'Our Money Back' Could Cost Us Dear
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Press Cuttings from Broad Street Associates Sunday telegraph 3 1 JAN 1988 JOCK BRUCE-GARDYNE ‘Our money back’ could cost us dear LAST Friday’s Anglo- increase in the sub unless and plan”: Lord Shackleton and his to have been long on charm bad guy$ led by the Germans, sub-committee were not even and short on substance, are—well, bad guys. “Our mon- allowed to see this magic Maybe that was inevitable. ey back” does not come into it. document. But is there not a whiff of But of course it does. And the To one who shared in the the Falklands about the pro- Germans, determined at all reflected glory of George gress of our plans to cut the costs to make the rest of Brown’s National Plan in 1965, European Community’s Europe prop up their allotment this was evidently a harrowing grain silos down to size? farmers, are equally determined experience. For the "space , r",r "■?, SfW&rsfts Office tried to do a deal oith the The Falklandets have cost us onetdal a checkltst of planets Aerentinians But everv time it billions. ‘‘Our money back to be visited, and the timescale, was met by cries of derision and could, paradoxically cost us bil- And they weren t allowed to see reTuHinlTailu^i^/t^to’grips "The case for space". Lord bunch of foreigners. The Argen- with >he community's propen- Shackleton and friendsi con- limans didn't give a damn about shy to shed its oad of surpluses eluded is that it inspires the Falklands- thev were iust a on ever-v global highway drives enthusiasm and it carries pres diversion from their little local the Americans to retaliate. As it tige.A"°ther ^ nnlitiral difficulties might. political punter with the public political difficulties. purse from the post-war years, The Foreign Office knew bet- Space Oliver Lyttelton, once remarked ter. It knew that the Argen- salesman that: “Prestige is another word tinians were pumped up to the aaics a for wasting money.” Like Lord point of imminent combustion. AS BEFITS the son of a cele- shackleton, he knew what he But it couldn’t pass the message brated Polar explorer, Lord was talking about, on, for fear lest that should Shackleton has his eyes on the appear to lend credence to the wide blue yonder. Buenos Aires claim upon the He has done pioneering work islands. on projects to maintain the So it seems to be with “our 1,500 Falklanders in the style of money back”. On this side of life to which they are. accus- the English Channel it is too tomed — at a cost per job to the easily taken for granted that our British taxpayer which would inalienable right to pay a coun- make the Department of Indus try member’s subscription to try gasp. If they haven’t yet the European Club was settled erected a statue to his Lordship once for all at the Fontaine- in Port Stanley, it’s high time bleau summit back in 1984. i they rectified the omission. Once again, the Foreign Office 1 Now he’s gone into orbit, knows better. “The development of space It knows that our partners, is... a great adventure and act of without exception, reckon that faith,” he informed us last Fontainebleau was a rip-off.Yet week. By the sounds of it, Com- t the official British line is that rade Yuri Romanenko would there are really only two points say: “Amen” to that — if he in contention in the endless were in a position to say any- wra ngels over cash in Brussels, thing at all. One is money for the farmers, Alas! Lord Shackleton is up and the other is the size the of against more horrendous barri- I membership subscription. ers than those encountered by The good guys (us, of course, 1 his father’s polar expeditions, the Dutch, the Belgians —may- ; For the Government has failed be —and the European Com- to “enunciate a space policy”, mission — again, maybe) are The British National Space Cen- determined to block any tre had drawn up a “space gaiS?E&r&s “l,c “'“"..“os30 “ ill I Mail on Sunday 31 January 1988 THE END OF THE TV a I tj v % WORIy T . to p; ■ 1 1 & m •, #* ** *» V- - \ Ill » . i m .«r mm 1^. & Just another four countries to go and John mm Todd achieves his i. ambition - to visit all 308 T- countries in the world. r And then where will the ~ ‘ * • —t j: man who has been * everywhere go next? i t the age of 18 John Todd had barely Pole. ‘According to the Travelers’ Century been outside his native Northern Ire- Club of Los Angeles I’m already the most land, the exception being a schoolboy travelled in Britain and Europe. They made me excursion to France and Germany, an award after IFpassed 250 but by then I’d Twenty years later he’s within reach already got 280.’ ofA his ambition of becoming the first person to Those who do hit 280 places, and have visit every country in the world. chunky 92-page passports, encounter extra- Next month he sets off on a mail boat for ordinary problems in reaching the magic 308. Ascension Island, Tristan da Cunha and St Remote islands given over to military use require Helena, a five-week journey which will bring top-level permission to set foot on. Only one his total to 304, leaving only the Falklands and boat a year visits Tristan da Cunha, and the the Indian Ocean islands of Diego Garcia, Antarctic is inconveniently divided into nine Midway and Wake to complete the set. He’s territories which can take years of separate taken 1.692 flights, travelled an estimated entries on supply vessels to conquer. To r 1.140.000 miles and in 1986. his best year yet, complicate matters further, departure dates entered 96 countries. 40 of them previously for these un-inhabited parts often clash, ^ unvisited. requiring your rate to slow down to one new territory a year. f n ‘I’m one of the four most travelled people in the world today,’ says the modest Ulsterman The Guinness Book of Records f who, w ithin davs of our interview; lists an American f i schoolteacher, who r r was to call up and apologise for REPORT B\ STEVE Tt RNER a broken dinner engagement died in 1977, as PICTURE BY STEVE LYNE f f , \ because he was off to the South its record t> r I Press Cuttings 2 9 JAN 198b from Broad Street Associates THE %mg.*® TIMES Call to preserve ship \ from Falklands war By Alan Hamilton Less than six years after the Warrior, have been supported- event, moves are afoot to rescue by English Heritage and the one of the ships of the Falklands National Heritage Memorial task force as a museum piece. Fund, but both bodies, accord- The problem is which one, and ing to the trust, are becoming where she should spend her increasingly reluctant to fund retirement. ’• such ventures. A group of warship enthu- Other vessels on which the siasts, led by Sir Philip trust has jts eyCj jn the hope of Goodhart, MP, have launched preserving them, are two early Ii the Warship Preservation Trust nineteenth century frigates, the wdh the aim of awakening Gannet, currently lying at Chat- i public and government interest ham, and the Foudroyant, at m saving a selection of present- Hartlepool; both need an esti- yard ShiPS ”°m ^rea^Crs mated £3 million spent on them. i With almost no examples left Sitting in Belfast Harbour is of British naval power in two HMS Caroline, the last survivor; world wars, the trust has turned of the Battle of Jutland, cur its attention to preserving a rently in good condition and vessel from the Royal Navy’s occupied by the Royal Naval last major theatre of active Reserve; the trust would like to service. sec it moved to Portsmouth when it becomes vacant, but The choice, Sir Philip admit there is a strong lobby which ted, is limited. HMS Hermes wants it kept in Northern has been sold to India, and HMS Ireland. Invincible, still on active ser vice, is probably too big to be The trust would also like to run as a viable tourist attraction see the preservation of HMS when she is finally retired. Dreadnought, Britain’s first The trust wants a more mod- nuclear submarine, lying in i est vessel, a frigate or destroyer decommissioned limbo at Rosyth in Scotland while the that sailed to the South Atlantic, .. , . , to be preserved, and it wants it Navy works out how to break up rin Portsmouth, from where the a radioactive hull. task force sailed and where the A voluntary group in Ports- Mary Rose. HMS Victory, and moulh wants to preserve HMS' the first ironclad battleship, Rronineton the last wooden- HMS Wamor, dating from- huhed!h“p in the Royal Na^ hdy-f0rm th£ nucleus which was briefly commanded of a naval heritage park. by ,he Prince & Wales and; Some recent warship restora- which is scheduled for retire- tion projects, including HMS ment this year. •r i Broad Street Associates Public Relations Limited 30 Fumival Street London EC4A 1JE Facsimile: 01*831 7961 Telex: 894905 Telephone: 01-831 3113 i i Press Cuttings 2 9 JAN 1988 from Broad Street Associates THE >§ TIMES Argentina j contacts plan fails By Andrew McEwen Diplomatic Correspondent A year after Britain began exchanging secret indirect messages with Argentina, it, has become clear the contacts are not achieving their aim.