Des Browne,The Press And The Navy

I have never been impressed by the Defence Secretary Des Browne.The recent fiasco concerning the freed naval personnel taken captive by the Iranians has only underlined any reservations one might have about Mr Browne. It`s now universally accepted that the naval officers were wrong to commercialise their experience by selling their stories to the Press. What has Mr Browne has to say? Not much other than he wasn`t informed before the decision was taking but only asked `to take note`afterwards. What did he do? Er er he did nothing. It was only after it generated so much backlash and disapproval that he thought fit to take action. Now the rule is to be enforced to stop future reoccurence of this inane and banal scenario. It is akin to locking the stable doors when the horse has bolted. On the whole the Defence Secretary comes across as not being in control of his department at all.

Without making light of the harrowing impression that could have been left on the officers` minds by their captivity i think the whole matter has been blown out of proportion.Bearing in mind that thousands of servicemen have lost their lives or been permanently damaged by injury sustained in this phony adventure otherwise referred to as war on terror,operation iraqui freedom bla bla or other nomenclature that catches Tony or Goerge`s fancy.So what has our Tony got to say about it all ? Of course the Prime Minister in his typical infinite self righteous moral highground mode went all rhetorical "Was it a good idea,No.Do i believe it would happen again? No. Were the people acting in completely good faith and honourably as far as the Navy were concerned ? Yes they were." There you go.

The Spanish Armada

Barely a fortnight ago shareholders of ScottishPower rubberstamped the Scottish company`s takeover bid by the Spanish power company Iberdrola. ScottishPower joined the veritable list of British businesses now under Spanish control. Banco Santander took over Abbey National in 2004, 02 the mobile phone company is now owned by the Spanish telecom company Telefonica while the biggest scalp is arguably the takeover of BAA (British Aiports Authority) last year by Ferrovial.

None of these takeovers however evoked more emotions than this latest one. Once the European Union okayed the bid i knew Iberdrola had the deal in the bag. Convincing the shareholders as to the benefits of the bid was never going to be a hard task. When people stand to make immediate gains any other considerations or values tend to take second place. What was on offer was too tempting for the majority of the shareholders.So the overwhelming majority voted in favour. Just as expected i must say.

One wonders what next for the Spanish marauders.