Montreal could prove a costly distraction

Should you ever find yourself at a loose end with a group of engineers and sailors then I can recommend an interesting party game.

It is to imagine that you are the ill-fated Captain Smith of the Titanic and that the ship has just struck the iceberg. What are you going to do?

Indeed, I offer to producer James Cameron, the plot for a new film in which, thanks to some heroic interventions, the Titanic doesn't sink and all the passengers are rescued.

There are broadly two pos...