I doubt Clarkson’s reply was scripted, as evidenced by the reactions of the presenters.

What did they expect asking someone like JC about the strikes? He isn’t exactly known for his left leaning / pro union views, so when the presenters discussed with the producers what questions to ask during the interview they should have anticipated such a reaction. If they didn’t, it says more about them, and the BBC in general, than it does about Clarkson.

The ‘complainants’ have clearly been orchestrated by Unison to cover up the failure of the strikes – it is about time they shut up and we got on with trying to sort out some of the issues referred to in Tornado64 and DuxfordHawks’s posts.

It isn’t all bad -Al Murray / Pub Landlord, Sean Locke, Paul Merton and Dave Gorman are all excellent, and I don’t have a problem with Michael Mcintyre either.

While there were some good comedians previously – I always enjoyed Jasper Carrot – I’m not sure that there was a ‘golden age’ in the past. Bernard Manning and Jim Davidson were hardly what you would call civilised family viewing, and although I would agree with the OP that Some Mothers Do Ave ‘Em is a true classic sitcom, the amount of casual sexism, racism and homophobia in programmes like On the Buses make for uncomfortable viewing today.

IE

I am with Tornado here – there is nothing wrong with young people, and the ones I work with certainly are not out clubbing every night.

They wouldn’t last very long if they were, although they do like a night out at the weekend. And why shouldn’t they?

It is pointless them saving for a home. With houses costing twice round here what they do in Tornado’s part of the world, they are never going to be able to afford to buy a home unless they take equity out of their parent’s property. There ability to save is hampered by having student loans to pay off as well.

I have got the paperback version, and very much enjoyed it.

I approached it a little tentatively, as I’m not particularly interested in aircraft from before the 1980s or the military side, but I found the author’s enthusiasm for his subject infectious (coupled with his many personal anecdotes) which resulted in an excellent read that I’m happy to recommend.

Neil

Hi,

You can get excellent views of London City from a spot near to the Royal Albert DLR station. When you get to the station, it is easy to see where to go – a 100 yard walk (if that) down to the dockside from where you have an excellent view across the water to the airport.

The following photo was taken from there:-

OO-VLP by IndiaEcho Photography, on Flickr

The Fokker is on the runway, the Avro on the apron. Plenty more photos from this location can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/indiaecho/

There are seats to sit on, and a snack machine by the station. Another advantage is that it is away from the airport itself, as I have heard of airport security getting rather shirty with spotters and photographers who are actually on airport property.

A yet further advantage of this spot is that it doesn’t really matter which runway they are using. However, aircraft always take off into the wind, so if you know the wind direction and runway alignment (usually, but not always, East – West in the UK) you can work out which runway is being used.

Be careful when you go though – the airport is very busy weekdays 0700-0930 and 1700-1930, but it can be very quiet at other times (and closes over the weekend).

I hope this helps.

Neil

An interesting question. I’m tempted to say that an airport couldn’t prevent an airline offering a service (especially for a service within the EU), but I’m happy to be proven wrong by those with more knowledge.

About 20 years ago I led some work with the European Commission to deregulate ground handling services at airports as, at the time, there was a view that a number of member states were hampering competition by requiring airlines to use a monopoly provider of handling services. This provider was often the local airport authority or national carrier, who tended to favour some airlines over others.

If airports could have prevented airlines flying to them in the first place by blocking services, they would presumably have done so, rather than seeking to use poor ground handling services to limit new services.

So if there is nothing in ‘aviation’ law to prevent an airport blocking a service, what about in normal commercial law? No company is required to do business with another. There may be a requirement on airports to facilitate airline services, but what would be stopping them from imposing a high landing fee, or other charge?

No doubt in such a situation, the airline could take action against the airport on a predatory pricing / abuse of dominant position basis, and I have a feeling that our legal friends would end up making a lot of money out of it.

I would be interested in any other views though.

Just before pressing the ‘submit’ button, I noticed you asked if airports should (as well as can) be able to block services. No, I don’t think they should – regulating competition is not the job of an airport management team, and established carriers could use their commercial clout to use such a provision to get airports to prevent new competitors.

IE