Ministry of Defence sinks navy’s cocktail parties

[BEagle]

From today's Sunday Times:

March 14, 2010

Ministry of Defence sinks navy’s cocktail parties

Sara Dixon

Cocktail parties hosted by Royal Navy commanders visiting foreign ports, a mainstay of British naval tradition since the time of Lord Nelson, are to be scrapped in an effort to save money.

Navy chiefs are said to be furious over the demise of the tradition, which helps cement good relations for the UK across the globe.

The relatively small cost of each cocktail party — estimated to be around £1,000 as alcohol served on board a navy vessel is exempt from tax — is minor compared with the £36 billion military budget that the Ministry of Defence is struggling to bring under control.

It is estimated that scrapping the much-loved “Cockers P”, as the parties are known in navy jargon, could save the MoD between £50,000 and £70,000. An MoD spokesman said: “Royal Navy warships organise official receptions in order to build and maintain relationships and international relationships while on official port visits. We are asking commanding officers not to hold these receptions when on routine business to make savings in the financially difficult times.”

One senior commander said: “It’s a damn shame that this important tool in British diplomacy is being discarded. We call these receptions ‘soft power’ because we are taking a bit of British foreign policy to an official reception in a foreign territory. It does wonders for international relations and trade.”

A party due to be held on the destroyer HMS York when it docked in the Falkland Islands two weeks ago was reportedly cancelled at the last minute as part of the cuts. Another cocktail party on board a warship at Simon’s Town, South Africa, was cancelled after the MoD refused funding.

In future, expenditure on cocktail parties will be officially sanctioned only for visits from high-ranking VIPs such as the Queen and senior navy officers, including the First Sea Lord.

In one notorious, but less formal, incident Ronnie Biggs, the Great Train Robber, was invited on board the frigate HMS Danae as it docked in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil in the late 1970s. The fugitive enjoyed a tipple with a number of drunken sailors only to walk off the ship with impunity even though he was a wanted man in the UK.

Whilst a bit of banter about the RN and its Cockers Ps in various ports has always been fair, if the beancounters in the mad MoD-box have now gone to the extreme of saving a few quid at the expense of promoting international goodwill, something is sadly wrong.

Visiting some foreign port and not holding the traditional Cockers P is going to be perceived as a slap in the face by important, influential locals expecting the usual invite. They simply won't believe that HM can no longer afford to show any hospitality, they'll think they've been insulted and humiliated. The RN probably won't be invited back.

A Cockers P onboard a Royal Navy ship is a tiny financial expense, but a huge goodwill investment.

And before any sandaholics bleat that £70K per year would buy better boots for troops in Afghanistan, yes it would - but if you think you'll get anything from perceived savings made by cancelling the Navy's Cockers Ps, you're sadly mistaken.

[VinRouge]

Said blunty bean counting CS will be short of a job within the next 12 months anyway. :mad:

[Faithless]

:sad: But it is ok for Gormless Browns possie of crooks to use tax payers money to buy a Duck House or re-decorate thier second home....

One of the many reasons why I have fell out of love with this country....:sad:

I await my time as I will be taking my HM Forces Pension and saying good bye UK, and to all of what is left of our Armed Forces Good Luck and Stay safe

To Gormless Brown and his penny pinchers...I hope you all die of a horrible death :E

[Two-Tone-Blue]

Ludicrous, pointless, trivial, rude ... it exemplifies the "cost of everything and value of nothing" approach that the Treasury has held for decades. Who on earth was responsible for pushing this farce through the staffing processes?

I'm deeply sorry for the RN on this one. :ugh:

[airborne_artist]

Cockers Ps don't benefit the RN that much, but they do benefit UK plc hugely. Our trading competitors don't do them quite like the Senior Service. Britannia was the same - fantastic venue to meet and greet important people to win big deals, in an atmosphere which no other nation could emulate.

[vecvechookattack]

Ironically, it would appear that the entire annual cocktail party budget is identical to one VC10 sortie to Cyprus.

[Charlie Time]

Mindless penny pinching, with no appreciation of the wider role played by these important events.

[vernon99]

Just hope they are applying the same ruthless efficiency to ALL government departments, no more tea and biccies for any meetings, no more lunch expenses for civil servants, would be nice to see the "back office" making cuts, instead of buying new chairs because they don't like the colour of the new ones they just bought etc.

[FlapJackMuncher]

Never mind a VC10 to Cyprus, how many 'fact-finding' trips to our MP's go on?
We had a few last year to Cyprus, Ministers glad-handing etc.
These trips are free are they?

[ArthurR]

The Lunatics HAVE taken over the asylum

[Molemot]

Absolutely scandalous. First they take away Auntie Betty's boat, and now this. These dullards have no idea of the goodwill generated by such relatively moderate expenditure....

[Impiger]

But surely hosting a large RPC is the driving factor behind the size of the new carriers! On the last but one Ark Royal - you know the one that had real mans aircraft on board - the cocktail party was the crowning glory. That and the band of Her Majesty's Bootnecks. The heck with naval power projection we need more cocktail parties.

[Wander00]

Seems a very short-sighted decision - nose and face , etc! However, since the benefit is to GB Plc, which abroad is the remit of the FCO, why does not the Foreign Office pick up the very modest tab. Hell, it could be paid out of the Lottery Fund (or the small change from a big lottery win)instead of some of the daft things they do support (and lots of ethnic minorities would benefit, which seems the Lottery's major criterion). Dare I say, a better deal for GB Plc than an airborne trxxxgle - OK, I have my coat..................

[Stupidbutsaveable]

I agree with all sentiment above. I can also confirm that tea and biscuits were not present in MB last time I was there. The coffee machines were also empty and the reason given was that the budget had been cut.

That was last September; still the same anyone?

[Pontius Navigator]

I guess the same will hit all the Services land based CPs and other official entertainments too.

[soddim]

So sad - the party always given by visiting RN ships to Dammam port was particularly welcome in that dry, dry land.

If this is to be, the RN has lost what is arguably its' most effective PR vehicle.

This administration has gone bonkers.

[tucumseh]

The Duke of York's official role has a similar purpose. I sincerely hope he has the gumption to have a quiet word.

[Double Zero]

I agree with most if not all of the sentiments above, but I sadly doubt the Civil Serpents ( and defence kit salesmen ) will be cutting their budgets; the days when real pro's mentioned ' UK Ltd ' are long gone, now it's everyone scramble to secure their mega-pension !

I would however point out that much as the current lot are an easy target, it was the terminator Thatchers' mob who ordered ruthless cuts, and wanted to sell HMS Invincible until the Falklands saved their political arses - then Thatcher herself didn't even look at the advanced STOVL P-1216 for more than 5 seconds, as her personal political safety had been somewhat inadverntedly secured by Harrier FRS 1 & GR3, and great UK forces making do with crap equipment - in this occasion more land than air kit but the aircraft were also sparsely equipped, lucky not to be facing a more sophisticated foe.

I'm not a fan of politicians of any flavour.

The Navy have left themselves wide open for this by the relatively recent habit of positioning warships off the Port of London which do indeed seem a junket for senior officers, and the suggestion of a Type 45 to be ' guardship ' off the Thames for the upcoming Olympics ( even if the kit is working by then, what's it supposed to do, shoot down rogue airliners over London ) ?!

I know someone who's a serving Petty Officer who has had a sense of humour failure over warship fuel thus speed / range and even crew quarters heating reductions, while the sub' force is suffering a huge loss of experienced people, as manning rotas have become quite amazingly demanding for peace time.

This begs the question as to how are we going to man the CVF's, more likely sell at least one pronto virtually straight off the stocks ?

While bankers and Chiefs of Staff concentrate on their pay & pensions, hospitals & schools are closing down right & left, unless we get a war on our hands ( when I realise it's way too late to build or train for anything ) it's hard to see, even for a keen pro-defence type with experience in defence projects like me, why we're trying to punch above our weight with CVF, JSF & Trident, while Typhoon Tranche 1 looks well worth passing on, if only we could be sure of getting Tranche 2-3...

I happened to see a mention of the modified Abrams tank the U.S. use for mine & IED clearance the other day, so why with similar kit available are we sending poor sods out on foot to do the same job; this sort of comparison is why cocktail parties eventually get stomped on !

Incidentally, my ex-wife was a P.A. for an NHS Accounting dept; her whole job for her first day was to study an office furniture catalogue provided, ending up with her choice of a nice design of chair at £400 + in 1993 - sound familiar ?!

[Squirrel 41]

A stupid, petty decision. And I'm not even dark blue!

However, as these bashes are mostly for the benefit of the FCO, is this some cunning plan to get them to pay?

S41

[Flugplatz]

Utterly ridiculous decision which will save virtually nothing from the Defence Budget and which will actually cost us more in the long run. Now the RN Warship in the harbour will just be a menacing silhouette at anchor (as seems to be the preferred option for the Chinese and previously the Russians), rather than getting the local big-wigs onboard for a party where they can see there are actually fun-loving humans onboard! The amount of goodwill generated is out of all proportion.

Having dealt with the NHS in London recently at a series of meetings, I noticed their managers (and not particularly senior ones) were all arriving and departing by taxi; no buses/own transport for that lot...

Flug

[blanket.stacker]

....saving pennies, wasting pounds.

When I was last in Main Building we were warned that the free tea and biccies had stopped, so we all went to the coffee shop with our rates and spent about £12 on a moca-choca-latte thingy. It just transfers the costs to another budget.

Probably why we're not allowed to take a taxi anymore in our Command. Even if we're sharing and the overall cost is less than a bus ticket each.

Wait out for the real penny-pinching after the election......

[CheapAsChips]

This really does seem like penny pinching. The Defence budget is in a poor state and only something radical will make ends meet - a wholesale loss of a capability or acceptance that we can't keep doing what we are doing. Hopefully, the SDR will come up with some answers. But let's not forget, that it's the Servivces themselves that come up with savings measures - not MOD or Government.

[Climebear]

I understand that entertainment allowance has been stopped for the RAF too.

Interesting to see if Annual Cocktail Parties still are cancelled or cost mess members more.

[Double Zero]

Was there any cheaper transport & expenses for MOD / Services medium to high level staff ?

Let me guess...

[Wander00]

What, no EA for Station Commanders - how will they write the appropriate bits of 1369s -which in my days was its purpose

[noprobs]

I had to admire the Senior Service's style some years ago when I was looking into the reasons why we had immersed a Harrier GR7 in the Mediterranean. The RN had kindly hoisted it back onboard the carrier, leaving it upside-down and rather forlorn in the "graveyard". It was a tense time, leading to the threat of it being dumped again if we got as far as Suez. However, some days later, we actually approached Barcelona, where I was told that we could remove our jet, but not on the first day after docking. The reason was .... the Cockers P! The jet was covered over with coloured tarpaulins and bunting so that it didn't spoil the view, and a good time was had by all. The next day, a very big crane did its job, and off we went back to the UK.

[oldpinger]

Sad to say it, but I'm glad I left the mob if it's come to this:(

[D O Guerrero]

Ditto to OldPinger. Do these people understand the value of anything?

[2Planks]

How our shambles of a government ever hopes that the UK can punch above its weight after the decimation of our attaches abroad, massive reductions in NATO personnel and now this fails me. They seem to have lost sight of all things of value just because they cost a bit. Or is this all part of the plan.........:hmm:.

Still I'm sure if I overfill my wheely bin by a Kellogs Carton or two some jobs worth will pitch up with a ruler to fine me within seconds:ugh:

[vecvechookattack]

A good quote

There are many different ways of exercising influence, and one of Britain's most effective methods of doing so has for many years been the Naval Cocktail party

A warship can be a floating embassy as well as a floating battery. Guns and missiles can, of course, overawe. But charm, friendliness and well-lubricated hospitality can make and keep friends in Foreign parts.

If the guests happen to notice - amid the clink of ice- that the handsome ship in which they are being entertained is also a highly-efficient war machine, so much the better

Gin is also a good deal cheaper than ammunition. And in this form of soft Power, the Royal navy still has a potent advantage over the Americans, whose Navy may be much bigger than ours but whose drearily dry vessels can offer their guest nothing more exhilarating than coca-cola.

So the defence Ministry's decision to decommisson the Navy's gin bottles and scrap the Horse's neck cocktail is a grave mistake and a false economy, presumably mandated by puritanical and unimaginative bureaucrats.

There must be a better way of saving the rather trivial sums involved. Defence secretary Bob Ainsworth should have the sense to overrule this foolishness whose only effect will be to make this country look cheap and mean in places where it was once respected and liked.



I would add that because Gin is cheaper than ammunition it also helps to loosen tongues.

[VinRouge]

I very much doubt the common scum that occupy the ruling government actually "get" the importance of Defence Diplomacy.

I am sure most of them sit reading Chairman Mao's little red book whilst self-flagellating over our collonial past.

[dallas]

As is de rigeur for Nu Labour, it's another short-sighted cut that will weaken the UK's reputation and standing overseas exponentially more than the meagre amount it saves; while the saving will undoubtedly be wasted elsewhere at the blink of an eye.

Price of everything - value of nothing...

[Wander00]

But Ainsworth will not understand the problem, and if he did, (probably) lacks the bxlls to implement a solution

[Dengue_Dude]

Oh errr, forgot to mention that all leave is cancelled until morale improves.

It really DOES have a familiar ring to it doesn't it?

I doubt MPs (even ones with the medals) will curtail their PR activities.

[forget]

Anyone like a small side bet that this idiocy will be knocked on the head within 48 hours? In any case, even as an ex crab, I have enough respect for the Royal Navy to suspect that they'll already have a dozen ways around it.

[Pontius Navigator]

Anyone like a small side bet that this idiocy will be knocked on the head within 48 hours? In any case, even as an ex crab, I have enough respect for the Royal Navy to suspect that they'll already have a dozen ways around it.

I go to Guernsey each year for a memorial service. After the 65th the MOD withdrew funding so the RM Band could not go and the guardship was cancelled.

The following year the Guernaisies paid for the RM and the RN sent two guardships. They have sent a guardship every year since; last year it was HMS Daring.

There are ways and means.:ok:

[taxydual]

Am I the only one to get the impression that all this nonsense is a petty attempt to 'queer the pitch' (sorry, RN, no pun intended) for the next Government who will, without doubt, replace the pathetic crew (again, RN, no pun....) we have at the moment.

I wonder how many votes are won (or lost) at Cocker P's?

Oh, I won't count the millions of pounds worth of goodwill the RN earn for this country with the odd G and T and a salty fish canape.

[MaroonMan4]

This is a joke -please someone tell me it is - I am of the light blue flavour and despite all of the inter service willy waving and eating ourselves from the inside that H M Treasury is actively encouraging even I see how much value the RN cocktail parties bring to foreign business and international relations.

2 things - has the individual that actually signed off on this dictat ever had the priveledge of an RN cocktail party in a foreign port (i.e. is it an informed decision or one taken after a scant review of an excel spreadsheet before knocking off for the weekend)?

And....

A freedom of information request should be made every month to establish the entertainment and hosting that the current H M Govt conducts, and then review value of such entertainment. I look forward to the justification that every single MP and H M Govt department will now have to go through and prove its value to the British Public. From my experience the RN cocktail party could easily do this - I doubt very much that the remainder of MPs and HM Govt entertainment will survive scrutiny for 'adding of value' to the nation.

But I look forward to being proven wrong.

I totally agree with above posts - a complete lack of appreciation of 'value' when everything is viewed purely as 'cost'.

Someone, somewhere please do or say something - at some stage the sentence ' with all due respect but the answer is NO' must be categorically stated.

[parabellum]

I'm willing to take a small bet that this has nothing to do with the cost at all.

Could it be that it is all part of the 'dumbing down' process? Cancel Fox Hunting, scrub life peerages in the H of L, get rid of the H of L altogether, give over areas of green belt to cheap housing, lower exams standards etc. and there are many more, some with the Prescott/Harman stamp all over them.

[Matt Skrossa]

If this is true then I feel sorry for those about to join the RN. Happy memories of many a CP (met my now wife at a CP in Naples). You cannot put a price on the goodwill that these events produce, not to mention the endless trapping and grippo opportunities. The best ever CP I was lucky enough to be at was at anchor under Sydney Harbour Bridge, the good-looking squadron guys went ashore and handed out invites to pretty girls. Problem was that the pretty ones photocopied the invites and on the night we had about 1500 women waiting for a boat transfer onboard. Simple solution, a committe of taste at the gangway to filter the pretty ones down aft (to the wardroom) and the rest shared around the 2 Petty Officers' Mess and the WO and CPOs' Mess, even so it was about 4 aussie birds to 1 RN Officer MAGIC EVENING!!! and reminds me of my fav pussers saying 'Good run ashore even the batchelors trapped'. Then there was Brisbane, Bombay, Hawaii, Venezuela, Mexico, Singers, Honkers, Phillly, blah blah blah.......

[D O Guerrero]

I can't help but wonder if the shower in power actually think that the cocktail party is a jolly purely laid on for the benefit of the Wardroom? As I seem to remember they could actually be a real nuisance involving a lot of work for the Ship's Company (the seaman had to rig the awning, stewards serve drinks in what would be their free time and YOs construct imaginative fountains on the flightdeck) and generally speaking the guests, depending on the port, could be a tedious bunch. That's not to say that there weren't quite a few laughs and enjoyment at the "after party" which inevitably took place later (great memories...). The actual business of putting on a CP was formulaic and staged in the way that only the Andrew could pull off - ie to appear to be relaxed and informal whilst actually having been carefully stage managed. On a 6 month deployment, putting one of these things on in every port takes the sheen off the experience. The attendees universally loved the experience however, and the impression it gave of the UK was totally out of proportion to the miniscule cost incurred. At the end of the day, it was only the cost of the drinks. What a pathetic place we're becoming....

[Seldomfitforpurpose]

If this is true then I feel sorry for those about to join the RN. Happy memories of many a CP (met my now wife at a CP in Naples). You cannot put a price on the goodwill that these events produce, not to mention the endless trapping and grippo opportunities. The best ever CP I was lucky enough to be at was at anchor under Sydney Harbour Bridge, the good-looking squadron guys went ashore and handed out invites to pretty girls. Problem was that the pretty ones photocopied the invites and on the night we had about 1500 women waiting for a boat transfer onboard. Simple solution, a committe of taste at the gangway to filter the pretty ones down aft (to the wardroom) and the rest shared around the 2 Petty Officers' Mess and the WO and CPOs' Mess, even so it was about 4 aussie birds to 1 RN Officer MAGIC EVENING!!! and reminds me of my fav pussers saying 'Good run ashore even the batchelors trapped'. Then there was Brisbane, Bombay, Hawaii, Venezuela, Mexico, Singers, Honkers, Phillly, blah blah blah.......

Well that certainly puts a different spin on things which is probably where the counters of beans are coming from. Perhaps in future the ships company could be encouraged to chip in to keep this "shag fest" tradition in place :E

[Dan Winterland]

They were an excellent tradition and as far as flag waving is concerned, very good value for money. But I seem to remember that the RAF equivalent, the Battle of Britain cocktail part used to appear on our mess bills. And it wasn't cheap.

[Two-Tone-Blue]

All cocktail parties, regardless of the shade of blue uniform involved, have one VERY significant benefit ... which is to engage the local population [either at home or abroad] with the Armed Forces. In the process they generally discover, many of them for the first time, that the military are not [generally] homicidal knuckle-draggers.

Battle of Britain CP at Bentley Priory was a MAJOR event, but I have no recollection of it being prohibitively expensive. In any case, IIRC there used to be something about "an officer's social responsibilities". What were we saying earlier about the "cost of everything and value of nothing"? ;)

[VicW]

Having Served 32 years in the RN and a further 11 years in the FCO. I can vouch for the great value of the RN cocktail party in aiding overseas diplomacy. The Labour Party need to develop a greater grasp of the value of tradition. Instead of the union led, reduce every one to the lowest level mentality.

Get rid of Brown and the rest of the left wing plonkers.

[Mick Strigg]

What a crass decision!

[Green Flash]

I'm light blue too but it does sound a bit daft. Get the FCO to put it's hand in it's pockets? And what about using all the booze taken from the pikey smugglers? It's free to HMG!

[Turkeyslapper]

Sad times...my thoughts are with you my pommy friends.....hope it doesn't catch on in Oz!!!!!

[Grimweasel]

BBC News - Chinese oil firm buying 50% stake in Argentine group (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8567440.stm)

Always knew the Chinese had interests off the South America coast - I wonder how this will effect any draw downs in UK Naval Power? Time for a rethink if we still want to take oil from the Falklands!!!

[cornish-stormrider]

Time to put all your money in canned food and shotguns - we're all screwed now!

[Rossian]

.....having enjoyed many CockersP s over my time in light blue, from an "O" boat in Derry to HMS Rothsay in Singapore I feel desparately sad at this turn of events. What now will be the opportunity for the old custom of "baron strangling"?? Some chaps built careers and marriages on that process.

The Ancient Mariner

[Red Line Entry]

Do you guys really think that a £70,000 savings measure is run by Main Building? This will be a Navy Command decision, made by dark blue personnel, not civil servants. What a great way of getting the British public (and even the Crabs!) onside about the extent of the cuts being done to the Senior Service - and so much easier than having leave documents on a towpath! Don't underestimate how good the Navy are at this sort of thing - they've been surviving defence cuts for 500 years.

[Jimlad1]

As I posted on ARRSE

At the risk of sounding dull, this seems to be a PR10 measure which has backfired - as a NAVY measure, it would have been put forward and staffed by Naval Officers down at HQ NAVY. I suspect that it was put forward as an "untouchable" measure, by people thinking "no one will ever do this, someone else can find the money" - they didnt realise how brutal PR10 was and how pretty much every savings option was taken.
I also strongly suspect that the same "senior naval sources" whining now, are the ones who staffed it never expecting it to be taken.

Lesson Idendtified: When doing savings measures, don't draw up ones you think will never be taken!

[sisemen]

A stupid decision. As a former light blue I consider myself very fortunate to have attended 2 'cockers p' courtesy of the dark blues; one in the Virgin Islands and one in Abu Dhabi.

As I was on holiday at the time the Virgin Islands bash on a Type 23 appeared to have much kudos amongst the locals and neighbouring American Virgin Islands and did much for goodwill.

However, the Abu Dhabi one was a real eye opener. I was part of a MOD staff tour looking at loan service personnel and we ended up talking to some BAe, Vickers and other defence hardware people. Some of the deals that were being brokered had to be heard to be believed. Even if only a tiny percentage of them eventually came off then UK PLC was quids in by a country mile. Certainly many many times more than it cost for a few G & Ts on a Type 42.

[teeteringhead]

Nibbled to death by ducks (doubtless from taxpayer-funded Duck Houses). I fondly recall a Cockers P in Kuwait just before the last Gulf Unpleasantness ... much appreciated by local people, expats and (comme moi!) the odd Crab allowed out of the desert to attend!

And as a thoughtful letter in today's Torygraph notes, £480k has just been spent on refurbishing one of the Bars in the Houses of Parliament ..... and that'd be one of the bars that you can smoke in, 'cos (quelle surprise) anti-smoking rules don't apply in the Hs of P - just like HMPs .....

[12 PSI]

"Gin and tonic Ma'am?" ... "There you go"... (fills glass) "Tonic will be round in a minute"! :eek: Good God alive - Poor old Nelson will most surely be squirming, never mind turning, in his most public grave! Just typical of the politically correct bxlloxcks that we're becoming. Of course £70k would buy a much needed set of body armour or 2 a year, but the whole point is missed. Baby, this is bathwater, radio check over?
Thing that bugs me most is that it's about the same figure as quoted to provide all FAA personnel a set of wings to wear on their shirts, jumpers, pyjamas etc. I'd rather be trooped!

[AllTrimDoubt]

I'm with you 12 psi.

(If only Gene Hunt was for real, and let loose in MoD...:O)

[Wensleydale]

One wonders if this is a knee-jerk reaction to some newspaper article filed by a young reporter who was invited to such an evening and who subsequently listed the expensive excesses of the event during these hard pressed times....

Anybody out there read/heard of such a report?

[Neptunus Rex]

Having been a guest at 'Cocker's P' on many occasions from The Clyde to Madagascar and ports in between, I knew about Dark Blue tradition. The Gin Pennant is one such. It displays a gold coloured wine glass on a green background, and when flown from one of Her Majesty's ships, it means:
"Ladies, and gentlemen of officer (or equivalent) rank, seeing this pennant are invited to the Wardroom for drinks and hospitality."

I was involved in arranging a three-week, three-Nimrod detachment to Bermuda. Loads of signal messages back and forth between our Cornish Squadron and the RN staff in Bermuda. My last signal ended:
"Gin Pennant will be hoist on arrival."
When we taxied in, the Gin Pennant was flying above the cockpit. The Royal Navy staff were gobsmacked at that, and then at the array of drinks and canapés that were served in our Nimrod galley. 'Pinkers G,' 'Horses Necks,' Single Malts et al. Naturally we took it all in modest good grace, not letting them know that we had stocked up in the Class Six (Duty Free) store and the Commissary in Lajes the day before. The cost? Somewhat less than $US 10 from each of the crew, with plenty of grog left over. Were we ever well looked after in Bermuda?
Light Blue can do it too!

http://www.augk18.dsl.pipex.com/Smileys/flaguk.gif