Toby Atkin-Wright

Fraser Nelson has an interesting post on The Spectator web site, where he looks at the impact that the BP oil disaster — and Obama’s reaction to it — will have on Anglo-American relations, and at the blame game currently being played.

Nelson points out that BP is a truly multinational company, with 40% British and 39% American shareholding, and a board of directors that includes six British and six American members. Yet Obama has consistently referred to the company as “British Petroleum”, a name it hasn’t used in over ten years.

Maybe it serves Obama’s political interests to talk down BP, to emphasise their non-American former name, to call for the sacking of their senior management, and to interfere with their plans to pay a dividend. After all, getting angry on TV will divert interest from his inability to make a difference.

BP has committed to fix the leak and to pay for the cleanup. It strikes me that we should be supporting the company for the sake or the cleanup, for their ongoing business, for their 92,000 employees worldwide, and for the pension funds on both sides of the Atlantic who are their major shareholders. We all have a stake in this.

Fraser Nelson has an interesting post on The Spectator web site, where he looks at the impact that the BP oil disaster — and Obama’s reaction to it — will have on Anglo-American relations, and at the blame game currently being played.

Nelson points out that BP is a truly multinational company, with 40% British and 39% American shareholding, and a board of directors that includes six British and six American members. Yet Obama has consistently referred to the company as “British Petroleum”, a name it hasn’t used in over ten years.

Maybe it serves Obama’s political interests to talk down BP, to emphasise their non-American former name, to call for the sacking of their senior management, and to interfere with their plans to pay a dividend. After all, getting angry on TV will divert interest from his inability to make a difference.

BP has committed to fix the leak and to pay for the cleanup. It strikes me that we should be supporting the company for the sake or the cleanup, for their ongoing business, for their 92,000 employees worldwide, and for the pension funds on both sides of the Atlantic who are their major shareholders. We all have a stake in this.

Kate and I watched The Sea Wolves this evening, a 1980 war film starring Gregory Peck, Roger Moore, David Niven, and a large cast of older British actors. It is based on the true story of a reserve regiment made up of expats, the Calcutta Light Horse, attacking German ships in a neutral harbour in Portuguese Goa during WWII.

Despite being set in 1943, much of the film looks straight out of the 1970s. It would be hard to claim that this is a good film, but it is entertaining, and contains many familiar faces. Kate pointed out that when she worked as a dental assistant she had two of the cast as patients, one in London and one in Frome.

There was a splendid scene with Peck, Moore, Niven, and Patrick Macnee, all looking deeply disreputable on a dockside, just before stealing an Indian riverboat. Joy.

Kate and I watched The Sea Wolves this evening, a 1980 war film starring Gregory Peck, Roger Moore, David Niven, and a large cast of older British actors. It is based on the true story of a reserve regiment made up of expats, the Calcutta Light Horse, attacking German ships in a neutral harbour in Portuguese Goa during WWII.

Despite being set in 1943, much of the film looks straight out of the 1970s. It would be hard to claim that this is a good film, but it is entertaining, and contains many familiar faces. Kate pointed out that when she worked as a dental assistant she had two of the cast as patients, one in London and one in Frome.

There was a splendid scene with Peck, Moore, Niven, and Patrick Macnee, all looking deeply disreputable on a dockside, just before stealing an Indian riverboat. Joy.