Sinking feeling: unease about Titanic II plan

Are plans to recreate the 1912 voyage a homage to history, or just insensitive, asks Hazel Gaynor

EARLIER this year, Clive Palmer, Australian mining mogul and billionaire, held a glitzy press conference in New York to announce his plans to build Titanic II, the flagship of his shipping company, Blue Star Line.

The ship will be built in China and will set sail in 2016. Reaction was incredulity and ridicule — yet 40,000 people have still applied for tickets for the maiden voyage. Offers of $1m have reportedly been made for first-class cabins.