Gibraltar and the Falklands

Humphrey CarterPalma02/11/2015 00:00

Last week, apparently a quiet one in Gibraltar from the Spanish media’s point of view, a few media outlets did manage to find one story which they got extremely excited and infuriated about. "Gibraltar troops on manoeuvres with their counterparts in Morocco, Chief Minister of Gibraltar Fabian Picardo to attend" was the ground-breaking news.

Strictly speaking, the media reports were incorrect. Yes, there is a Royal Gibraltar Regiment but it is part of the British Army, therefore, the British Army was on manoeuvres in Morocco, something which is quite common.

Why it was such a big issue for the Spanish media? I do not understand. I very much doubt that the British media have the slightest interest in what the Spanish armed forces do, unless they actually invade Gibraltar. So, with a Gib yarn in print, the following day it was Britain’s spat with Argentina over the Falklands, or rather the fact that Jeremy Clarkson has been threatened with three years in jail as Argentina reopens Falklands row probe into a Top Gear stunt filmed on location in Argentina, that attracted some serious amount of print space in the Spanish papers.

On the one hand, British holidaymakers pretty much keep the country’s tourist industry going, Britain loves Spain, but on the other, few people actually seem to appreciate it, all they want to do is wind us up. Why?