Stick close to your desks
FRONT END FIRST does not apply to Her Majesty's ships. The defence review (Front Line First, now I come to think of it) was meant to keep the sharp end of our forces pointing in the right direction, at the expense of the blunt end — the ministry's ample estates and the populous stone frigates moored all over them. Prompt on cue come the latest list of 14 senior appointments in the Royal Navy. Three commanders are posted to the stone flag- ship in Whitehall and a captain to her sister ship in Bath. Others find suitable shore bil- lets on the Second Sea Lord's staff or in the painted halls of Greenwich. Only Comman- der C.A. Johnstone-Burt contrives to let the side down. He is going to a fighting ship — HMS Brazen, a frigate that floats — in command. He is the exception to Parkin- son's Law, which long ago laid down that the number of admirals would increase exponentially, irrespective of the number of ships, and even if there were no ships in the front or any other line. Moral:
Stick close to your desk and never go to sea, And you all may be the rulers of the Queen's Navee.
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