Britain Gets An Oil Spill Of Its Own

Coincidence? Irony? Revenge? One more depressing sign that we are bound and determined to destroy the planet? (My money’s on the last one, but you can make a case for any of them.) Anyway, in a story that seems all to familiar (although on a much smaller scale, befitting a much smaller nation), an oil spill is ruining beaches and threatening wildlife in the south of England.

Around 20 barrels of vacuum gas oil escaped from Esso’s Fawley terminal on Sunday, causing a slick that has washed up on two miles of beaches in Southampton Water and The Solent.

There were fears the Hill Head nature reserve could be affected and specialist teams in protective suits were bagging up contaminated shingle at beaches where the spill has washed up.

There is, however, a silver lining for the angry residents of Knifecrime Island.

A spokesman for Esso, whose parent company, ExxonMobile, is American, said yesterday ‘all efforts’ were continuing to clear up the spill.

You can see where this is going. The commenters at the Daily Mail’s site are almost gleeful about the fact that, after weeks of supposed “anti-British rhetoric,” they finally have something they can throw back in America’s face. Which is pretty perfect: We’re all standing around while the shit on our shores laps at our ankles and wondering how to blame someone else. We probably deserve whatever we get.

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