It's high time this old dispute was given a civilised solution

With the 30th anniversary of the 1982 conflict approaching, Argentina's feisty president Cristina Kirchner says the islands should be handed over to her command.

Lord West, a decorated veteran of the 1982 battle, says we should send a gunboat, in the shape of a patrol submarine, and hold military manoeuvres to deter the Argentinians from a repeat performance of their invasion.

These are familiar arguments with a familiar ring. A lot has moved on in the South Atlantic since 1982 and it is time for a new solution to an old problem.

The Falklands have grown much richer in that time, from fishing and tourism. There is even greater potential in the oil and gas in the huge Malvina Basin running between the islands and the South American mainland, once regarded as too difficult to exploit, but now becoming commercially viable as technology improves.

This, I think, has changed attitudes in the South American continent. Now Uruguay, Paraguay - though it has no coast - and, crucially, Brazil, have said they back Mrs Kirchner's latest pronouncements on the Falklands. Moreover, the US is unlikely to support Britain in any further confrontation in the South Atlantic - and in 1982 Ronald Reagan's generous assistance was crucial to Britain recovering the islands.

Arguments about whether the UK has the military muscle to mount a similar operation to that of 1982 - and it almost certainly doesn't - make good copy and harrumphing leader columns for the Daily Telegraph. But they are almost completely beside the point.

The status of the Falklands as a Crown Dependency is an anomaly and an anachronism, not only to Latin American countries but to many in the broad stream membership of the United Nations as well.

But equally out of date is the Argentinian wish that the Falklands/Malvinas should swap from a British to an Argentinian colony. The answer should be for the Falklands and their 3,000 inhabitants to apply to the Fourth Committee of the UN for sovereign independence. This could be cemented by acknowledged close Commonwealth ties to the UK, with Brazil and the US as guarantors.

As important is some neutral status, possibly a UN trusteeship, for South Georgia, and the archipelago of islands running south to Antarctica. This is particularly urgent given the increasingly rapacious attitude of Buenos Aires governments towards exploitation of natural resources across the region. This includes the Antarctic continent - despite being against the spirit and letter of the Antarctic Treaty of 1961.

It's time this old dispute was dragged into this century and given the civilised solution that is long overdue.