The Falklands were awash with oilmen when I visited in 1998, but the crash of the oil price to near $10/barrel caused them to cut the exploratory drilling program short. If it were as promising as it is sometimes made out to be, I think they would have been back sooner. Various attempts to look for gold, diamonds etc, there have come to little.

I think the main reason we fought a war with Argentina was because Mrs Thatcher had become so unpopular that a war was about the only thing that could save her political career.

The war and subsequent defence of the Falkland Islands have been costly to Britain. The islands are an autonomous dependency, so the economic benefits of the minerals and fish of the Falkland Islands go mainly to the Falkland Islanders, all 2000 or so of them, not the British. When I visited, I think they had one of the world's highest gdp/capita, free healthcare, no income tax and a generous pension, mainly paid for on the back of fishing licences for squid. Catches have since gone down, so I don't think things are quite as wonderful as they used to be. Low wool prices haven't helped them either.