What are we becoming? 🙁

Good question, and the answer probably merits a thread all its own. I’m sure that people very much more educated than I can see whats going on in this disturbing state of affairs. I have a feeling that the Swedish government, along with many other governments, has become a willing participant in a very big and sinister ‘game’, at the behest of a manipulative foreign power, and the Swedes are not alone. I think their actions will have far reaching consequences, not only for Sweden and its perceived neutrality, but also for its reputation as a paragon of freedom and tolerance. To me, its ironic that the leaked documents were very probably passed to WikiLeaks by a citizen of the US who is almost certainly a member of their own armed forces or intelligence network. Surely the question that the American government should be asking itself is why these seemingly disgruntled personnel are repeatedly passing on this kind of material to outside organisations.

I am not a great fan of conspiracy theories, but whats going on here seems to me to be a very clumsy attempt to keep on ‘shooting’ the messenger, and if that fails, then to subject him to a an appearance in a kangaroo court. The treatment of Assange draws striking parallels with the treatment of detainees in states with a less than decent pedigree. Some people argue that Assange is nothing more than some kind of attention junkie. That may well turn out be the case, but IMO the actions of certain governments in this matter appear to suggest otherwise. I’m quite ready to be shot down in flames over this, but this is just MY take on the topic.

“He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster.” Friedrich Nietzsche

Spellbound, eh? Well, each to his own – personally I have found 90% of what we have read rather unsurprising and pedestrian.

Well at the very least it’s more interesting than reading about who’s won X Factor, upcoming Royal weddings, the 2012 Olympics, the weather etc etc…;)

As you say, “Each to his own”

It does seem to me to be a huge coincidence that Assange is accused of sex crimes the day after he annoyed many of the world’s governments, but the nature of the charges seems a little ridiculous as well.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheYoungTurks#p/u/8/2M_Q-mujYQ0

Yes it does seem to be a strange ‘coincidence’. These articles have certainly had me spellbound and have certainly done nothing to alter my already poor regard of US governments, or anyone else’s come to that. I should point out that I have no problem at all with the American people, but I’ve no time for their system of government. As for various comments in the media and forums ref the uncovering of other nations secrets, how can anyone be sure that it will not happen. After all, who saw WikiLeaks coming? Mr Assange is now at the mercy of the courts, the big question is: Who’s pulling the strings and greasing the palms?

darren, is that Dan Air at STN?

Oooops! Am I right in thinking that Sonair is a part of the Sonangol Oil Co?

Due to my great anger at the events concerning students and universities, I really was going to avoid this thread like the plague. However now having seen the above post I could not help but submit the following. Is it not possible that these riots are a direct consequence of the way some young people, and some older ones too, have become accustomed to hardly ever being denied anything that they feel they have a right to. Things such as, a bought car, subsidized or free holidays with their peers, the latest mobile phones (with the parents paying its bill of course), computers, DVD players parents subsidizing some, if not all, ‘housekeeping’ expenses and so on. Only the other day I visited the home of a very good friend of mine and I was astounded to find that his three children each had a flat screen ‘telly’ PC, DVD player, own phone extension as well as mobile phones. I had to mention it and he said to me “It’s just not worth the hassle of saying no” God help him when the time comes when he maybe has to say no to subsidizing their university places, or anything else, and advises them (kindly of course) that sometimes you just have to accept that not all things are possible, and hope that they don’t go off the rails as a result. I should add here that I’m not generalizing that every young person is guilty of the above, I know that many work hard for what they have and will hopefully pass those values to their offspring. However I fear that there are very many youngsters out there who will not, and indeed may not even know how. Is it entirely their fault? IMO it’s not always fair to blame the Governments etc for this parlous state of affairs, and it could be argued that the cause may be closer to home.

China Airlines (Taiwan) does to my knowledge not fly from Heathrow and certainly not direct to Beijing so Air China will be meant.

Mandarin is a 100% daughter of China airlines (bit like BA and BA Asia) so to make a difference between these two for safety reasons is not relevant in my opinion

Can’t comment on the service with Air China as I have never flown with them but I think from a safety record point of view there will not be a big difference with BA, LH or AF.

rgds
EC

I didn’t know they did either, hence my reply based on Air China.

To quote a well known saying “I dont belieeeve it”, whilst trying to locate a certain CD for a relatives Xmas gift, I came across several CDs that are made up totally of music from the testcard! I seem to remember from ‘sickie days’ as a child being curious as to why there was never any pop or rock tunes. Do any of the wise sages here know why? After all the Beeb broadcasted pop/rock on the radio stations at the time.