wrote on Aug 15^th, 2013 at 12:02am:

Last time l looked Diego Garcia was part of the British Indian Ocean Territories. We only leased it to the  US.  :(

Well 'gave' in the sense that the Americans got DG free of any rent for 50 years with an option for an extra 20 years (to 2036).  The Chagossians had been living there since the early 18th century and were all evicted to make way for the US Naval base.  Can you imagine the absolute outrage there would be if the Gibraltarians or Falkland Islanders were treated in the same way?




wrote on Aug 14^th, 2013 at 9:58pm:

Hong Kong was on a lease, it always was going to be given back. Spain owns 5 bits of Morocco, zero sign of them ever being given back. Why  on earth would you think we should "give Gibraltar back" ?  All this recent nonsense is just pathetic little man chest beating to distract attention from the Barcenas scandal. The PP treasurer being caught red handed with cash and offshore bank accounts, a slush fund clearly running all the way to Prime Minister Rajoy. .

Yep, I understand all that which is why I said no one is coming out of this at all well.  Why are the British sending a warship to Gib?  Are they going to fire on Cadiz?  Of course they aren't it's more posturing. 

Hong Kong island wasn't on lease it was formally ceded in perpetuity to the United Kingdom under the Treaty of Nanking in 1842.  It was the New Territories that were leased.  Hong Kong residents weren't given any say in their future, unlike the Gibraltarians, and they weren't allowed British passports.