The French looked across the Channel a few years ago and realised how much revenue the cameras could generate and so they sprung up all over France. At least they are marked on the road maps.

If there were no fines, just point deductions for every offence cameras would be perceived as deterrents. Anyone who breaks any law takes the risk and they know it. It’s all about attitude and old shape’s experience of the Nazi cop bears out mine, recently. It never used to be like that and in years past police acted like human beings rather than law enforcement automatons.

Going back to the member who was annoyed by drivers leaving car spaces between cars in a slow moving crawl of traffic, yes, maybe, but he would be even more annoyed if the twit half a car length behind him drove into him in a split second’s lapse or concentration or worse he himself drove into the car in front. The it would be HIS fault.

Come on, we all get irritated by these injunctions about how to drive but leaving space between vehicles is one which, if followed by more drivers, would result in fewer traffic jam shunts. Crawling in first with distance between, as suggested, is very good advice.

Let’s face it, whatever government is in power, Labour or Conservative, they don’t care a damn about the Falkland islanders. If they are intent on keeping the Falklands British, it’s because of other factors like its strategic location, future mineral deposits, or as an international bargaining lever.
For example, the UK and US invaded Iraq under the pretence of ridding the world of potential ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’, but does nothing about North Korea, a beligerant country known to be developing the most destructive kind. Why? Because North Korea isn’t awash with oil!

That may or may not be true and there is no evidence for your statement. As someone else has pointed out already, we defended the Islands in 1982 when there was no question of mineral resources being evident.

The reasons for the Iraq war and many and varied and the toppling of its leader was certainly one of the main ones. N.Korea is irrelevant as far as the point you make is concerned. It is being strangled by sanctions, has limited help from China, a large US military presence across its southern border and is dying through lack of basic resources. Now if you had mentioned Zimbabwe instead of N.Korea you might have had a valid point.

I agree with some of the other contributors, the Islanders should be protected and the UK has to take account of the protection of its distant territories in any future defence considerations.

Your last sentence sums it up neatly. The sabre rattling will get Argentina precisely no where and I doubt that there is any appetite for conflict amongst the majority of its population. And an unexpected by product might be to galvanise political minds in the UK ahead of the defence review as to where our obligations lie.

Kath

Thanks for your thoughts and specifically your last paragraph, which has a chill about it. It bears out my deep felt concern, that extreme Republicans will not be satisfied until Ireland is united.

As you say the next few years will be very significant but one worries that like all festering boils of religious or territorial friction, they never are. After all the Walloons and Flems have been simmering for decades and every now and then it boils over into violence and subsides again. In these cases the status quo is never an acceptable option.

Joey

Lucas

What has “logic” got to do with territorial sovereignty?