# Bahamas Damage and Recovery - What's the UK's role? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 6, 2019, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bahamas-damage-and-recovery-whats-the-uks-role/839804 "2019-09-06T17:37:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bahamas-damage-and-recovery-whats-the-uks-role/839804/21 "2019-09-06T22:11:12Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Really? Did you really think the UK was still governing Canada, Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Tanzania, Malaysia, Belize, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and a few dozen other countries? I don’t think you need to think that before wondering if the UK should be the de facto leader in these things. I wouldn’t, but I can imagine people even in the UK (where I live) assuming that. The UK does seem to think that given the amount of support they had prepared for the recovery. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bahamas-damage-and-recovery-whats-the-uks-role/839804/22 "2019-09-07T02:49:50Z")
> [@slash2k](#): > > The Queen is however symbolic head of the Commonwealth as a whole (“Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith”). She is Queen and Defender of the Faith by hereditary succession. She is Head of the Commonwealth because the sovereign members of the Commonwealth chose her to be Head. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bahamas-damage-and-recovery-whats-the-uks-role/839804/23 "2019-09-07T12:08:56Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I learned today that Britain is not a leader in the Commonwealth. While you’re learning, I’d point out that it’s properly _today I learned_. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bahamas-damage-and-recovery-whats-the-uks-role/839804/24 "2019-09-07T17:15:11Z")
> [@Driver8](#): > > The Bahamas is a 100% independent sovereign nation. It’s about 99.99% independent - the highest court of appeal in the Bahamas is the [Judicial Committee of the Privy Council](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_Committee_of_the_Privy_Council#Overseas_jurisdiction) back in the UK. Many of the Caribbean Realms likewise. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bahamas-damage-and-recovery-whats-the-uks-role/839804/25 "2019-09-07T17:55:03Z")
But that’s not really a question of independence, to my mind. The JCPC is the their final court of appeal because they’ve chosen it to be that, not because Britain has imposed it. the Bahamas could end that tomorrow if they wanted, but they have chosen to keep it. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bahamas-damage-and-recovery-whats-the-uks-role/839804/26 "2019-09-07T18:06:40Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > But that’s not really a question of independence, to my mind. The JCPC is the their final court of appeal because they’ve chosen it to be that, not because Britain has imposed it. the Bahamas could end that tomorrow if they wanted, but they have chosen to keep it. Oh aye, absolutely. I just commented to illustrate that the webs that bind the Commonwealth countries aren’t always that obvious. I mean the UK itself isn’t a 100% independent nation (at the time of writing anyway). ---
**Author:** ![Grim\_Render](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@Grim\_Render](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grim_Render)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bahamas-damage-and-recovery-whats-the-uks-role/839804/27 "2019-09-07T20:25:48Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Bolding mine. > > The odd thing is that Rwanda was never in the British sphere of influence, being a German and then a Belgian possession before independence, but they successfully applied to join the Commonwealth anyway. Mozambique, a Portuguese colony, did the same. > > There is clearly some perceived value in membership - soft power, mutual support, networking, the biennial Heads of Government meeting/piss-up… Its not well known, but after WW2, Norway inquired about joining. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bahamas-damage-and-recovery-whats-the-uks-role/839804/28 "2019-09-08T03:21:53Z")
> [@Grim\_Render](#): > > Its not well known, but after WW2, Norway inquired about joining. _record scratch_ What?!? Seems like it was a tentative stab at a really quite close economic union too. Huh, learned something new today. I wonder how that would have turned out? ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bahamas-damage-and-recovery-whats-the-uks-role/839804/29 "2019-09-08T04:11:59Z")
Could have been quite positive for the Scottish part of the UK. Orkney’s closer to Oslo than it is to London, as I recall being told by a number of Orcadians (even Aberdeen’s about 50:50) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bahamas-damage-and-recovery-whats-the-uks-role/839804.md?page=1)