrop...

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The UK government has lost the plot completely. The Olly and May horror show continues: every single EU stipulation conceded, every UK red-line ignored...total surrender. Luckily, certainly with regard to the media hoo-hah over Gibraltar, the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, the Hon. Fabian Picardo QC reacted well; Mrs. may should read, understand and iterate his final paragraph:

"We will stick with Britain" press release HERE, pdf. Hat-tip Raedwald.




In a later press release, [PDF] also yesterday, Fabian Picardo gave a full statement after having talked with Treason May. He sounded reassured: "Theresa May made repeatedly clear despite clause 24 that she would negotiate to include us in the Withdrawal Agreement", but I would suggest he doesn't count his chickens: the 'Strong and stable' and 'No deal is better than a bad deal' mantras, amongst other, etc., spring to mind. Ian Duncan Smith on Sky News this morning [Guido] suggests slippery May has conceded over Gibraltar's future trading arrangements to Spain



In the same press release Picardo compared the crowing of Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez over the sovereignty of Gibraltar to 'pursuing the policy bidding of the Generalisimo [Franco] himself'. LOL.  

Our ocracy's oligophrenia over outcrop...

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The UK government has lost the plot completely. The Olly and May horror show continues: every single EU stipulation conceded, every UK red-line ignored...total surrender. Luckily, certainly with regard to the media hoo-hah over Gibraltar, the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, the Hon. Fabian Picardo QC reacted well; Mrs. may should read, understand and iterate his final paragraph:

"We will stick with Britain" press release HERE, pdf. Hat-tip Raedwald.

In a later press release, [PDF] also yesterday, Fabian Picardo gave a full statement after having talked with Treason May. He sounded reassured: "Theresa May made repeatedly clear despite clause 24 that she would negotiate to include us in the Withdrawal Agreement", but I would suggest he doesn't count his chickens: the 'Strong and stable' and 'No deal is better than a bad deal' mantras, amongst other, etc., spring to mind. Ian Duncan Smith on Sky News this morning [Guido] suggests slippery May has conceded over Gibraltar's future trading arrangements to Spain

In the same press release Picardo compared the crowing of Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez over the sovereignty of Gibraltar to 'pursuing the policy bidding of the Generalisimo [Franco] himself'. LOL.  

Overseas operations...

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Today, April 2nd 2017 is the 35th anniversary of the start of The Falklands War. The Argentine claim is presumably based around proximity only because they have no real legal claim, none; to be honest, not even proximity applies really.



Now another Spanish-speaking nation is rumbling about a territory that it has no real claim to (but at least they used to own it for more than a couple of months); unfortunately for them the Mons Calpe - one of the 'Pillars of Hercules' - the 'Mountain of Tariq' was formally ceded to the British Crown as part of the Peace of Utrecht. British sovereignty over Gibraltar was confirmed in two later 18th Century treaties.

"The Catholic King does hereby, for himself, his heirs and successors, yield to the Crown of Great Britain the full and entire propriety of the town and castle of Gibraltar, together with the port, fortifications, and forts thereunto belonging; and he gives up the said propriety to be held and enjoyed absolutely with all manner of right for ever, without any exception or impediment whatsoever."

Part of Article X, Peace and Friendship Treaty of Utrecht between Spain and Great Britain  (1713) 

There is no case to answer; there is no reason to sell, gift, combine sovereignty or change the current status of Gibraltar at all, in any way: time for the Spanish government to stop azotando un caballo muerto, or as they might say, dar patadas de ahorcado.

Overseas operations...

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Today, April 2nd 2017 is the 35th anniversary of the start of The Falklands War. The Argentine claim is presumably based around proximity only because they have no real legal claim, none; to be honest, not even proximity applies really.

Now another Spanish-speaking nation is rumbling about a territory that it has no real claim to (but at least they used to own it for more than a couple of months); unfortunately for them the Mons Calpe - one of the 'Pillars of Hercules' - the 'Mountain of Tariq' was formally ceded to the British Crown as part of the Peace of Utrecht. British sovereignty over Gibraltar was confirmed in two later 18th Century treaties.

"The Catholic King does hereby, for himself, his heirs and successors, yield to the Crown of Great Britain the full and entire propriety of the town and castle of Gibraltar, together with the port, fortifications, and forts thereunto belonging; and he gives up the said propriety to be held and enjoyed absolutely with all manner of right for ever, without any exception or impediment whatsoever."
Part of Article X, Peace and Friendship Treaty of Utrecht between Spain and Great Britain  (1713) 

There is no case to answer; there is no reason to sell, gift, combine sovereignty or change the current status of Gibraltar at all, in any way: time for the Spanish government to stop azotando un caballo muerto, or as they might say, dar patadas de ahorcado.

Obvious ownership...

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Treaty of Utrecht, 1713.

Just as we know the sun rises in the East, so we know that Spain is in political difficulty whenever we hear 'sabre-rattling' over Gibraltar. Interesting article in The Spectator in July: "But the very possession of Gibraltar means a hostile Spain, and the weight of that hostility is limited only by her military strength. That strength may at any time assert itself to an extent which has not been suspected, and the recovery of Gibraltar, or the neutralisation of its value to England, is to such a nation precisely the kind of object to arouse enthusiasm, and to create a new point of military departure. More- over, even if the power of Spain were to remain as weak as it is sometimes assumed to be, nothing short of an unquestioned military advantage of primary importance should determine us to accept her certain hostility, in the event of war with a Mediterranean Power. Oh, I forgot to mention, it was July 1883, from their archive.

Another interesting article is ARTICLE X of the 1713 Peace and Friendship Treaty of Utrecht between Spain and Great Britain (a.k.a. Treaty Of Utrecht): "The Catholic King does hereby, for himself, his heirs and successors, yield to the Crown of Great Britain the full and entire propriety of the town and castle of Gibraltar, together with the port, fortifications, and forts thereunto belonging; and he gives up the said propriety to be held and enjoyed absolutely with all manner of right for ever, without any exception or impediment whatsoever."...for ever, get it?! All this was reconfirmed in later treaties. That said, in ARTICLE X1 of the same treaty Britain took possession of Minorca, which changed hands 3 times during the 18th Century but was finally and permanently repossessed by Spain under the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, so they know we could hand it back but the Minorca episode took three battles during three different wars...

Obvious ownership...

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Treaty of Utrecht, 1713.

Just as we know the sun rises in the East, so we know that Spain is in political difficulty whenever we hear 'sabre-rattling' over Gibraltar. Interesting article in The Spectator in July: "But the very possession of Gibraltar means a hostile Spain, and the weight of that hostility is limited only by her military strength. That strength may at any time assert itself to an extent which has not been suspected, and the recovery of Gibraltar, or the neutralisation of its value to England, is to such a nation precisely the kind of object to arouse enthusiasm, and to create a new point of military departure. More- over, even if the power of Spain were to remain as weak as it is sometimes assumed to be, nothing short of an unquestioned military advantage of primary importance should determine us to accept her certain hostility, in the event of war with a Mediterranean Power. Oh, I forgot to mention, it was July 1883, from their archive. Another interesting article is ARTICLE X of the 1713 Peace and Friendship Treaty of Utrecht between Spain and Great Britain (a.k.a. Treaty Of Utrecht): "The Catholic King does hereby, for himself, his heirs and successors, yield to the Crown of Great Britain the full and entire propriety of the town and castle of Gibraltar, together with the port, fortifications, and forts thereunto belonging; and he gives up the said propriety to be held and enjoyed absolutely with all manner of right for ever, without any exception or impediment whatsoever."...for ever, get it?! All this was reconfirmed in later treaties. That said, in ARTICLE X1 of the same treaty Britain took possession of Minorca, which changed hands 3 times during the 18th Century but was finally and permanently repossessed by Spain under the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, so they know we could hand it back but the Minorca episode took three battles during three different wars...