Sunken Treasures

An encouraging new maritime trend appears to be developing among the squillionaires. Three months ago a toy boat worth about six million pounds was destroyed by fire at Torquay; now a vessel worth three times that much has burned up in the Balearics. Delivered brand-new mere weeks ago, the boat had five staterooms, a private lounge with a terrace, and a pool in case the sea wasn't big enough. The owner, a car industry magnate, is estimated to be worth five hundred million dollars, and is therefore a comparative pauper in his class; but as we wait in forlorn hope for Fishy Rishi to be torn apart by a raging mob of taxpayers, and for Elon Musk to share the fate of Laika the canine cosmonaut, and for Rupert Murdoch to be crushed to death in a football stadium, we humbler folk must take our Schadenfreude where we find it.