Insensitive

Trade unions and even Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition have reacted indignantly to P&O Ferries' arbitrary sacking of eight hundred crew who somehow lacked equivalent or superior protection to that given by the EU. Risking dismissal on grounds of left-wing extremism, the shadow transport secretary condemned "the actions of thugs" by foreign security hirelings manhandling British sailors. Her Majesty's Government was more cautious: taking a delicate leaf from the Blairite prayerbook, the Downing Street spokesbeing implied that the whole business would have been fine if only the company had used more emollient language. The Minister for Being All at Sea affirmed that P&O's finances, presumably including the loose change they received from the British taxpayer during the pandemic, were a matter for the company alone. On the other hand, even British law stipulates that employers must give the Government forty-five days' snigger time if they intend to sack more than a hundred people at once, and ministers are thus far denying that they received any such notice. Given the levels of hard work and efficiency within Her Majesty's Government, it is of course more than possible that the email in question was deleted unread when someone saw that no party favours were attached.