The Dunkirk spirit really is alive and well (Officious officials and imperious lackeys routed!)
Just in case the election hasn’t turned out the way you’d hoped, here’s a story to warm the cockles. It is an inspirational tale of triumph over perversity, heartening proof that bureaucratic intransigence can be beaten.
What follows is the culmination of a determined ten-year campaign to erect a permanent memorial to the crews of the small ships which took part in the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940.
A former merchant seaman, John Everett, who lives on the River Thames, wanted to honour the achievement of Douglas Tough, a boat builder, who commandeered more than 100 vessels and led them across the Channel to rescue British troops trapped on the beaches.
Gary Cartoon
He had hoped to do this to mark the 60th anniversary of the evacuation in the year 2000. The plaque was to be unveiled at Teddington Lock, close to the Tough family boatyard.
It was to be headed: ‘Second World War’ and would have read: ‘This operation was called Dynamo. It saved our country, enabling us to go on to victory in 1945.’
But when Mr Everett submitted his plans to the Environment Agency, the quango responsible for Britain’s waterways, they were rejected on the grounds that the wording was both inappropriate and offensive.
A jobsworth called CJ Woodward, who described himself as ‘Recreation officer’, said any reference to ‘war’ or ‘victory’ would not be allowed. He particularly objected to ‘Second World War’, which he cons idered ’ not acceptable’.
When Mr Everett protested that the inscription was both factually and historically accurate, CJ countered that it could cause offence to foreigners, since: ‘Teddington is an important arrival point from foreign ports’. No, it isn’t.
When was the last time a cruise ship carrying hundreds of German tourists, still smarting over the defeat of Hitler, docked at Teddington, which is 68 miles inland and can be reached only through a complex system of locks?