Shades of 40 - by Richard... Friday, June 17, 2011

Shades of 40 - by Richard... Friday, June 17, 2011

One of the first events of the Battle of Britain in July 1940 was the bombing of Falmouth Harbour, where two Ju-88s sunk the British tanker Tascalusa and set on fire the 6,000-ton Greek steamer SSMarie Chandris.

In what must feel uncannily like déjà vu, the Failygraph is now reporting explosions in Falmouth Docks (pictured above) as around 40 firefighters tackle a large fire, thought to involve acetylene cylinders.

Back in 1940, during the first fire of Falmouth, another British tanker, the British Chancellor was hit and badly damaged. The Dutch salvage tug Zwarte Zee was damaged by splinters from the blast and later sank. The wharf caught fire and dozens of men had to be rescued by launches and tugs. It was a desperate, frantic endeavour which saved them.

Interesting it is that the second fire of Falmouth should get prompt attention from the Fourth Estate, as the first was kept out of the newspapers by the censor. But, when it comes to existential threats, self-censorship rules the waves. Fires may make good headlines but this one will not threaten Falmouth's existence.

What will finally do what Hitler's Luftwaffe failed to do is the EU's Habitat Directive. As Booker reported in December 2004, and again in January 2005, local deposits of the dead remains of maerl, or calcified seaweed, are present in the harbour, and they are now blocking much needed dock extensions.

Like the 40s episode, this ongoing sage has made the local press, but is being largely ignored by the London media. Fires and other easy issues, the London-centric MSM can handle.

The stuff like how the EU is closing down the industry of our nation is a little more difficult. Until recently, it did not get a look in, although a few months ago The Mail thought the Falmouth story would make a good "quickie" and ran a fairly decent story. Since then, nothing – even though the fight goes on.

Perhaps if, all those years ago the Luftwaffe had done a better job, we wouldn't now need the newspapers to report on the second attempt to close down the docks (and the rest of our industry). But since they seem not much better at reporting the news now than they were 70 years ago – if for very different reasons – perhaps when the docks are finally closed down by the EU, we will never get to know.

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Who would have thought? - by Richard...

Putting the ghastly Baroness Ashton into bat on just about anything would, one might have thought, guarantee failure. But, when you look at her opposition, it is hardly surprising that she has managed to pull a fast one at the UN.

When it comes to battling with "Europe" however, the "Rolls Royce minds" of the FCO are closer to a British Leyland Marina. The enarques – and it is they who will have leveraged Ashton her win – will have seen them coming and, as always, run rings round them.

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Down in the underpants laundry - by Richard...

If Oborne spent a little less time brown-nosing and a little more looking at what is happening in the wider world, it wouldn't be his proboscis that was discoloured and rather odiferous.

Such is the Greek situation, where the IMF is playing very dangerous games, threatening to withdraw funds from Greece completely and trigger a default, unless Germany comes up with the dosh for a second bail-out. And, although this ploy has worked for the moment, it is not the sort of thing you want to be repeating if you are into life-enhancing experiences.

You have to laugh, though, when the Guardian earnestly tells you that senior officials in Brussels are "worried" that time is running out. Papandreou's attempt to form a government, win a vote of confidence and then drive the austerity package through parliament could take longer than scheduled, says the paper, jeopardising the planning in European capitals". Worried? Not exactly the word I would use when the underpants laundry is on overtime – see Oborne, passim.

Mind you, the Guardian's worries are a little closer to home, with the news and media group declaring a £33 million loss from its last financial year. The famous Alan Rusbridger is having to implement his own austerity programme. He has already cut 203 jobs during the last year and it looks as if up to 175 more could be for the chop. No wonder the paper is looking for "content partners". How good of ConservativeHome to oblige, with its own version of a bailout.

However, one weeps rather than laughs at the Failygraph. Having decided this could be Europe's "Lehman moment", with Greek default poised to "send a tsunami" through the eurozone, it consigns its news and analysis to the business section while in the op-ed, Oborne prattles about Cameron's "vision" that he "set out so magnificently in the wake of last year's general election".

We do not recall this "magnificent vision" accommodating the fallout from the wreckage of the eurozone, much less the difficulties of dealing with another "Lehman moment", while fleecing the taxpayer in order to turn us into a "development superpower". But there again, we are not the ones who are pouring millions and billions – soon to be trillions – into a black hole of debt.

There must be a lesson in there somewhere for us bloggers down in the underpants laundry. Perhaps if we too could lose a cool £33 million this year, we could manage to drop our standards sufficiently to match the Guardian. With a billion or two, we might even be able to get down to Oborne's level – difficult, I know, but for that sort of money, it would be worth try.

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