Safety first

IT was inevitable that the fallout from the Icelandic volcano eruption would become political once the sheer number of Britons stranded overseas became clear.

Yet, while Gordon Brown's government was slow off the mark in not foreseeing the scale of the disruption, a "safety first" approach must be paramount.

Of course, it is easy for armchair critics – or airline bosses like British Airways chief Willie Walsh – to say that the skies are safe for flying, but they do not have the level of scientific information that the Met Office has obtained.

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It has not just relied on the evidence gleaned from one BA flight with Mr Walsh at the helm; its planes have carried a raft of scientific equipment that have revealed, potentially, very dangerous levels of volcanic ash in the atmosphere.

In many respects, it is the word "potential" that is most critical. No-one will be thanking the airline bosses if their impatience ends in catastrophe.

What needs to happen is for the Government to work with its European colleagues in laying on additional transport – whether it be Naval ship, train or coach – from Spain back to Britain.

It also needs to see if there's any scope for airlines to run

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additional flights from America or the Far East to the Mediterranean, and that stranded travellers are receiving consular assistance.

However, governments simply cannot control the weather or a volcano's anger. And, just when an easterly wind is required to blow the volcanic ash away from Europe – in other words a repeat of the cold air that saw Britain shiver for so long in the winter – the climate is becalmed, and there is nothing that Mr Brown can do about this.