Selling History

As might be expected in a government with such profound respect for Britain's long and colourful history of fine British chaps doing great British deeds, the Ministry for War and the Colonies has been giving away chunks of our heritage to an American private company. The remains of HMS Victory, which was so British a vessel that it was considered the world's mightiest and then sank with all hands, were discovered at the bottom of the Channel in 2008. The Ministry shrugged off responsibility for the wreck onto a charitable trust, and has allowed Odyssey Marine Exploration, a commercial salvager, to undertake the excavation. In a superbly British piece of market-based idiocy, the negligence of the Ministry for War and the Colonies means that the National Museum of the Royal Navy has had to buy two bronze guns, for the profit of Odyssey Marine Exploration, using money from a grant by the Ministry for War and the Colonies. Of course there is nothing very new in disclaiming all responsibility for our Imperial history; but it's unusual to take it to such lengths.