RE: Iraqi Invitation

You get the point.

But it all begs the question – what is the justification to attack? The “Iraq has / is building weapons of mass destruction” card is looking a little lightweight as justification goes.

RE: Europe’s Worst Airport?

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 08-08-02 AT 08:25 PM (GMT)]I thought Al’Qaeda were freedom fighters?

Your comment about NI is also a bit wide of the mark. We are a democracy; if the majority want to be part of the UK, so be it. The minority have no claim to use terror.

Anyway, you misinterpret my point about crime at airports. There is crime at all airports but in the car park, LPL used to be worse than the average. Just one of those things, agree with me or not.

Oh, and it is Port St. Mary, not St Marys Port. Nice place, maybe a little bit scruffy round the edges.

Next point – when I referred to a website to confirm my JL allegation, I obviously intended you to consider “proper” and trustworthy sites. Do you believe such things exist? I never inferred the UK’s education system was better than yours – never would, as I don’t exactly have a lot of respect for our system.

And finally – what do you have against people trying to pay less tax exactly? If you could, would you pay over the odds for the principle of it???????

RE: sep 11

Cheap stunt.

RE: Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 717 pics

Cockatoo becomes Kangaroo.

How many takeovers resulted in one tailfin animal replaced by another?!

RE: Europe’s Worst Airport?

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 08-08-02 AT 12:22 PM (GMT)]No, I’m not a Bush supporter and yes, I do believe in free speech.

John Lennon supported the IRA. I have no problem with his idealogical makeup. But to actively suport the IRA (eg. funding, the “idol” factor) is different to sharing their idealogy.

How am I being narow minded and crass? Condemming the new “Dublin Gerry Adams International Airport” would be prettty much in the same vein.

Anyway, beack to LPL:

1. Hire Cars. There is a suite of desks adjacent to the arrivals area. Unfortunately, they have been shuttered whenever I have been there. The only other desks are Hertz and some local firm, who are situated in porta-cabin type things inside the actual terminal. I try to pre-book of course, but sometimes I travel at short notice. I usually manage to get something for £100 at MAN or elsewhere. Even a Fiat or Fiesta or something.

2. Queues. I’ve only been through LPL three times this year, ie. not a regular like Carl. But as luck would have it, I have always tied to check in with Manx/BA whenever Easyjet are checking in. I always have to barge through the queue, because it always tails round everywhere.

3. A simple cover for the walkway would be inexpensive and I don’t think there would be a risk of obstruction.

4. I’m sure there are occassions when jetties are not available at MAN. But whenenver I have to board an aircraft without a jetty, it is only a short walk to the aeroplane. Not so with LPL.

5. I’m sure there is crime in the car parks at LGW and elsewhere. It’s just that there seems to be proportionately more at LPL.

6. Intuitively LPL seems costlier for snacks, I can’t say for definite as I haven’t physically compared prices with other airports.

7. Maybe they are still building, but only 2 X-Rays there last Sunday. They were boarding about 4 flights (MyTravel x1, Easy x2, Manx x1) through it. No foreign exchange counter through in departures either, I noticed.

8. Bus stops – I didn’t spend ages looking, but there were no boards tha I saw anyway. Maybe I missed them, I was hacked off and fritstrated by that point!

What I am basicaly saying is that LPL should be as nice/nicer than places like LHR and MAN from a passenger perspective. It is newer, after all. And a lot of things require planning, organisation and only a small amount of money. But much as I dislike LHR, I would prefer to use that to LPL.

RE: Echelon

The above post links in well to the recent thread on US sanctions against Taiwan, if Air China buys from Airbus.

It’s a wider story than US/EU though. The Aussies seem mad about the US measures too. The other complexity is a joint US/EU effort to crack down on illegal patent busting in India and South Africa. They might still win compensation from these governments.

Coming full circle, I’d say that all countries spy on each other and only share when they have to – eg. they have facilities in each other’s countries. It just so happens that some of them teamed up to form Echelon.

Do you think the EU will develop a proper Euro-version?