I strongly disagree with Mr Jeffrey (Letters, March 17) who said that Britain should give away the Falklands, Gibraltar and Northern Ireland and inferred we should be ashamed of 300 years of British imperialism.

I am proud of being British and living in a nation that built an empire on which the sun never set and bred people like Drake, Nelson, Cook and many more brave people.

People in the countries he named may wish to be loyal to Britain, but prefer to stay in the countries in which they were born and do not want to be ruled by another country.

T E Myers,

Lowick,

Woodthorpe,

York.

...one's first instinct on reading a letter betraying such ignorance at Mr. Jeffrey's letter about giving back the Falklands and Northern Ireland is to ignore it. But if everyone does that it may appear that we all hold similarly ludicrous views.

Firstly the factual errors. Hong Kong was and is in no way comparable to the Falklands, Northern Ireland, or Gibraltar. A large part of what we call Hong Kong was never owned by Britain, it was leased; legally (if regrettably) it had to be returned. Mrs Thatcher was hardly the type to hand it back otherwise.

The remainder would have been unviable on its own. Hong Kong was also populated by a vast majority of Chinese. Gibraltar is not populated by Spaniards, nor the Falklands by Argentinians.

Secondly, for us to 'return' these parts then prior ownership has to be proved. The Falkland Islands - several hundred miles from Argentina, hardly near neighbours - were discovered (uninhabited) by a Briton and occupied by France, Spain, Argentina and then Britain again.

Gibraltar was ceded to Britain legally 200 years ago. Northern Ireland was being settled/occupied by protestants from the 1600s or earlier.

We are in the process of dismantling Great Britain back to Wales, Scotland and England, not for geographical reasons, but because the people of Wales and Scotland apparently want it. So why shouldn't the people of Northern Ireland, Falkland and Gibraltar similarly be allowed self-determination ?

Clive Tiney,

Towthorpe Road,

Haxby,

York.

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