THE LOONY LEFT

The re-enactment of the Battle of Trafalgar next week will skip the fact that the British won. This decision has been endorsed by First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Alan West of the Royal Navy. There will be no celebration of the British victory and the Franco-Spanish defeat.

The First Sea Lord believed it would be wrong to be ‘triumphalist’: ‘Trafalgar is a fact of history, and Nelson is a figure who is known and respected around the world. This re-enactment will include vignettes from Trafalgar, in keeping with the Nelson theme, but I didn’t want to go in for some great triumphalist gesture’.

Instead the display will be presented as a battle between a ‘red fleet’ and a ‘blue fleet’, although an actor will playing the role of Nelson dying at the end.

Apparently, this is all to avoid offending the French and Spanish.