We went on a great cruise in the Mediterranean and took in Venice, Kotor in Montenegro, Corfu Town in Corfu, Civitavecchia (gateway to Rome), Ajaccio in Corsica, Genoa, Pisa and Naples, Dubrovnik and back to Venice. It was amazing and remarkable because we had no way of seeing all those places, in such a short time and in so much comfort, by public transport. Ah cruising! It really was lovely. Great food and very good entertainment too.
The line was P & O and the ship had a large Union Flag painted on the front, and there were 800 crew. The officers were mostly British, the crew was from the Philippines (I think) the waiters were from Goa, the housekeeping staff were from the Philippines (again). Very charming and hard-working people. The entertainment staff were Australian, English and Scottish. Interesting - historically, P& O gave many working class people the chance to escape from Liverpool, etc., and see the world. Now the opportunities go to the Indians and Philippinos. That must be because of unionisation and the low pay given. But it does remind me of something I heard after Brexit, trying to understand what had done wrong. I found some video of a very unsmiling Scottish professor who said: "The government has no plans for the lowest 30% of the population, except to police them". Possibly he does not smile because he takes the sad mess of the decline of the western world to heart, and that's a good thing.
Actually he speaks more colourfully than that (no concessions to non-native speakers). The Americans subtitle him. Do have a look at this five minute explanation of Brexit.
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