Jetting away

Why ‘lost’ jet pilot took ride on container ship

By Peter Day

Last Updated: 12:20am BST 01/06/2007

When inexperienced Royal Navy pilot Ian “Soapy” Watson got lost flying a Sea Harrier jump jet and landed the £7 million aircraft on the deck of a container ship senior officers reprimanded him for incompetence.
Now it has emerged that behind the scenes they were laying the blame elsewhere to try to get out of a £570,000 compensation bill.
A file released yesterday at the National Archives describes how Sub-Lt Watson, 25, ”incurred the Commander in Chief of the Fleet’s Displeasure” for displaying an unsatisfactory standard of fundamental airmanship.
But the Ministry of Defence file shows that he had completed only 75 per cent of the recommended flying hours in training before being pressed into service and was allowed to take an aircraft with a known radio defect.
An unnamed senior officer commented: ”I am speechless, as was Watson.” Sub-Lt Watson had taken off from the carrier Illustrious off the Spanish coast on June 6, 1983 to conduct a Nato search exercise.
The crew of the 2,300-ton Spanish container ship Alraigo won a salvage claim and shared £340,000, with the remaining £230,000 going to the owners of the vessel.

Daily Telegraph

Too public road

Council killjoys ban football in the street

Last Updated: 12:19am BST 01/06/2007

A council has banned children from playing in the street because it is a “danger to the public”.
Officials from Leicestershire County Council have told residents of Utah Close, Glenfield, that all toys including dolls and bicycles “must be removed from the road immediately”.
Children cannot have a game of football in the street because using jumpers as makeshift goalposts has been banned.
Parents have been warned that they face a £100 fine if their children are caught flouting the ban.

Daily Telegraph

Given the bird

DAN BILEFSKY

THE timekeeper waves a large red flag. Spectators wait in hushed anticipation. Nearly 50 featherweight rivals – including Rambo and Duracel – are surrounded by nervous trainers.
But the event is not a boxing or a wrestling match. The one-ounce contestants, with grey caps and blue beaks, will be judged on how many “susk-e-wiets” they can tweet in an hour from inside a wooden box.
This is vinkensport, or finching, a 400-year-old Flemish competition in which winning chaffinches are feted like feathered opera divas, and one false note, like a “susk-e-wiat” instead of a “susk-e-wiet”, can lead to disqualification or, worse, disgrace .

Last updated: 26-May-07 00:44 BST New Scotsman

Trunk road

Elephant’s highway robbery

ETHAN MCNERN

AN ELEPHANT in eastern India has taken to blocking the road and refusing to allow vehicles to pass unless drivers give it food.
The Hindustan Times said the elephant was scouting for food on a road in the eastern state of Orissa, forcing motorists to roll down their windows and get out of the car.
If a commuter does not wind down his window or resists opening the vehicle door, the elephant stands in front of the car until the driver allows him to carry out his routine inspection.

This article: New Scotsman

Last updated: 29-May-07 01:08 BST

Taking a break

Conmen broke own arms to claim cash

NINE Shanghai builders who helped break each others’ arms and then jumped off construction sites in an attempt to win compensation were jailed for up to three years each yesterday for extorting 100,000 yuan (£6,600) from their employers.

This article:New Scotsman

Last updated: 30-May-07 01:03 BST

Hungry tree

Plea to protect ‘unique iron-eating tree’

By Daily Telegraph Reporter

Last Updated: 1:29am BST 23/05/2007

Villagers are calling for a preservation order to be issued to protect a tree that has enveloped pieces of metal, including a bicycle, a ship’s anchor and chain, and a bridle bit.
The sycamore tree, dating from the 1800s, stands in the yard of an old smithy in Brig o’Turk, in the Trossachs, now part of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs national park. As it grew, the expanding trunk engulfed the blacksmith’s scrap heap around it.
When a local boy, who had left his bicycle against the tree, failed to return from the First World War the tree grew around it. Parts remain visible, sticking out of the trunk. But hundreds of other pieces of metal are hidden inside.

Daily Telegraph

Bumpy ride

Jail for brothers who led police on 10mph chase in stolen tractor

ALLY MCGILVRAY

TWO brothers who led police on a 23-mile, slow-speed chase after stealing a tractor were locked up for a total of two years yesterday.
Garry Stewart, 17, and Alistair Stewart, 18, left a trail of destruction after they stole the £40,000 vehicle from a farm. They rammed a police car and tried to force another off the road as they were pursued by officers at 10mph. Their parents used a CB radio to try to get them to stop, but they refused and drove on, honking the tractor’s horn.

This article: New Scotsman

Last updated: 23-May-07 00:20 BST

Under-the-back-seat driving

Children feel ‘unsafe’ driving with parents

AROUND two in five children do not feel safe when their parents are driving, a poll released today showed.
More than 20 per cent of youngsters believed their father drove too fast, while nearly a quarter said their mother was bad at parking, the survey from Privilege Insurance found.

This article: New Scotsman

Last updated: 24-May-07 12:02 BST

Railroaded

Network Rail bosses scoop £200k bonus payments

TOP bosses at Network Rail today received bonuses of about £200,000 despite the company accepting blame for this year’s Cumbria train crash in which one passenger died.
A bonus of £201,060 for chief executive John Armitt and another £179,060 for deputy chief executive Iain Coucher were announced today as the company published its preliminary financial results.

This article:New Scotsman

Last updated: 24-May-07 12:02 BST

Virgin birth

Virgin birth suggests a bleak future for hammerhead sharks

IAN JOHNSTON ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT

A VIRGIN birth has been recorded among hammerhead sharks for the first time, in a discovery that raises concern about wild populations.
A female shark that was caught off Florida as a baby gave birth at Henry Dorley Zoo in Nebraska in December 2001, even though there were no male hammerheads in the aquarium.
This means it is more at risk of genetic diseases passed on through the female line and raises concern about the genetic health of wild hammerheads.

This article:New Scotsman

Last updated: 22-May-07 00:29 BST