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Rejoice, Mary Tudor!

The moment I saw this headline: Macron vows to renegotiate Calais treaty with Britain, I felt a frisson of excitement, and no doubt Mary Tudor’s ghostly inscribed heart started beating once again! Perhaps for the first time since January 8th, 1558, that splendid little town will soon be back under its rightful rulers.

15 comments to Rejoice, Mary Tudor!

  • Edward

    Personally, I don’t think we should settle for anything less than the return of the whole Angevin Empire, the Duchy of Normandy and the Pale of Calais. After all, if half of France votes for Mme Le Pen, and she doesn’t win, this is a way for half of France to get their wish and leave the EU along with us… 😀

  • Paull Marks

    Agreed Perry. And agreed Edward.

  • bobby b

    ” . . . that splendid little town will soon be back under its rightful rulers.”

    Are you sure the Eritreans will still want it?

  • TomO

    I wonder who put that idea in his head?

    As in – I rather doubt that he arrived independently at that particular course of action – because if he did and if he wins – it points to a mindset that will cause a deal of trouble – big time.

  • Mr Ed

    I would be prepared to be flexible, and perhaps swap some of the Calais hinterland for a bit more coast down to Boulogne, which I have always found to be more pleasant than Calais. Perhaps also take Mimoyecques, site of the V-3 cannon which was destroyed by Dr Barnes Wallis’s magnificent Tallboy bombs, as explained by the narrator at 1′ 05″.

  • Patrick Crozier

    Jonathan Aitken had many failings but membership of the Committee for the Reconquest of France was not one of them.

  • Bill

    I believe from the link that this negotiation would involve the movement of the international border from Calais to Britain, allowing the French authorities to facilitate the flow of ‘refugees’ across the Channel so that they become the responsibility of the UK authorities once on British soil. This would move the refugee camp out of Calais and over to, say, Dover so the Jungle would reform there. This would completely suit the Calais mayor and all the French so that Calais would be just a transit point not a refugee camp.

    Macron’s announcement is a sop to the Calais voters instead of being serious about fixing the international ‘refugee’ problem – it is intended to move the problem over to England instead of it remaining a running sore in France. The British government is largely to blame for this with their overly attractive benefits and housing schemes for migrants, but i’m not sure that they deserve what France has planned for the migrants wanting to get to Britain.

  • Bulldog Drumond

    Macron’s announcement is a sop to the Calais voters instead of being serious about fixing the international ‘refugee’ problem

    No shit, Sherlock. I’m sure everyone will be shocked, shocked I tell you, to discover that.

  • bob sykes

    How about enforcing the Treaty of Brétigny? Send the Frogs back to the Ile de France.

  • Pat

    The camps will stay in France whatever. The only question is whether illegals are stopped before they can board the ferry/enter the tunnel, and who by. The worst that can happen is the closure of the port of Calais.

  • Regional

    Ulster and Scotland could be handed back to the Frogs as they are both embuggerances.
    600,000 Scots and 800,000 Irish expelled from England would remove a lot of pressure on housing affordability and restore jobs to Englishmen and reducing the Budget deficit. The Celts can just Foxtrot Oscar.

  • It may occur to the Calais folk that Macron’s ‘vow’ in fact shows he will do nothing whatever to solve, or even contain, the migrant problem in France – he would have no need to try and make it easier for migrants to reach England if he had the least intent or expectation of doing anything in France. Mind you, they might manage to work that out without the hint of this ‘vow’.

    (It might also occur to them that in the unlikely event he managed to transfer serious problems across the channel, it could give rise to thoughts of closing the chunnel temporarily; I believe Calais and region derives benefit from it.)

  • Phil B

    Well, the UK can play “Le Twat” too …

    First off, build a cage at the English end of the channel tunnel large enough to contain a complete train. Every one off and processed on the spot. Those that pass walk out of the cage to a waiting train outside the cage, all the rest are returned on the same train. In other words, the train does not enter British territory but remains within the tunnel.

    Next, cage off every port that receives ferries from the continent. EVERY lorry and vehicle that disembarks from the continent is checked for stowaways (either unload it all – my favoured approach, just to be awkward – or X-rayed for stowaways). Again, all illegals are shipped back on the same ship.

    Implement a “no one receives ANY benefit unless they have been in the UK for 5 years” regardless. Note how the flow of illegal immigrants into the USA has severely reduced when Trump declared that all illegals would be deported. In other words, it isn’t worth the effort. Could that work in Britain? What do you think?

    That, plus checking every car for compliance with Use and Construction Regulations and imposing a 100% import tarrif on all cars and other EU produced goods should concentrate their minds somewhat.

    Unreasonable? I recall an incident years ago when Japan refused to import French manufactured skis on some made up excuse or technicality and the French (bless their socks du cottone) responded by “requiring” every video recorder imported from Japan to be “checked”. If I recall correctly, they allocated the Custom Post in Clermont Ferrand to do the checking which involved opening the carton, checking serial numbers etc. There were three customs officials at Clermont Ferrand … Strangely enough, on consideration, the Japanese found out that the French skis somehow complied with the standards they imposed … Odd, that, eh?

  • Nicholas (Unlicenced Joker) Gray

    Who owns the tunnel now? Can’t some codominium be put in place?

  • Phil B

    How about a demolition charge placed at the lowest point of the channel tunnel and powerful enough to reach the sea bed when detonated?

    Or will the environmentalists complain about the ecological damage to the sea bed and the flooding of the tunnel might disturb the lesser short eared bats or something similar?