The Empire is still thrashing the world, as it should. All we need now is for those colonials to come to their political senses. After all, we do know that all of them desire to become British again so we should allow them to do so . The barrier is only their political classes worried about losing their positions. Easily solved, tuppence and a Twiglet would be the sort of compensation required, perhaps throw in a couple of glass beads.
Full adult suffrage was introduced to Anguilla in 1952.[7] After a brief period as part of the West Indies Federation (1958–1962), the island of Anguilla became part of the associated state of Saint Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla with full internal autonomy in 1967.[24] However many Anguillans had no wish to be a part of this union, and resented the dominance of St Kitts within it. On 30 May 1967 Anguillans forcibly ejected the St Kitts police force from the island and declared their separation from St Kitts following a referendum.[25][7][26] The events, led by Atlin Harrigan[27] and Ronald Webster among others, became known as the Anguillan Revolution; its goal was not independence per se, but rather independence from Saint Kitts and Nevis and a return to being a British colony.
With negotiations failing to break the deadlock, a second referendum confirming Anguillans’ desire for separation from St Kitts was held and the Republic of Anguilla was declared unilaterally, with Ronald Webster as president. Efforts by British envoy William Whitlock failed to break the impasse and 300 British troops were subsequently sent in March 1969.[7] British authority was restored, and confirmed by the Anguilla Act of July 1971.[7] In 1980, Anguilla was finally allowed to formally secede from Saint Kitts and Nevis and become a separate British Crown colony (now a British overseas territory).[28][29][24][6][7] Since then, Anguilla has been politically stable, and has seen a large growth in its tourism and offshore financing sectors.[7]
Quite, let the example of Anguilla ring out across the oceans!
Well done to that young lady with the boy’s name from St Lucia, last night, striking a blow for the small islands.
You’d have half the world run by Starmer? You sure about this?
There is an “and Barbuda” isn’t there? What do the Barbudans think? If it were called “Barbuda and Anguilla” instead then maybe relations would be better? Even supposedly grown-up countries can argue about being called what bit of Macedonia, or whether an Italian name for South Tyrol is acceptable.
I think there is probably niche room for an “alternative history” series, Man in the High Castle style, in which the empire remained intact. It’d have to alternate some of the actual pre-WW2 history too, as experience shows that being a less cuntish colonist than Belgium isn’t sufficient to retain your colonies. But imagine the Commonwealth as a very close federation. Including, or not, as you please, the United States. That would make an interesting mini-series. Maybe some of the less well-off parts of the federation get fed up with Harold Wilson and invade the motherland to depose him.
I particularly want to know what 1997 looks like under this scenario!
No there isn’t. Wrong small Caribbean island starting with A.
Anguilla? He fought Godzilla, didn’t he?
BiG
The weakness of imagining the empire as a very close federation is that the UK would be one of the members of the federation. The imperial parliament would be something like the European Council.
I suspect that you’d all end up yearning for Brexit.
Mon aéroglisseur est plein d’Anguillas.
Quite so. Antigua and Barbuda, different from Anguilla.
The Anguilla revolt was against being independent along with Kitts, Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda. Sure, sure, we hate foreigners but the closest ones most of all.
Anguilla? I thought that was an eel.
It was a lass called Alfred won for St. Lucia.
Yorkshire, yesterday, was 7th in the overall medal table. I demand independence
“ Yorkshire, yesterday, was 7th in the overall medal table. I demand independence”
As we used to say in the late 60s and 70s, home rule for Yorkshire and Geoff Boycott for president. You’re going to have to get a move on through, Sir Geoff isn’t getting younger.
Newfoundland became an independent dominion, suffered badly from the great depression between the wars, and asked to be taken on again as a colony. That was done and fortunately after the war Canada was persuaded to take it on.
Not a lot of people know that. It’s amazing what you can learn as a boyish stamp collector.
The weakness of imagining the empire as a very close federation is that the UK would be one of the members of the federation. The imperial parliament would be something like the European Council.
You have a very good point there, Boganboy. Where would one put the geographical centre of Anglo-Saxon culture? I suspect it’s somewhere near the Californian coast. It’s like saying where’s the centres of Spanish or Portuguese cultures. They’re certainly not in Iberia. An “Imperial Parliament”would have to include round about a billion Indian voters for a start, wouldn’t it? I don’t think Tim’s Empire would look anything like he thinks it would. The UK would be almost insignificant. Just a quaint historical tourist destination. I always find Brit-centricness amusing. Like the arguments over grammar & spellings. It’s not their language.
It’s like if you got rid of 1776 & the War of Independence, the capital of “The United Kingdom” would probably be in somewhere like Washington. It certainly wouldn’t on the fringe, a hundred miles from France.