Big Brother and everything of the kind where contestants are voted off each week.

House make-overs.

Garden make-overs.

Antique programmes.

BBC wildlife programmes (just how often can they show cheetahs chasing gazelles, bears catching salmon, wild dogs, lions and every other kind of African wildlife, it all began to pall years ago with its dull monotony).

Aussie soaps.

Emmerdale.

Heartbeat (called “B*stardbeat” by us, I have very good reason to hate and detest that bloody programme).

I hate the BBC for framing innocent people speaking in private meetings to an invited audience. Some people on here may know which innocent people I mean but I am not going into politics in this post.

More Iraqis seem to have been killed by their own people in suicide attacks, never a day goes by when we don’t see on the news that dozens more people have been killed in a car bomb or some other suicide blast.

Add to that the number killed by Saddam Hussein and it is easily more than have been killed in Allied airstrikes.

Love the CRJ!

That looks a great place to spot. Usually when we go to BHX we go in the Aviation Experience because I cannot resist that shop.

What with the issue of testing drugs and research on animals is in the news here in the UK at the moment, I was wondering what public opinion was on this? This isn’t just a matter for the UK, so anyone should feel welcome to contribute.

So, is it right to test new drugs on animals?
Is it right to use animals are research tools for the advancement of science?

Now, for my two cents…

I take no personal joy from seeing an animal suffer, and I would like to avoid this if it is at all possible. I think that most people would share this view.

But I must also say that I would be willing to let testing to continue unhindered to prevent human beings from suffering. Animal testing is regarded by scientists as a vital tool that allows new treatments that save peoples lives. How many rabbits or mice is a human life worth?

There is also one last thing I would like to ask anyone who may disagree with animal testing: If your child was terminally ill and only a drug tested on animals could save them, would you be willing to administer it to save your child despite your principles?

You do not know what you are talking about.

Have you any idea how many drugs have reacted differently in animal tests to what they have on humans? Would you encourage a pregnant woman to take Thalidomide? If not, why not? It’s safe on animals so therefore it must be safe on humans, right?

Wrong!! Thalidomide causes severe disabilities in the developing human foetus, but it does no such thing to animals.

What about the recent drug trial in London where several previously healthy men ended up on life support machines. Did the drug cause problems on the various animals it was tested on? No it did not.

What about penicillin? If that had been tested on guinea pigs we would never have used it on humans, as it is fatal to guinea pigs.

Aspirin can be fatal to cats.

Arsenic is poisonous to people but not to rats, mice or sheep.

Insulin produces deformities in mice, rabbits and chickens.

How many potential cures have been lost owing to misleading results of animal experiments.

How many people have been maimed or killed because of drugs which passed animal “safety” tests?

The anti-vivisection movement has by far the strongest argument, they should push it alot more.

(And as for what we should use instead of animals, there are plenty of murderers, rapists, muggers, paedophiles, robbers, joy riders, drunk drivers, burglars, terrorists and all round general scum in our jails to keep the medical research industry going for a few years yet without having to murder one single animal).

Tragic news. When I was 7 a friend of mine died of leukaemia, he was the same age and we had always been in the same class at school. Then one day he just stopped coming to school and that seemd strange to the rest of us. The teachers never told us that he had died, we had to find out from his sister.

Great photos.

Why do KLM planes always look mucky?

The Hewa Bora TriStar can be seen on a Sunday, I saw it a few weeks ago. It leaves at lunchtime.