Last week Argentina’s football team posed for a photograph in front of a huge professionally prepared banner stating in Spanish that the Falkland Islands (or Las Malvinas as Argentina refers to them) are Argentine property.

Legally and factually this is incorrect since the islands, through the democratic decision of the occupants, remain British territory. In spite of this the fact remains that Argentina’s age old claim to the south Atlantic islands is alive and well.

In 1982 Argentina seized the Falklands by force and were then swiftly defeated and removed by a British task force. Since then the islanders have reaffirmed their desire to remain with the UK. This clearly doesn’t impress Argentina and the danger remains that some hot-headed dictator in a desperate bid to gain popularity might try to invade the islands just as General Galtieri did in 1982.

Since 1982 the UK’s military power has been dramatically reduced and it would be a lot harder to win back the islands by force as we did back then. Perhaps more significantly I doubt whether there would be the political or public will to take any action at all. So, assuming that this is true what is to be done to avert possible catastrophe?

Well, short of threatening to bomb Buenos Aires or sell the islands to Argentina (both extremely unlikely!) it seems to me that the best way forward would be to hand the problem over to the United Nations. This could be done by the Falklands declaring themselves an independent republic (whilst remaining part of the Commonwealth) and then, on the basis of a feared invasion by Argentina, request that the UN sends in a peace-keeping force to protect them. That should make the Argentines think twice!