Nope. The Dutch were there first. Then the Brits. Then the French. Then the Spanish. Then the Brits again. Then the United Provinces (disputed) . And then the Brits one more time. With the (now) Argentinians muttering on the sidelines. And so it has remained.

We know this isn't really about the Islanders.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depopulati ... ego_Garcia
If only the Falklanders were brown coloured. It would have been so much easier for the UK establishment.

Hmm. Yu're being a bit liberal with the concept of physical presence.

The uninhabited islands were first sighted by the Dutch (it is thought, in fact no-one is sure).

The first recorded landing was by the British but only because they were blown off course on their way somewhere else.
It was the French who actually established the first settlement.
The British settled in a year after the French, but unbeknownst to one another as they were on different islands.

Spain acquired the French colony (legally), expelled the British from theirs, but then allowed them back.
The Brits abandoned their settlement some years later but maintained their claim to their part.

When Argentina (or the United Provinces of the River Plate, as it was called) became independent from Spain, it claimed the Malvinas/Falklands
and the game has gone on since then.

In colonial history physical presence and the navy to back it up is 11/10's of the law. Plus mere sightings have a history of prior claim if you have the military force to back up that claim later.

On a purely technically level the Argentinians have a fairly strong claim of prior interest for the West Islands. For the Eastern Islands their claims have no real merit. The UK has 180 years of continuous occupation of the whole islands which under international law pretty much trumps everything. As do the nuclear submarines.

See Gib. Although Gibraltar is different in several key areas. The funniest of which is watching the Spanish tie themselves in knots as they try to explain why Gib should be Spanish while Cueta and Melilla can never be Moroccan.

Of course the real irony is that if the Argentinians politicians had not been so congenitally stupid the Foreign Office would have handed over the islands to them sooner rather than later. But as the last 100 years of domestic politics shows, when the Argentinians are presented with any political decision they will always make the decision that will do most long term harm to the country. Like not showing more patience in the early 80's as the FO tried to undermine the Royal Charter of the Falklands Islands Company in preparation for some kind of face saving lease back before the end of the decade.

IRISH workers leaving their homeland in search of a better life in Birmingham have been forced to return after finding there are no jobs in the city.

Read More http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top- ... z1jR3foUvn

Merv’s swerve from inflation control


It was almost a throwaway remark from Sir Mervyn King. At the end of another uncomfortable press conference, he floated the idea that the 2 per cent inflation target has had its day. In the real world, the target had it quite a while ago, given how long it is since prices were rising that slowly, but to hear the Governor of the Bank of England suggest it is as surprising as to hear the German Chancellor urging Greece to get on and devalue (just you wait).

The series of letters from the Governor explaining why inflation control failed stretches so far as to have lost all capacity to shock. Besides, there is now a sporting chance that the Bank will actually hit the target at some point later this year, a moment which would provide a suitable excuse to abandon it. The A-word wouldn’t be used, of course. Instead, there would be much talk of “broadening the remit” of the MPC to take into account credit conditions, growth and unemployment, rather as the Treasury used to claim it was doing when it dictated Bank Rate to the Bank.

It will all seem frightfully reasonable, all the more so if growth continues to be elusive. Besides, a little more inflation looks like a small price to pay for spreading prosperity. By then, the Bank will have bought in more than a third of Britain’s National Debt, and is likely to be showing a handsome book profit on its investment. However, driving the price up when you’re buying on that scale is easy. Selling the stock back into the market and realising that profit is something else, as Bunker Hunt found out all those years ago when he cornered the silver market.

The nations of the West are currently finding it hard to get inflation going again, but once they succeed, they may find it much harder to stop it. Inflation is a slow-turning engine, and the moment when it’s unfashionable to want protection from it is probably the time to seek some. Now that the UK government has withdrawn index-linked National Savings, and the price of every index-linked gilt guarantees a real-terms loss, there are not many shelters around.

Britain to offer 100-year gilts

The Chancellor hopes that the 100-year gilts will help to "lock in" the benefits of Britain's international "safe haven" status. The interest rates paid by the Government to borrow money have recently fallen to a record low and it is hoped the new gilts will mean "our great-grandchildren" can benefit from the low rates.

Similar gilts have only previously been used to fund the First World War and the fallout from the South Sea Bubble, when speculators almost bankrupted the global economy. The Exchequer is still paying interest on those loans, underlining the scale of the economic crisis now facing the country.

Currently, the average duration of the Government's £1 trillion debt is around 14 years – with maturities ranging from months to a 50-year bond issued in 2005. Longer-dated debt is widely thought to offer a country more stability.

The Prime Minister will formally unveil a “reinvigorated” version of the 'right to buy' policy pioneered by Margaret Thatcher’s Government during the 1980s. If sucessful if could see another two million council homes sold off.
Mr Cameron will say he wants to quadruple the number of tenants who can buy back their own homes and help more “achieve their aspiration of owning their own homes”.
The intervention comes amid a difficult time for Mr Cameron, when he has been accused of being out of touch and too distant from the concerns of ordinary people.
In comments released by Downing Street, Mr Cameron - who is visiting council tenants in London today - will say that he wants to help more people “do up their home, change their front door, improve their garden”.
Mr Cameron will say: “I want many more people to achieve the dream of home ownership. In the 1980s, ‘Right to Buy’ helped millions of people living in council housing achieve their aspiration of owning their own home.
“It gave something back to families who worked hard, paid their rent and played by the rules. It allowed them to do up their home, change their front door, improve their garden – without getting permission from the council.
“It gave people a sense of pride and ownership not just in their home, but in their street and neighbourhood, helping to build strong families and stable mixed communities.”
Since 1980, two million council homes have been bought by tenants under the scheme, which some have said helped define the Thatcherite 1980s.
However, in recent years numbers have fallen to fewer than 4,000 last year because of a fall in the discount to help tenants buy their homes.
The average Right to Buy discount, as a percentage of the market value of the property, fell from 50 per cent in 1998-99 to 24 per cent in 2008-09. In London, the figure fell from 53 per cent to 10 per cent.

Director of Rightmove (LSE: RMV.L - news) Miles Shipside said: "Asking price records are being set in the fresh-stock-starved London and South West regions, and agents report this is also the case in markets in other regions.

"Doing research in your area is essential to gauge what type of property is in demand, how quickly it is selling and how close to the asking price is being achieved."

The results conceal the drop in asking prices in the ailing regions of Wales, the North West and Yorkshire and Humberside over the last year, with falls of 1.5%, 1.2% and 0.2% respectively.

Mr Shipside said: "If only taken at face value, national averages can mask varying degrees of volatility at a regional level.

"The richest seams of housing market activity are concentrated around those with access to cash and finance, with a strong bias to the South and London in particular."

The survey warns that the counter-effect of inflation has eroded real term values.

It said: "If prices had kept pace with inflation (as measured by the retail prices index) since May 2008 then they would now stand at £270,459, so they have fallen by 9.9% in real terms.
..

With a rise of 0.5%, the national average asking price is now £243,737 - compared with the last peak in May 2008 at the start of the recession - according to the Rightmove House Price Index.

In London, the average asking price, at nearly £500,000, is at a historic high, as sellers in the capital drag their heels in bringing fresh property to the market.

Investors from China and Southeast Asia bought one in every two new homes in central London last year as the number of wealthy individuals in the region swells, Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. (JLL) said.

Buyers from China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore accounted for 51 percent of new-property purchases in central London neighborhoods that the broker handled, up from 47 percent in 2010, Jones Lang said in a report today. Hong Kong buyers led Asia with 17 percent of the purchases, the Chicago-based broker said.


The proportion of British buyers fell to 19 percent from 22 percent in 2010, Jones Lang said in the report.

Around three quarters of London-home purchases were made because the investor plans to rent out the property, and 28 percent of buyers used cash to buy the real estate, according to Jones Lang. The neighborhoods used to compile the report were Kensington and Chelsea, City of Westminster, City of London, St. John’s Wood and the Canary Wharf financial district in east London.

According to research by Which?, the consumer group, 70pc of mortgage-holders are concerned about an increase in interest rates. More than a million home owners will see the cost of their mortgage payments increase today as several lenders raise standard variable rate (SVR).
Three quarters of mortgage-holders told the group that they would be affected if their repayments increased by £50 a month, with 41pc saying they would need to cut back on regular spending, 20pc reducing savings and 11pc not having enough for essentials.
An increase of £100 a month would see 20pc of mortgage-holders not having enough for daily essentials such as food and 11pc being unable to pay their mortgage. Consumers also highlighted the emotional impact of increases in mortgage repayments, describing them as "devastating" and "a disaster".
Halifax is raising its SVR from 3.5pc to 3.99pc, affecting 850,000 home owners. Borrowers revert to paying an SVR when their fixed rate deal ends.

Ever wonder why prices in central london are on a completely different planet than the rest of the UK?



http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-1 ... homes.html