Enough already!

I no longer have any doubt that Britain must withdraw now from the political and economic fiasco that is the European Union.

In June 1975, when I voted in the referendum organised by the Wilson government, the question asked in the referendum was simple: `Do you think that the United Kingdom should stay in the European Community (the Common Market)?’ A simple Yes or No answer was required.

Note the titles. European Community referred to the European Economic Community or EEC as it was then called. Colloquially it was known as the “Common Market” for that was how it was sold to us. We were told by the Heath government (which had re-opened negotiations after the French had withdrawn their objections to UK membership) that it was to be an association of countries with the common aim of freeing up and expanding trade between member nations. There was no mention of Union or Federation, there was no talk of a constitution or of a separate parliament that would have the power to interfere with our sovereign right to govern ourselves, there was no talk about a separate currency although it was acknowledged that a common ‘scrip’ would be required for trading purposes – a notional currency that would have no impact on member countries individual currencies.

For a detailed summary of events at that time link to http://www.vernoncoleman.com/howthebritishmedia.htm

Mr Coleman’s detail of events and background is accurate particularly in the manner in which the British press and TV, for reasons best known to the moguls who ran these biased mouthpieces, climbed on board to strengthen the lies that the Heath Government were pushing to hide the truth from British people prior to signing up to the EEC and again in the run up to the Wilson referendum. Any suggestion of what was really intended was suppressed with the result that the majority of people missed the warnings that were being voiced by some pretty influential people from all political persuasions as well as, indirectly, the monarchy.

When the referendum was over 17.3 million had voted `yes’ and 8.4 million had voted `no’.

Would the British people have voted the same way had they known what was to be 35 years later?  I very much doubt it.  We were lied to, bamboozled and conned.   With that as a simple statement of fact there is no legal or constitutional reason why we cannot withdraw now, without conditions and without paying another pound into EU coffers.

Many would argue that positive action is the only way to save Britain from the ultimate disaster that awaits us if we continue any further with this EU madness. They would wish to see major disruption, civil disobedience, riot and mayhem as the only way to force the issues resolution.

I disagree. Those who would preside over the final destruction of the Britain we have known for thousands of years will use any ploy to prove that attempts to escape the EU’s talons are being manipulated by ‘dark forces’ from within. Organised and disruptive action will suit their purposes admirably.

No. What has to happen must be clearly seen as a spontanious reaction by individual British citizens whose only aim is to save their nation from annihalation. In other words we need ‘people power’.

People power will stop this nonsense but it has to clearly seen to be just that – individual citizens expressing their democratic right to say ‘NO’!. There must be no taint of political party backing. There must be no sign of purposeful organisation – no fiery speeches and rabble-rousing. Individual British people of all ages, backgrounds, socio/political and religious beliefs must go to London and stand quietly and peacefully in the square outside Westminster with a sign saying “I WANT MY REFERENDUM – NOW!” and do this every day until our current masters keep their promise and give the British people an opportunity to answer a similar question to that which we were asked 35 years ago…

‘Do you think the United Kingdom should stay in the European Union?’ A simple Yes or No answer is required.

Maybe only a hundred or so will turn up at first. Maybe that will swell to a thousand the week after. As the days pass maybe tens or even hundreds of thousands of British people will block the roads and bridges around Westminster, each one quiet, peaceful and holding a sign saying “I WANT MY REFERENDUM – NOW!”

And this time the press might try to make some amends for their shameful actions 35 years ago by supporting the effort.

Then let us see what the British people really want when the vote is counted.

Out of hand and out of order

The recent events in the eastern Mediterranean have drawn attention, in no uncertain way, to exactly what the Israeli’s are prepared to do in order to uphold their continuing occupation of Palestine.

In the aftermath of WW2 and with those graphic images of the death camps so fresh in our minds, maybe we all (Britain and America particularly) could be forgiven for taking our eyes off the ball for as long as it took to allow Israel to happen.

Of course, it should never have been allowed to happen.  You cannot, under any circumstances, allow a group of disparate peoples, of many nationalities, of diverse religions (although the hook was Judaism), to squat in someone else’s territory and then, progressively,  take it over.

But that’s what happened.  In a moment of international, political aberration the rest of the world, including several major Arab states, allowed the Zionists to gain a foothold in someone else’s country and history has shown us just how bad an idea that was.

What became known as Israel, supported in the main by the USA, imposed itself upon the unfortunate people of Palestine, occupied their lands, subjugated them and imprisoned them in two small and disconnected enclaves.

In historical terms this has lead to the rise of the PLO, attacks on civilian aircraft, Lockerbie, Islamic terrorism, the rise of Al Quada, 9/11, 7/7, Mumbai, Madrid, and the on-going problems in Afghanistan and Iraq.

How much of all that would ever have happened if Israel had never existed?

Now, because the Palestinians in the Gaza enclave have dared to fight back,  Israel enforces a crippling embargo on food, building supplies, teaching aids and medicines.  Of course the Palestinians want their country back and they are prepared to fight for it.  Wouldn’t you?

The acts of  murder and piracy on the high seas  that the world has witnessed recently have confirmed Israel’s status as a rogue state – completely out of hand and out of order – simply kicking the hell out of helpless people because they have the means to do it and they know that they can get away with it.

Shame on you America for providing backing and support for more than 60 years.  At least the British fought against what they saw was happening back in 1948.  British soldiers and airmen lost their lives trying to protect the sovereignty of Palestine once it became apparent what the Zionists settlers were up to.

Now it’s too late.   Where it would once have been possible to send people back to their countries of birth, now there are 4th and 5th generations whose only home is Israel.  They have nowhere else to go.

To believe that the Israeli’s will agree to any kind of realistic settlement  (and two, small, disconnected enclaves under Israeli control is not the answer) is futile – a complete waste of time.

The reality is that the Israeli’s will not rest until they have thrown every Palestinian out of Palestine and claimed the entire country for their own.  Then the world will have a new problem.  How to find another homeland for the Palestinians.

There is only one solution and it might be bloody.

Basically, the only solution

The world must impose a solution.  The world must force the creation of a new border running east to west across Palestine.  To the north is the Israeli homeland.  To the south is the Palestinian homeland.  Both areas fully recognised and (if necessary) policed by the international community.

And Jerusalem?  Jerusalem is no-ones capital.  A circle should be drawn around Jerusalem and the city should become an international enclave administered by the United Nations.

In the meantime, placing 1.5 million innocent civilians into situations of poverty, starvation and submission is an abomination.  Regardless of the politics involved, it is completely and totally unacceptable and an insult to the basic tenets of humanity.

Israel is no longer a group of beaten survivors – refugees attempting to rebuild their lives.

Today Israel is a bully and a threat to the stability of the Middle East and the sooner the world wakes up and recognises that the better.

Like lambs to the slaughter

That British Airways Cabin staff, already among the highest paid in the industry, are prepared to let themselves be lead by the nose into a labour dispute with absolutely no foundation whatever and, thereby, into oblivion by a militant ex-shipyard worker with limited communication skills, education or intelligence beggars belief. Arthur Scargill would be proud.

I actually stopped flying British Airways many years ago. Mostly it was because I could find better deals and a better travel experience by shopping around but the arrogant attitude of many of the cabin staff had a lot to do with it too. These same people are now supporting the strike.

In a world where everyone has a university degree (of whatever dubious quality) and is (supposedly) super-educated, one wonders why the BA CC feel it necessary to fall back upon an anachronism like a trades union at all?

If this strike really goes ahead resulting in further massive losses for BA then, perhaps, it might be a good thing. BA will probably go under freeing the company from the very people who caused its demise and without having to pay ridiculous and inflated severance packages.

Much better to let British Airways die now and let an alternative rise from the ashes with a sane and sensible set of employment and salary conditions that helps to put the company on an equal footing with the competition.



Huzzah for the Fat Controller!

So, there is this Labour Lord Adonis (how can you expect any street cred with a name like that?) who has come up with a plan to build new high speed rail lines in the UK.
And just before a General Election.
And at a time when the incumbent administration are on the bones of their (collective) arse.
Those who point out that this announcement is nothing more than a cynical election ploy are right.
Those who say that it is an indirect way of keeping hopes of a third runway at Heathrow alive are right too.

These are the frantic wrigglings of a moribund, defunct and played out administration who see the exit door already open, ready to eject them into the cesspit of total political failure.
What is the point in spending billions of pounds of taxpayers money (which we don’t have anyway) when the end product is to shave 30 minutes or so off current intercity express rail journey times?
Why further upset people by bludgeoning new rail lines through what remains of Britain’s ‘green an pleasant’ lands?
The existing rail network (or whats left of it) is perfectly adequate. It needs to be upgraded (like the east and west coast main lines have been) so that new and faster rolling stock can be used. If additional links are required then build them on elevated sections above existing motorways where the environmental impact has long been forgotten.
As for new rolling stock, Virgin Trains showed the way buying brand new train sets that made rail travel a pleasure again. Other companies should do the same rather than simply repainting the exteriors of ancient carriages with expensive designer paint schemes. Commuter trains should be double-decked with seating only – no standing. I once commuted regularly from Bishops Stortford to London. To say that the experience was ‘hell on wheels’ at peak times is an extreme understatement. This included being able to use the much hyped Stansted Express. It is impossible to imagine what must have passed through the minds of foreign visitors to London sitting in carriages packed to overflowing with businessmen standing shoulder to shoulder, bleating into their mobiles, trying to read the newspaper or putting the finishing touches to a spreadsheet (I kid you not – cradling the laptop in one hand and entering data, one fingered, with the other).
The London Underground is just as bad. A lot could be done to improve that particular ‘descent into horror’ by removing all the seats and adding one more carriage to each train set (access to the first and last carriages to be made through the rear and front halves respectively).
If money is really available to be spent as the polly’s will have us believe then, for God’s sake, let it be spent wisely.
Britain is a small country in terms of distances between centers. Air travel between English, Welsh and Scottish cities is pointless. Before rushing off to book a flight just because some Irish huckster says it’s a good idea, check how long it will take you to complete the same door to door journey by using the train. And use the Apex fares system. Sure, you have to plan a little in advance but look at the real fare – no hidden extras!

Sir Clement Freud

I am immensely saddened by the news that Sir Clement Freud has died.

Something not mentioned in the Telegraph piece today was that he was a director of the Playboy Club in London before it’s demise due to a licensing wrangle many years ago.

I once worked for Playboy, part of the team responsible for opening a number of new venues across the UK in the 1970′s. We had just opened the Portsmouth Club and as a PR exercise had sponsored the Miss Southsea Pagent. I was tasked with organising the event and was the MC for the heats and the final. ‘Clem’ was invited to head the team of judges for the final.

I used to smoke in those days and my favourite ‘weed’ was Gauloise. He, on the other hand, had recently given up smoking and was in that difficult transitional period when he could not abide the smell of cigarette smoke around him.

Nervous as hell I was chain smoking back stage when it came time to brief the the great man for the final round of competitor questions and the crowning of the winner.

I was roundly chastised in that wonderful voice and intonation. I was so annoyed at the time that I forgot my nervousness and did a fairly creditable job as MC as a result.

On a lighter side, I did get to drive his car – one of 6 (I think) race prepared Ford Capri GT’s that never made it to the track but were bought up by enthusiasts, Sir Clement being one of them.

30 years ago and a little bit of my life.

Safe journey Sir ‘Clem’.

A bad start to 2009 in Thailand

New Years Eve tragedy at the Santika Club in Bangkok.

There is a phrase and mnemonic commonly in use here. It is ‘This is Thailand’ or TIT and if anything went TIT’s up again for Thailand then it is this latest, totally avoidable and unnecessary incident.

The death of 69 people whose only intent was to enjoy New Years Eve began with establishing an entertainment venue in an unsuitable building in a totally unsuitable area.

Many years ago when I lived in Cornwall, some clown set up a nightclub in one of a row of suburban terrace houses in Falmouth. Faced with a barrage of complaints about noise and disruption from the adjacent residents and just about everyone else in the area, the owner attempted to smooth things over by hanging used mattresses on the walls to try to deaden the noise. Can you imagine what would have happened if there had been a fire?

Fortunately, local council common sense prevailed (eventually) and the place was closed down.

This is what happened at ‘Santika’ except that no-one ever saw fit to close the place down and paradoxically it went on to become one of Bangkok’s better known nightspots.

It was a fire disaster waiting to happen.

After complaints from the people who lived in the residential area where the club was illegally situated, non-fire resistant polystyrene foam blocks had been used to insulate the walls and ceiling against sound. There was just one door into and out of the club. True, there was a service entrance to the premises but that was known only to the staff. There might have been a third exit but few knew where it was; certainly not the customers.

Many Thai nightspots sell food and beverages on a ‘tab’ basis. This is (a) because it is quicker to settle the bill in one go rather than slow things down with a cash service and (b) because revenues can be maximised from customers who rapidly loose track of how much they have spent. Along with this is the need to stop ‘runners’ or people who would use the emergency exits to leave without paying the bill. To this end, in many Thai nightclubs, the windows are barred and the alternative exits (assuming they actually exist) are locked and often chained. ‘Santika’ was no exception.

Another reason is that Thai ‘yoof’ – just like their counterparts the world over – try to get past the entrance fee and age/ID check by sending in one ‘legal’ kid who then opens an emergency exit to let the others in.

A couple of years ago we went into a disco called ‘Route 999’ in Pattaya. My daughter loved it but for my wife and I the sound level was akin to ‘water boarding’ where decibels have been substituted for water molecules. We stood the aural discomfort for about 10 minutes before going somewhere quieter. In the meantime I had checked out the emergency exits – all properly illuminated with the standard green signs – all locked and chained!

A month or so later the place caught fire and people died because of those locked emergency exits.

Finally we come to the tried and trusted TIT way of doing business where, if you need the right piece of paper, you find someone with access to the rubber stamp and give them a plain envelope with as much cash as your business requirements demand.

‘Santika’ was the subject of an on-going legal effort by local residents to close it down because of it’s location in a residential area. That legal process has been stalled in the courts for six years. Why? Could it be that money had changed hands?

The place operated under the same licence that is given to a noodle stand, one of those ubiquitous mobile food vendors on two bicycle wheels that are everywhere in Thailand. How was that allowed to happen? A noodle stand doesn’t need to satisfy any safety standards and there are hundreds of thousands of them. What better place to hide the details of a venue prepared to cram up to 1,000 people with only one door, a single hand held fire extinguisher and an electrical system that would probably buckle under the strain of running a 3 bed semi let alone a nightclub with sophisticated sound and lighting systems. A couple of thousand baht a month to the ‘right’ official and all’s well – until something like this happens.

Thailand is well up on the list of developing Third World countries but the country has a long way to go before reaching the high standards of some of it’s ASEAN neighbours. Top of the list of problems that must be addressed is the belief amongst those who seek high office that, once in office, they have a God-given right to bend the law as they see fit and which best suits their pockets.

All the right laws and regulations are in place in Thailand. All it needs is an administration and a judiciary that is above corruption and prepared to come down like a ton of bricks on anyone, no matter how self styled or important they claim to be, who would seek to bypass those same laws and regulations in order to fatten their wallets.

But then, ‘This is Thailand’. ‘Mai pen rai’ (no problem).

What is faith?

In todays’ London Daily Telegraph (November 14, 2008) it was reported that Prince Charles, in the event he accedes to the throne, would change his title from ‘Defender of the Faith’ to ‘Defender of Faith’, omitting the definite article in the hope of drawing together the multi-ethnic and religious groups that exist in today’s Britain.

What is faith?

It is the means by which we humans are able to get through each day of our allotted 3 score years and 10 in the face of inevitable death.

You should, all of you, read Richard Bach’s book ‘Illusions’. In it one can find no better definition of faith.

An individual’s faith can be anything they want.

For most of us our faith is based on a set of personal moral rules (not necessarily the ten commandments) but certainly rules that allow us to live our lives the way we want whilst accepting that our neighbours have their own set of rules by which they wish to live.

But then, the rules by which an individual chooses to live may be at odds with what some others perceive as being good.

Suppose you are a thief. Your faith is that you can get through life by taking other peoples property without their consent. Is it ‘good’? To the thief it probably is, to his victims it is not but it is, never-the-less, a faith.

The real truism here is that you are perfectly entitled, as an individual, to follow any faith you wish BUT, you must also accept the consequences of that faith.

There are those, the Clergymen, the Priests, the Imams, the Rabbi’s who make their living by organising peoples faith, setting up rules and regulations and using them to control people.

This is a choice too. A Bishop or a Grand Mufti has just as much right to his belief that his role is to lead and organise as those who choose to follow him.

But is it good?

The young Catholic girl whose life is wrecked because her organised faith told her she could not use contraception – the young idealistic Muslim who straps a bomb to his body and kills himself and dozens of innocents because his organised faith has told him that heaven welcomes a martyr.

Individually, we are all responsible for the further effects of our particular faith. If we choose to join an organised group, we abrogate all control to others who will use it, ultimately, against us.

Prince Charles, don’t go there. It might seem quite a laudable concept to remove the definite article and call yourself ‘Defender of Faith’ in the hope of drawing people together but faith itself is a two-edged sword and it could end up biting you on the backside.

By calling yourself this you could end up supporting the likes of Osama bin Laden who, like it or not, has a faith to which he adheres and which, to his mind, is right and proper.

Far better to remove all references to faith from your official title and leave us to work it out for ourselves.

Of times passed

I just spent a pleasant 3 days in Penang, Malaysia.

I’ve been there only once before. Some time during the 1960’s the P&O passenger liner in which I was serving, called there. It might have been the ‘Strathmore’ around about the same time we visited (a very undeveloped) Bali.

I’m not sure how we made the contact but a few of us had been ashore to sample the local nightlife and met up with the Matron of the Military Hospital. This was a middle-aged British lady, a spinster, who had (it seemed to us) totally embraced an expatriate lifestyle with no intention of ever returning to Britain.

Three or four of us ended up in her house somewhere in the hills above the town (it wasn’t by any stretch of the imagination a city then).

We sat on her veranda and she plied us with Gin and Tonic in return for which we had to update her on all that was happening back home in the UK. Remember, there was no CNN, no BBC World, no TV period. A letter sent by airmail would take up to 3 weeks to be delivered. People in her position around the world were starved of information about what was happening back in Britain.

At some moment in the early hours of the morning, having sucked us dry of anything we could tell her about ‘home’, she threw us out because she had to be on duty at the hospital at some ungodly hour.

In nearly 50 years I have never forgotten that evening and as my Air Asia 737 dropped into Penang International Airport it all came back to me.

Sadly, Penang today is just another Asian city paying lip-service to the tourist trade. That trade is mainly back-packers – a concept totally alien to me when I trolled around the world in the 1960’s.

It didn’t matter. I was quite happy to submerge myself in memories just as I have done in recent years when re-visiting Singapore and Hong Kong, Bali and Brunei, the Philippines and Japan.

But I did spend some time wondering whose memories were the more meaningful – mine or the present-day backpacker.  The average back-packer sees only what the visiting country arranges for them to see.  In Singapore an antiseptic, air-conditioned Change Alley, In Sydney a cleaned up Kings Cross and Bangkok’s Kowsan Road is no different to Chulia Street in Penang.

I think I’ll stick with my 50 year old memories thank you.

It took too long

Today the Gurkhas won their case to remain in Britain.

Gurkhas win right to stay in Britain

Thank God that justice has been done at last despite the best efforts of a decrepit, moribund administration that sought to treat them as second class citizens and remove them from our shores.

Shame on you, Noo Lie Bore, for having the temerity to treat these hero’s like shit.  13 VC’s and still you don’t understand? Doesn’t it get through to you cretins who seek to rule Britain?  Sadly it seems, no.  ‘Elf ‘n’ safety’ in a PC environment reigns supreme instead.

(“Tell me – you with a couple of insignificant ‘ologies’ – What is a VC?”

“Duh, I fink its a Vencha Cap list.”)

It’s better to be some kind of radical cleric or ethnic minority head honcho?  “No problem.  Can we help you to develop your own ghetto with some tax payers subsidies perhaps?”

Shame on you too, the people of Britain, for having allowed this situation to develop.

On aviation and the media

There used to be a time when newspapers, the so-called ‘quality’ ones at any rate, employed Aviation Correspondents.

These would be ex-air force or retired commercial pilots, or someone who worked at a professional level in the aviation industry. The main thing was that they knew what they were talking about and could write a story accordingly.

All that seems to have gone by the board with today’s, sensation seeking tabloids intent on selling as many copies as they can with scant regard for truth or accuracy. Even worse is TV ‘breaking news’ where the channel is trying to be the first on air with the ‘news’ at any cost.

We don’t have Aviation Correspondents any more. We have people with an ‘ology’ in ‘journospeak’ and a vivid imagination instead.

Time and again an aviation incident is blown out of all proportion or just badly misreported by (so-called) journalists with little interest in establishing fact from fiction before submitting their copy.

Headline: ‘Stricken jet plunges/plummets thousands of feet in seconds!!!!’  ‘pilots wrestle frantically with the controls!!!!’ (Add ‘narrowly missed school/convent/old people’s home/hospital’ etc. to taste)

No it didn’t. Passenger aircraft cruise at up to 40,000 feet, an altitude where the air is too thin and too cold for people to breath. If exposed to such an environment a healthy human has just 12 seconds of useful consciousness at moderate activity levels and 15 seconds with minimal activity. Thereafter consciousness is lost and brain damage can occur.

The lower the altitude the higher the period of consciousness – 5 minutes and 10 minutes at 25,000 feet and at 12,000 feet you can breath and function normally again. Even that is conservative. People have successfully climbed Mount Everest (27,000 feet) without oxygen!

That is why, in the event of sudden cabin decompression, breathing masks drop from compartments above the seats and the flight crew will initiate a speedy and controlled descent to 12,000 feet or lower.

Newspapers please note – this is NOT a plunge or a plummet. It is a controlled maneuver at a descent rate of between 4,500 and 5,000 feet per minute (6,000 fpm in some circumstances) that from 40,000 feet to 12,000 feet will take 5-6 minutes.

A skydiver reaches a terminal velocity of around 120 mph (10,500 fpm) before opening his parachute. Now that’s a plummet!

During a recent Boeing 747 cabin decompression, video footage taken by a passenger during the emergency descent (they were still wearing their masks) showed meal trays still sitting firmly on tables.

QANTAS cabin decompression

One passenger reported that, when the aircraft levelled out at 10,000 feet, his glass of beer was still where he had placed it on his tray table when the masks dropped with not a drop spilled.

Hardly the terrifying plunge that some journo’s would have you believe.

Generally there is little difference in aircraft attitude (nose down) during an emergency descent compared with a normal approach to land at an airport. It’s the vertical speed that matters.

Pilots do not ‘wrestle with controls’. If they did they’d probably break something! At the cruising levels where modern passenger aircraft operate, computers are in control. Even an emergency descent is pre-programmed into the Flight Director and controlled by the Auto Pilot.

Quite often during a flight the seat belt signs will be switched on and passengers will be asked to return to their seats and strap in because of air turbulence caused by weather conditions near the aircraft.

Clear air turbulence or CAT is a bit different. If an aircraft flies into an area of CAT then, yes, there will be abrupt and significant changes of altitude and unsecured people and objects inside the cabin will experience weightlessness and/or positive G forces with resulting injury and damage. It is a thoroughly frightening but, thankfully, quite infrequent experience because most modern passenger aircraft have weather radar that can warn the flight crew of the existence of CAT ahead. Training and experience can also assist the flight crew to predict the possibility.

Headline: ‘Terrified passengers screamed and prayed!!!!’ ‘My life flashed before my eyes!!!!’

Well, mayhap as Catweazle was want to say. Given the standard of driving in Thailand my life flashes before my eyes several times during a routine trip from Chonburi to Bangkok on the motorway!

Look again at the video taken during the Qantas 747’s emergency descent. It all looks pretty calm to me. If anyone was crying it would have been children experiencing ear pain due to the rapidly changing air pressure and not knowing how to counteract it.

As on many similar occasions, this situation was under control and the passengers knew that. It does not need a sensation seeking journo to invent things that were simply not happening nor to embroider the accounts extracted from passengers who have just disembarked and who are still trying to put the experience into perspective for themselves.

Yes – accidents do happen – sometimes unavoidable but more often man-made and it is here that a responsible press can help by drawing attention to inadequacies before accidents happen rather than sensationalising the aftermath.

The 1-2-Go crash at Phuket was caused by management greed in bending and ignoring basic safety regulations and in employing pilots of questionable ability (because they were cheap). There were some badly frightened passengers who survived that tragedy whilst 90 people, including both pilots, died.

By drawing attention to what Udom Tantiprasongchai, the gangster who runs this apology for an airline along with its sister airline Orient Thai, was up to then this tragedy might have been avoided. The press, particularly the Thai press, manifestly failed the public on this occasion.

Then there was the Adam Air crash in Indonesia where a serious mistake by a less than experienced flight crew (they inadvertently switched off the auto pilot at cruising altitude) resulted in loss of aircraft control while both were concentrating on trouble shooting an instrument malfunction that was, in itself, of no particular significance. The aircraft entered an unrecoverable dive and hit the ocean at a very high speed. There were no survivors.

No journalist could possibly know what happened in the cabin during the 2-3 minutes it took for those unfortunate people to die but, by publicising that airline’s well known inadequacies earlier, they might have hastened it’s demise before this needless loss of life.

Thank God we can count on the sheer professionalism of flight and cabin crews generally – like the BA 777 at Heathrow and the above-mentioned Qantas 747 off the Philippines and the way in which they managed their respective emergencies. Consider also that the vast majority of air flights – day by day, year by year, are just as professionally conducted.

The popular press rarely reports the positive aspects of air travel but then, I suppose, such mundane stuff doesn’t sell potential refuse wrapping.