Ink,

You could argue that liberalism works fine in the economy, it’s just that countries shy away from it due to corruption.

The whole point of Governments is to Govern. They are self-fulfilling monstrous beaurocracies. Their raison d’etre is to invent red tape and restrictions, to introduce laws and make themselves important. The best example is the EU – those guys have wet dreams over rules and regulations governing the curvature of bananas!

So one big reason for corruption is that Governments stick their noses everywhere and make life difficult for everyone – hence bribes, to grease the wheels. As an example, if some poncey inspector comes to your shop and tells you he will close you down because your scales are calibrated in imperial not metric, you might try to pay him off. And there would be nothing wrong in trying to do that (unless you get caught ;))

So…less and smaller Government intrinsically means less corruption, all other things being equal. The trouble is, other things rarely are equal. The disparity in education and sophisticaton levels masks this effect.

At any given level of national wealth and development:

BEAUROCRACY IS DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL TO CORRUPTION.

Lack of competition => image isn’t too important.

It is the flag of the Isle of Man. If you check it, you’ll see it has a similarity to the ancient flag of Sicily (my fiancee is Sicilian-Australian, ironic or what). It is commonly known as the “Three Legs of Man”.

The authentic name is the “Triskelion” and it is accompanied by the national motto – “Quocuncue Jeceris Stabit”. I used to think the latin phrase meant “whichever way you throw me I land on my feet” but I’m not 100% sure on that. Either way, “Triskelion” is a derivation of the Greek for “Three Legged”

The Greek influence was believed to be responsible for the adoption of the Sicilian flag, which is similar except for a Medusa’s head in the centre. The Triskelion has been observed on rock-carvings in Italy.

Conversely, the Triskelion is part of Norse mythology and the Isle of Man has a population with Norse antecedents. The Vikings were the historic rulers, and they established the “Tynwald” which is our national parliament. It still runs the country today and means we can justifiably claim to be the oldest continuously existing democracy in the world.

There is a State opening of Tynwald every year. I missed last year (I was away) but King Harald of Norway opened it for us. The Queen herself is expected this year. Prince Charles opened it about 4 years ago I think (he flew over himself in his BAe 146).

Constitutionally, the Island is NOT part of the UK but is a dependent territory of the Commonwealth. As I’ve said, we have our own parliament, our own legislature, our own elections and our own currency. The UK is responsible for Defence and Foreign Relations, although the Island has sometimes acted by itself dimplomatically (we signed a tax treaty with the USA a few years ago)

Sorry to rant on, but I have to do my bit to promote the Island!

Oi!

You cheeky bugger!!

That was part of my reasoning. They cooperated closely with Air Pacific on the 737-800 purchase. Who knows, maybe it is intended for Qantas use eventually?

Also, the colour scheme seemed Qantas-ish. It could be quickly repainted in QF colours.

Originally posted by A330Crazy
They have ruined this aircraft! VLM doesn’t really give the impression that they would plaster adverts like this on their aircraft, the airline has always come across with Class to me.

Like comet says, I hope its not a lasting thing!

But lots of airlines advertise. BA has a whole fleet of logo jets. You think advertising a country doesn’t count?

I think that by making chips more and more complex there is a risk of high production losses due to flawed chips.

Perhaps the future will bring lots of smaller chipsworking together, like brain cells.