South Atlantic Way...

It was 1982. I remember it well. I had graduated from University, had a Maths teacher as my then girlfriend and life was pretty good! And then, out of nowhere really, the news was dominated by Argentina invading somewhere I had never heard of before - the Falkland Islands, way down in the South Atlantic. I was a fan of Margaret Thatcher even then (I know!!!) and she did not hesitate to protect that British oversea territory.

The Falklands War began on 2 April 1982 when Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. Thatcher rapidly sent a naval task force, declared a 200‑mile exclusion zone and retook South Georgia by late April. Through May, intense air‑sea battles saw the sinking of the General Belgrano, HMS Sheffield, Coventry and Atlantic Conveyor, while British troops established a bridgehead at San Carlos and won at Goose Green. In June, successive night assaults captured key high ground around Port Stanley, forcing the Argentine commander to surrender on 14 June after 74 days of fighting.

It was a famous British victory and like many others at the time, I felt jubilant at our victory. As in ALL wars, there was loss of life. 255 Brits lost their lives and 649 Argentinians. Three Falklanders lost their lives, killed by friendly fire, ironically.

Things settled down and to be honest I haven’t really thought that much about the Falklands - until now!

A leaked internal Pentagon email has floated the idea of reviewing US diplomatic support for Britain’s claim to the Falkland Islands as one option for punishing NATO allies seen as not backing the US‑Israeli war against Iran. The US State Department has since reiterated that Washington’s formal stance remains one of neutrality on Falklands/Malvinas sovereignty, recognising UK administration de facto but not taking a side on the underlying claim. But can you blame the US?

The UK has chosen to sit out the Iran war, going as far as to DENY the US initial access to its airbases for attacks on the Mullahs. This has gone down VERY badly in Washington and so perhaps the lack of support should be reciprocated in a way that the UK does not appreciate?

There is one other factor to take into account. In 1982, the UK sent 127 ships to the South Atlantic to defend the Falklands in the space of a few days. In 2026 it took THREE weeks to send ONE warship to the Mediterranean where it promptly broke down! I believe that contrary to the claims from Downing Street we do not have the capability to defend the Falklands should Argentina decide to take them over. We don’t even have the capability to defend the UK for goodness sake!

I support the Falkland Islanders right to be British but I fear that we have allowed our military assets to be so downgraded that without US help, Argentina could take the Falklands and all Starmer would do is bluster about “International Law”