WE should self-evidently decline to negotiate over the Falklands with Argentina, with its primitive, puerile and parochial claim to those islands, especially given the numerous sacrifices of life and limb in the carnage 30 years ago.

Try to imagine the additional chaos reigning if we endeavoured to redistribute sovereignty upon the whole planet purely on the basis of historical and geographical considerations.

As for a local referendum on the Falklands’ future, the outcome would indubitably be even more utterly overwhelming than was the case in Gibraltar, with the latter’s less tragic past, far greater accessibility, relevance and ethnic diversity, ‘de facto’ bilingualism, etc.

However, such a ballot would constitute a two-edged sword, as it could be construed as implying that there existed a modicum of doubt on our part and proposed – even if (perish the thought) independent observers were deemed advisable – that those alleged pajueranos (River Plate term = bumpkin, local yokel) had been bullied, brainwashed, bribed or whatever.

Moreover, certain nations, whether totalitarian or relatively democratic at any given time, do not pay too much heed to the wishes of the people, do they?

DAVID DIMENT, Riverside Court, Oxford