Strait of Hormuz

Wednesday

Andrew Cockburn

Little Crappy Ships make NACHO a safe bet

Trump Always Chickens Out, TACO, has been a profitable guideline for Wall Street traders over the course of his second term. Now however, according to commodities markets reporter Javier Blas, the safer bet has become NACHO, Not a Chance Hormuz Opens. This is sound advice, given the multiple ways that Iran controls passage, including the unknown number of sea mines reportedly planted by the Iranians in the Strait. The New York Times, has been dutifully reiterating the administration line that the witless Iranians have been unable to find their own mines. Now Trump has announced that the US Navy will “guide” traffic through the Gulf along lanes cleared of mines, while dealing “forcefully” with any Iranian attempts to interfere.

Littoral

Wednesday

Dot Wordsworth

A guide to Strait talking

I little thought in 2023, when writing about dire straits, that we’d so soon be pushed into them by trouble in the Straits of Hormuz. In discussions of these on the wireless, I find that even the best-informed commentators begin by referring to this geographical feature as the Strait of Hormuz but before long fall into calling them the straits. Insisting on the singular strait seems sterile pedantry. The Oxford English Dictionary has got the usage pretty straight: ‘When used as a geographical proper name, the word is usually plural with singular sense, e.g. the Straits of Dover, the Straits of Gibraltar.’ A pleasant piece of naval slang 100 years ago was up the Straits, meaning ‘in the Mediterranean’.

Wednesday

The Spectator

Which age group is most at risk of meningitis?

Churchill insurance There was outrage that Winston Churchill is to be dumped from the £5 note in favour of wildlife. But was Churchill actually a good example with money? Shortly after he became prime minister in May 1940, he was faced with two crises: the capitulation of France to the invading German forces and the prospect of personal bankruptcy. He had an overdraft of £5,602 (£274,000 in today’s money), while his income from writing was to diminish as a result of his taking high office. The situation was only resolved when businessman Sir Henry Strakosch made an anonymous donation of £5,000, paid via his business partner – and Churchill’s friend – Brendan Bracken. It was one of several occasions when Churchill had to be bailed out by friends.