FCO...

...it is by no means coincedental that the letters FCO appear in the word F**K OFF. For those of us from families that predated the British Empire, and for those of us born after it had finished that empire was/is nothing but a catalogue of disasters. There is of course the point that there was a Europe wide scramble for colonies and thus subsequent power, and one can argue that the colonies of all the powers Britian, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Spain, Portugal suffered through this phase of history. Well its 2005, and the only reason I can see for continuance of the Commonwealth (now there is a serious contradiction in terms!!!!) is that certain old families (and not even that many) both here and in the 'Commonwealth' have vested interests in exploitation of the third world, whether or not that be through selling of arms or exploitation of natural resources/commodities/labour. Thing is that the majority of people can 'turn a buck' without recourse to such methods, and certainly in the 21st Century this is a mode of thought/operation that is certainly passed its sell by date. So in the British context I believe it is time to tell the 'C' of the FCO to F**K OFF, and let the United Kingdom solely have an FO.