| What follows the big freeze? FIRST it was volcanic ash. Now the big freeze has paralysed the air transport system again, not just in Europe and North America but across the world because every cancelled flight has two ends to it. Suddenly this vital component of the world economic system looks fragile and vulnerable. They say the closed airports in Britain are costing the country a billion pounds a day. What if the current freeze-up turns out to be not an aberration but part of a changing weather pattern? Can anyone recall temperatures as low, in supposedly temperate Britain, as are being recorded right now? Will 21st century man have to rethink his reliance on air transport? Can any country afford losing a billion pounds a day? Sea travel would not have been shut down by the freeze-up. If the weather pattern should persist, will we see a return to it. It would, of course, be most retrogressive. Three weeks from Durban to Southampton, with stop-offs at East London, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town and the Canary Islands. Three meals a day for three weeks. Duty-free drinks. Dancing every night. Shipboard romance. Deck quoits. Deckchairs. Degenerate relaxation. We surely aren't going to return to those dark days. But if Union Castle should set up shop again – remember where you read it first! Old-style justice A FRIEND overseas with a background in shipping sends the account of a Russian oil tanker that was captured by Somali pirates. The European Union naval force that patrols those waters hung back from intervening, fearing casualties. However, commandos of the Russian Navy boarded the tanker, released their captured compatriots and freed the vessel. Then they boarded the pirate vessel, taking back the pirates they had captured. They searched the vessel for weapons and explosives, handcuffed all the pirates to the rail then blew the ship up and watched it sink. Harsh? Brutal? Certainly. But illegal? The Russians say not. They are not bound by the human rights and other legislation of the European Union. They operate by the international law of the sea as it was in the 18th and 19th centuries, when the fate of captured pirates was in the hands of the captain of the rescuing vessel. Usually they were summarily hanged. Will Russian-flagged ships be attacked in future? Makes ya think. Political brawl SIX MEMBERS of parliament have been hospitalised after a brawl broke out in the Ukrainian legislature. After a fight involving fists and flying chairs, MPs from the pro-presidential Party of Regions forced opposition members out of the parliament hall. I didn't realise Cope were operating in the Ukraine as well. Heisters nabbed ATM ROBBERS in Manchester, England, slipped a belt round a cash machine, attached it to a car in the street outside then put foot on the accelerator. The ATM was wrenched from its mountings but did not fit through the door. As the car wheelspan and smoked, but remained at a standstill, valuable seconds were being lost with the police on their way. Then the three robbers fled on foot with the police close behind. They were caught and have already appeared in court and been sentenced to lengthy jail terms. Now they've got time to figure out where things went wrong. Tailpiece A POLISH immigrant marries a South African girl. His English is far from perfect but they get on very well.
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Last word
The follies which a man regrets most, in his life, are those which he didn't commit when he had the opportunity.
GRAHAM LINSCOTT
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