Britain hanging onto the Chagos Islands is about as tasteful as a thief clutching stolen silver while swearing blind it’s theirs. We’re quick to wag our righteous fingers at Russia for trampling over Ukraine, yet here we are, doing our own imperialist two-step, clutching onto a slice of tropical paradise in the Indian Ocean we swiped from Mauritius in the 1960s. It wasn’t even a clever con. The islands were carved off like a Sunday roast as a precondition for Mauritian independence – under duress, no less. To top it off, we kicked out the Chagossians so Uncle Sam could set up Diego Garcia as his latest military outpost. A grim kind of hospitality, that.
Not only is it morally bankrupt, it’s also blatantly illegal. The International Court of Justice – the very place we’d love to see Putin hauled before – has ruled the islands belong to Mauritius. The United Nations nodded along. Yet here we are, planting the Union Jack like it’s still the era of Queen Victoria, pretending the sun never set. The hypocrisy is so thick you could cut it with a butter knife.
Then there’s Priti Patel, who calls giving the islands back "the white flag of surrender." Surrender? To international law – something she seems to treat like an irritating neighbour – and frankly, about time too. Accepting the rules of civilised society isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s the bare minimum. If we can’t follow the principles we expect everyone else to obey, we’re not just hypocrites – we’re busy chiselling away at the foundations of global order we claim to cherish.
And what about the Chagossians? Booted off their land and left to rot in poverty, they’re not asking for much – just the right to return to the home we robbed them of. Mauritius has even offered to keep Diego Garcia operational, so the Americans can still park their bombers without us clutching colonial relics like a miser hoarding his last penny.
If we’re serious about sovereignty, justice, and the rule of law, it’s time to hand the islands back. Otherwise, we’re just proving that our moral compass only works when it’s convenient – and that reeks worse than any leftover colonial stink we’re still trying to justify.
Then there’s Priti Patel, who calls giving the islands back "the white flag of surrender." Surrender? To international law – something she seems to treat like an irritating neighbour – and frankly, about time too. Accepting the rules of civilised society isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s the bare minimum. If we can’t follow the principles we expect everyone else to obey, we’re not just hypocrites – we’re busy chiselling away at the foundations of global order we claim to cherish.
And what about the Chagossians? Booted off their land and left to rot in poverty, they’re not asking for much – just the right to return to the home we robbed them of. Mauritius has even offered to keep Diego Garcia operational, so the Americans can still park their bombers without us clutching colonial relics like a miser hoarding his last penny.
If we’re serious about sovereignty, justice, and the rule of law, it’s time to hand the islands back. Otherwise, we’re just proving that our moral compass only works when it’s convenient – and that reeks worse than any leftover colonial stink we’re still trying to justify.
Some are complaining about the cost of leasing the base over 99 years, with a figure of £18bn being widely quoted. However, assuming an average annual inflation rate of 4.5% (the historical average over the past 99 years), the total sum in today’s value would be just £4.17bn, with the final payment amounting to only £2.43m in today’s terms. Think of it like a 99-year mortgage – by the time you make the last payment, it will be a tiny fraction of what the first payment represented in real terms relative to disposable income.
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