names

there is a race going on in the southern ocean. it is the japanese whaling fleet versus greenpeace
(there is another anti-whaling vessel out there from the sea shepherd organisation but they are radical and might use violent methods so they only get mentioned in passing. greenpeace are not sharing information with sea shepherd
because they do not agree with their methods, it could also be that they do not want to share the headlines, but then i am a cynical pat at this time of the morning).

now i quite agree with both greenpeace and sea shepherd that something has to be done in order to prevent the population of whales being decimated by japanese whalers (or any whalers for that matter). i can’t help but feel that here is a potential market for quorn to step into: veggie substitute whale meat. come on guys you’ll clean up in japan and save the whale. fantastic!
(also it will make jon anderson a very happy man – and can i recommend you all rush out now and buy the tormato album by yes which has the classic “don’t kill the whales”, not to mention some other great tracks. i kid you not!)

none of which is the point of this.

to be honest the greenpeace mission hadn’t registered with me until this morning when i was woken by the radio and it was a featured part of the news broadcast. the reason it was part of the news was because the greenpeace vessel had made contact with the japanese fleet and was now engaged in a race with the ships to keep in touch and to disturb their hunting of the whales.
radio 5 was also covering it because the bbc has a reporter on the greenpeace ship.

picture the scene. you are the commissioning editor at the bbc. you are going to have to send a reporter to cover this story, that person is going to be on the ship for many weeks. weeks at sea, in the cold and in possible danger.
just how do you choose that person? do you do it on their track record? do you do it on their knowledge of the issue? do you do it on their ability to sail the seven seas? do you choose them because they are personable and so will get on with people in a closed environment?
all of the above must have been a factor.
but i can’t help but think that the commissioning editor was a bit of an imp and choose the reporter for one reason and one reason only.
ladies and gentleman i give you jonah fisher.


fucking genius. worth the license fee just there.