I promised I would blog about Ian Bradley’s Don’t Rock the Boat: the Man the Navy Tried to Sink, which is an interesting tale about how the Royal New Zealand Navy tried to oust him in 1980—and the ensuing court case that he won in 1988.
   It’s a 584 pp. autobiography printed on gloss paper with dodgy typesetting, but the tale is interesting enough: Bradley spent his life from 15 till retirement in the Navy, but there are signs that the powers-that-be didn’t like the idea of him being the chief of the country’s defence forces. So, a process of character assassination began, which Bradley uncovered after he was dumped, without explanation, from the Navy in May 1980.
   I admit I went straight to the controversial chapters, though much of his earlier naval career is covered in depth, including serving HM the Queen Mother on board HMY Britannia.
   The book is relevant in showing that the establishment can indeed go and target one person and destroy his or her reputation—and unless you have the balls and a decade’s worth of persistence to fight for it, you could go down sinking. Not that he knew it would ever take that long, because he trusted the system.
   This is not a tale from some conspiracy theorist, or an anti-democracy campaigner, but from a proud, intelligent New Zealander who has managed to highlight a serious fault in the system—one which, he notes in his introduction, has not been mended. In fact, three Governors-General have ensured that despite his legal victory in the High Court, justice itself has not been served.
   One can only tread carefully, ensure good karma and keep sufficient records of one’s business—these helped Bradley in his fight. While his book is hard to find, interested readers can contact me via this site and I will pass on any enquiry to Ian, via his daughter Sarah. Posted by Jack Yan, 02:54  permalink

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