Remember the playful mermaids and mermen from HM Embassy in Warsaw?

The Independent reports that some of them have got into trouble at the posh Beaver Club over at the Canadian Embassy:

Quite what took place in the embassy – a three-storey modernist construction in French limestone and aluminium which won architectural awards when it opened in 2001 – remained shrouded in inter-governmental niceties last night. Canadian officials declining to comment on "conversations between states".

But whatever happened, it was sufficient to prompt a formal complaint from the Canadian ambassador to Poland, Daniel Costello, to his British counterpart. A source told The Independent: "It would be fair to say that the Canadian side made their displeasure clear."

My spies (who as you all know are everywhere) tell me that the result of suspending these officials (NB not quite clear to me why or on what basis they were suspended or by whom) has been a ghastly backlog of visa applications (Warsaw is now a regional ‘hub’ for visa applications by non-EU citizens).

And some further, hem, unhappy events with replacement staff sent out to try to deal with the confusion?

As soon as my back is turned, this is what happens.

Tsk.