> > <snippity doo dah, snippity eh>Only
> > Southern Ireland (the closest and the most ill-treated) opted
definitively
> > to have nothing to do with the Commonwealth.
>
> Along with Burma, Nepal and all of the ex-colonies in the Middle East.

Yes, sorry - not to mention countries leaving and rejoining. Still,
apologies - I got carried away with myself there - happily writing postings
and winging them out into cyberspace without tying up all the loose ends.
Careless, I know, but what the heck? At least when I lecture on this kind of
stuff I get paid for it!

> The vast majority of course, remain members.

Which is the main point.

__________________________________________________________
"For the British, the existence of the Commonwealth has helped ease the pain
of the loss of their once-mighty empire. There can be no doubt that no other
empire in history left behind such a financial, cultural and political
network. Not Greece, Rome, Germany, France, Portugal or Spain."
(http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=21707)
__________________________________________________________

Thanks for the Orwell link, but with Bleak House *and* Burmese Days in one
day the Yahoos might need time to recover. ;-)

--
John
http://rarebooksinjapan.com