Time to end the Commonwealth

[Wanderer]

On 9/11/2022 at 6:13 PM, Haole.TH said:

Will you enumerate the "strengths and advantages" that you mention?
England is not the military might they once were and certainly do not "own" the seas as they used to.
What does the UK provide that these independent nations need after the money they pass on to the CW?

Is there true free-trade between all CW nations?

Can a CW person travel freely between all CW nations with no restrictions and no Visa?
Or rather do all CW people get a UK passport as well as their own national passport?

Ireland (and N. Ireland) should be 1 country.  UK should be able to see this since they can't seem to get BREXIT rules (now a recognized treaty) right between EU (Ireland) and UK (specifically N. Ireland).

You have a very simplistic and superficial view of the island of Ireland, but you are correct that the UK is wrong to capitulate to the EU protocol. 

I recently read that the EU was refusing to allow Ireland to keep their power stations open as they were past their fit for use age. Now I read that Germany are keeping theirs open, so I suppose Ireland got permission too. 

[Wanderer]

On 9/10/2022 at 11:43 AM, KaptainRob said:

I agree SW, now would be a good time to sever the umbilical.  Australia and NZ have expressed as much in the past but failed to move on it for the reasons you've expressed so well.

NZ, under John Key, even attempted a change a flag but the mechanism they chose for selection saw that idea thwarted.  There was tremendous opposition to removing the Union Jack although as each year passes, those who still have close ties to the UK and/or memories of WW2, are fewer and less vocal.

Now, only history binds the colonies to Britain.

I think you omitted to mention that in Australia (not sure about NZ) voting shows that the majority prefer things the way they are. 

[Karolyn]

The Commonwealth is, a way for GB to maintain its influence around the world, without the nastiness of imperialism.

In theory it's, a force for national autonomy, and at its worst, it simply does nothing, surely? Its nothing to worry about. 

[Soidog]

Seems a lot of misunderstanding of what the commonwealth is all about. Most people think it’s some remnants of the British Empire hanging in there. nothing could be further from the truth.
 

https://thecommonwealth.org/news/gabon-and-togo-join-commonwealth

Have a read and inform yourself: https://thecommonwealth.org/about/joining

https://www.republic.org.uk/the_commonwealth

https://apnews.com/article/africa-zimbabwe-southern-harare-robert-mugabe-d255d54cbbee4db5b0cab43e70eac510

A Wikipedia quote explains nicely:

The symbol of this free association is King Charles III, who serves as the Head of the Commonwealth. This position, however, does not imbue him with any political or executive power over any Commonwealth member states; the position is purely symbolic, and it is the Commonwealth Secretary-General who is the chief executive of the Commonwealth.^[3]