Gis a job

ot at least a couple of winners

Next stop Deauville

Two mid-week crashes on the betting front, a second and a fifth and I neatly swerved William Haggas’ Economics, which couldn’t have been beaten if, mid-race, he’d taken the ferry back from Le Havre, stopped for Tea at Fortnums, and then come back to Deauville.

I might have to give up this game and take up proper employment. Given the number of posts available and the sensible pay, I don’t see this as a problem. One of those available, which is surprising, is that of Border Security Commander in charge of, I suppose, Border Security.

“Reporting directly to the Home Secretary, the Border Security Commander will provide strategic direction to work across agencies, drawing together the work of the National Crime Agency (NCA), intelligence agencies, police, Immigration Enforcement and Border Force, to better protect our borders and go after the smuggling gangs facilitating small boat crossings.”

You might remember that Yvette Cooper made something of a brouhaha about getting to work immediately and launching Labour’s new Border Security Command, which would “smash the gangs!” and solve the small boat crossings. That was over a month ago, and Labour is still looking hard. Yvette’s always-at-work department is obviously employing the old colonial mantra, “Slowly, slowly, catchy Monkey” whilst they scour for an “exceptional leader” to achieve its goals and bring peace to the earth.

That charming and good communicator (and ex-head of the Anti-Terrorist Branch), Neil Basu, is sadly turning the job down. He might be going for the BHA Chair, I suppose, although I forget who is in “In“ and who is “Out” for that one.

So yes, I am available, and my idea is simple. We create one shipping lane down the middle and one straight across between LeHavre and Portsmouth, which is convenient for Deauville and Lambourn. We fill all the rest with Pumice Stone, which has the benefit of floating and—according to Pliny the Younger—is entirely impenetrable in sufficient quantity, based on his Pompeii findings. Everything else—use the tunnel.

Talking of entirely impenetrable, here are some thoughts on today’s racing¹: