....and the worst fetch of the week....

In the wake of the Costa Concordia disaster TV crews and the media in general are climbing over each other to get good vox pop and expert witness interviews. The general secretary of Nautilus union has talked good sense about the drive for increased profit leading to the principles of naval architecture being disregarded as the size of cruise ships doubles in a decade. We have had the shifty looking captain who was seen stepping into a taxi moments after his ship had settled on the rocks. Mr and Mrs Brits Abroad have been complaining about the crew speaking foreign languages and the lack of safety procedures (normally they would be holding forth about health and safety gone mad- now they can't get enough of it.) Filipino crew members are wondering if they will ever see their wages (don't hold your breath lads) and there is plenty of footage in the can of passengers recounting how one minute they were watching the cabaret and the next plunged into darkness and knee deep in salmon mousse. By far the best story however, and one that will go down in the annals of both maritime disasters and the Magic Circle, is the one from the young conjurer's assistant who was on stage shut inside a box (presumably waiting to be sawn in half) when the ship ploughed into the solid stuff at 15 knots. Whatever show business throws at her in future will seem but a mere bagatelle in comparison.