Shedding colonies

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The Brits have shed another colony and this will leave the colonial secretary, if there still is one, short of things to do.

Now that Hong Kong has been handed over lock, stocks and bonds to China, the colonial department will have few places around the world map where it can stick its proprietary pins.

When I went to school an impressive part of the world map was colored red, indicating British Commonwealths, colonies or dependencies.

The British are great for tradition so maybe the colonial secretary will become a titled pooh bah like the Lord Keeper of the Black Rod.

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I can’t say I regret the end of the empire, but the British Commonwealth was a useful aggregation. I attended a meeting of British Commonwealth agriculture ministers in the early 1970s when plans were developed for food aid for Sri Lanka at a time when starvation faced that country.

Back in the Cold War days, if you accepted aid from the United States that put you in one political camp. If aid came from the Soviet Union, you were one of those. Some countries, notably India, got more assistance by playing off the Soviets against the Americans.

But most of the smaller developing countries felt they could shake hands with the Commonwealth without having to count their fingers later.

Now that the Chinese have inherited a strong democratic movement and one of the biggest stock exchanges in the world in Hong Kong, they may develop some doubts about the safety of their fingers in dealing with Britain.