May 2015 UK General Election Campaign.

[Admiral Yi]

I guess I missed where I suggested the others didn't.  But more importantly the Hong Kongers asked for it and the others did not.

OK.  So anyone who asked for it should have gotten it, and it would have been a fucking disgrace if they hadn't?

[Valmy]

I guess I missed where I suggested the others didn't.  But more importantly the Hong Kongers asked for it and the others did not.

OK.  So anyone who asked for it should have gotten it, and it would have been a fucking disgrace if they hadn't?

Yep.  Same as if we denied people in our territories American citizenship.  But in this case Hong Kong did not vote to join China, there was no anti-British independence movement, or anything that would justify denying them their request.  They were loyal to the British Empire and that loyalty should have been rewarded.

[The Brain]

Why would the UK want large numbers of citizens living in Communist China?

[Valmy]

Why would the UK want large numbers of citizens living in Communist China?

Spies.

[mongers]

I guess I missed where I suggested the others didn't.  But more importantly the Hong Kongers asked for it and the others did not.

OK.  So anyone who asked for it should have gotten it, and it would have been a fucking disgrace if they hadn't?

Yep.  Same as if we denied people in our territories American citizenship.  But in this case Hong Kong did not vote to join China, there was no anti-British independence movement, or anything that would justify denying them their request.  They were loyal to the British Empire and that loyalty should have been rewarded.

Why are you surprised, that's almost Thatcherism in tooth and claw. And Mono exemplifies it still further, he both worships her and endorses the ideology by crowing how he got citizenship and shows zero sympathy with those loyal Hong Kong residents who got nothing. 

Why so many Americans worship here I don't understand, I guess they didn't have first hand experience of her divisive policies and just swallow the mythologised soft focus neo-liberal econo-porn.

[Admiral Yi]

Why so many Americans worship here I don't understand

Languish is a sacred place. 

[Agelastus]

Why so many Americans worship here I don't understand

Languish is a sacred place. 

"So say we all".

[Sheilbh]

Why did Hong Kongese deserve UK citizenship and other colonial subjects did not?  Hong Kongese were not the only ones to come under an unpleasant regime after being cut loose.

Other colonial subjects had citizenship. That's why West Indian migration in the 40s and 50s was such a big issue. It was very difficult to square the principles of 'Empire' with the unpopularity of tens of thousands of black West Indians arriving.

By the 70s we didn't have many colonies or dependant territories left.

[mongers]

So what you're saying is that Cameron's election act is a shoddy piece of work?

Not just Shelf. There's pretty much unanimity that it's an awful Act which needs to be repealed/replace asap.

Quick fix. Just repeal the 2/3 majority provision which is a disgustingly unBritish provision no has absolutely no place in our constitution.

It is so unBritish that I find that I cannot really believe in it. No doubt it will be dispensed with whenever it is convenient.

Given that a sizeable majority of British Languishites don't like it and would be happy to see it repealed, I predict that'll never happen, might was well be written in stone. 

[Monoriu]

It was the 11th hour and the British Empire couldn't even do the right thing in its dying lurch.  Disappointing.  Hong Kong had been a loyal colony for over a century, it was the least they could do for them.

Actually, Thatcher did grant "the right to live in the UK" to a small number of HKers.  The rich, professionals, civil servants, people with ties with the UK etc.  Like 150,000 people out of 6 million.  Among them were my wife's parents 

[Admiral Yi]

Other colonial subjects had citizenship. That's why West Indian migration in the 40s and 50s was such a big issue. It was very difficult to square the principles of 'Empire' with the unpopularity of tens of thousands of black West Indians arriving.

By the 70s we didn't have many colonies or dependant territories left.

Any West Indian that requests citizenship gets it?  Still now?

[Sheilbh]

Any West Indian that requests citizenship gets it?  Still now?

No, but when they were subjects of the British Empire. The governments in the 40s and the 50s had huge issues finding a way of restricting West Indian immigration in a way that wouldn't just institute a colour bar, which would go against the principle of being a British subject.

As independence increased the issue was how to deal with Commonwealth citizenship which was more manageable.

Edit: It was also a big issue of race relations as West Indians and other immigrants who'd been taught that they were British subjects were very quickly told by the British population that they weren't, that they were foreign and racially other. I think we've mostly moved on.

[Admiral Yi]

Did Africans get the same terms as West Indians?

[Sheilbh]

Did Africans get the same terms as West Indians?

I don't think so because they mostly had a legally different status than the West Indies (protectorates v crown colonies and dominions?). I think it's the same distinction that fucked the people of Hong Kong.

[Monoriu]

We only really asked for it after Tian An Men.  The demand actually wasn't citizenship, but right of abode.  Like citizenship minus the vote.