GASSING TRAGEDY

You could not write it blacker:

Father, his two children (6 and 7) and girlfriend visit Corfu for nice holiday, stay at reputable hotel.

Carbon monoxide poisoning from leaking pipe

Childen dead, father and partner recovering in hospital - not yet informed of deaths until they are stronger

Mother of children flies out to scene of tragedy.

The Corcyra hotel is part of the posh Cypriot-Greek "Louis" group and just down the road from us.

Of course, the island is abuzz about the tragedy, rumour and hearsay piling on conjecture and plain rivalry malice.

At first it was thought it was food poisoning but Reuters seem to have the latest.

As I say, rumour and malice to the fore: one of the wilder suggestions I picked up was that some local trader, angered by the new-style all-inclusive hotelery that the Louis chain represents, sought to attract bad publicity by poisoning guests' food. That has been disproved by the gas verdict, but it shows how tongues fly.

Apparently, "The toxic fumes entered the room where the children were sleeping from a leaking pipe connecting a gas-fired water boiler outside the room."

The island awash with verminous journos trying to hunt down English-speakers from whom to get a juicy quote.

On a more serious follow-up, I applaud any and every effort to repel tourist trash from these shores, but this seems to be going too far. I suspect this might deal a blow to next year's invasion.

(I love the idea of jolly Brit plumbers jetting over to check out our local hotels' plumbing and heating. I must scour the tavernas for where they're boozing and engage them in nostalgic Brit-type chat such as wot I don't normally get out here.)