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Dubai
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yellow-tinged summary of Bangkok news
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scary fan site!
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macro-economic
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experience
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Corner
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wei under par
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99.94
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All
About Cricket
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Northern Exposure
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Author
Robert Scott lives
and works in Dubai; born in England I have since lived in Canada, Hong
Kong, Singapore and Bangkok.
I am very happily married to Tai.
If you want to know
more you only need to ask!
ask.
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28 February 2014
For all the chaos
caused by the protestors in Thailand the biggest threat to life remains
the idiots that drive on the country's roads - A 18-wheeled truck in
Prachin Buri crashed into a bus taking students to field trip causing 15
killed, 30+ injured.
Sadly people will just
shrug their shoulders and move on because road safety is simply ignored.
27 February 2014
In the Thai fantsay
thinking department:- PDRC leader Krasaj C. accused both #BBC #NYT jounos
in #Thailand of being on Thaksin's payroll.
Perhaps BBC, NYT
journos just favour truth seeking, justice, democracy and other things
offensive to too many in Thailand?
26 February 2014
Happy birthday hon.
25 February 2014
In fantasy land the
Thai Criminal Court yesterday rejected the Department of Special
Investigation's (DSI) request for warrants for the arrest of 13 People's
Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) leaders. The court cited the...
the Civil Court's
ruling that the emergency decree cannot be used against PDRC protesters it
said were rallying peacefully without weapons.
Forget examining
the evidence or watching video of a grenade thrown at policemen. It really
is too pathetic for words.
************************
Etihad daily to Phuket: the new route will launch on 26 October 2014 using
two-class Airbus A330-200 aircraft, with 22 Pearl Business seats and 240
Coral Economy
************************
EK rumours: So Dubai-Amsterdam-Miami-Mexico return. The source sounds very
sure. I am sceptical. Dubai to Miami-Mexico makes much more sense.
*************************
For a nation known for it's efficiency and economic prosperity the delays
in opening Berlin's Brandenburg airport are perplexing.
**************************
From chat on PPRUNE it is apparent that after last weekend's fog the "key
players for traffic into and out of DXB have agreed to a nightly
conference call at 11pm to discuss relevant matters and strategies to
minimise disruption as much as possible. The involved parties are DXB
airports, Major airlines, ATC, MET and the CAAs.
Points of note are stands available, available diversion airports and
capacities, ATC capacity, Airline key priority aircraft, Arrival rates and
MET forecasts and observations."
I cant be the only
person surprised that this does not already happen as a matter of course.
DXB is not a stranger
to fog. This was neither the first or last difficult day at the
increasingly overcrowded airport. The trouble is that as Emirates and
flyDubai have grown; as new terminals have been added, the airport itself
cannot get larger Still the same two parallel runways that are too close
together.
The airport can manage
on a normal day - any hint of a problem and chaos and confusion takeover -
and it appears that no-one took charge of the problem and that there was
no thought through contingency planning other than making sure the planes
had enough fuel to stay longer in the sky.
Neither Emirates or
Dubai Airports finest hour.
24 February 2014
Only in Thailand: The
Criminal Court Monday rejected the request of the Department for Special
Investigation for arrest warrants against Phra Buddha Issara and 12 other
protest leaders.
The court reasoned that the situation was not urgent enough to warrant the
arrest of the monk and 13 other leading members of the People's Democratic
Reform Committee.
The DSI sought the arrest warrants on allegations that the 14 had violated
the emergency decree.
****************************
Emirates is launching a daily service to Chicago's O'Hare International
Airport, Terminal 5 from 5th August 2014.
The service will be
operated by a Boeing 777-200LR.
It will operate as
flight EK 235 from Dubai International Airport at 09:45 hours arriving
into Chicago at 15:25. The return flight, EK 236 will depart Chicago
O’Hare Airport at 20:35 hours, arriving into Dubai at 19:10 the following
day.
The destination will be the ninth for Emirates in the US. The airline
previously said that it will fly to Boston, Massachusetts starting from
March 10.
23 February 2014
"Thailand is on the
slide to a civil war that no one seems able to stop" - Jonathan Head for
BBC World news tonight....also noting that the anti-government protestors
have "powerful backers"
***************************
A second grenade attack this evening in Bangkok at Big C opposite central
world has caused deaths and injuries. it is so sad to see Thailand
unravel, but not so surprising. When a society does not value debate to
resolve differences, the extremists are left to set the agenda.
Meanwhile without any
evidence at all Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban on Sunday night condemned
the perpetrators of the deadly attacks at anti-government rally sites in
Trat and Ratchaprasong intersection and accused "lackeys of the Thaksin...(Bangkok
Post).
**************************
Thailand sinks nearer to civil war: an 8 year-old girl died from gunshot
wounds and 5 people are still critically injured, after a grenade & gun
attack on the PDRC rally in Trat last night.
***************************
Emirates Boeing 777-31HER A6-ENN was delivered Paine Field – Dubai as
EK777 yesterday. This brings the Emirates B777-300ER fleet up to 92
aircraft.
22 February 2014
There is a very strange
thread on twitter tonight from the Dubai media office with the hashtag #DubaiAchievments
Why? It looks so
insecure to need to periodically say this is what we have done.
It also gives rise to
the possibility of people saying that's fine - what about Dubai's
mistakes?
Sometimes it is best to
be proud without bragging:
@DXBMediaOffice invites
you to interact with #Dubai_Achievements by posting photos and videos
and this was the wrong
day to send out this tweet:
#Dubai_Achievements:
(Emirates Airline) a major international aviation player & a model for
quality control
My response: @DXBMediaOffice
Maybe you should have sent this tweet on a different day - some very
unhappy people at DXB today if you follow @emirates
It is not especially
clever for the Media Office to boast things that really do not exist yet:
#Dubai_Achievements:
(Dubai World Central) a multi-phase mega aviation structure & home of Al
Maktoum Airport
***********************
Alan Joyce is widely disliked by his employees but grudgingly admired by
his shareholders - here is why from PPRUNE:
"He has very little
exposure to the European market place. He wants as little exposure to
Europe as possible.
He has shifted massive amounts of work on to the Jetstar network.
He smashed the unions in 2 days when he shut the airline down.
He has convinced the government to guarantee a public companies debt.
His only domestic competition continues to lose money.
And he is about to get the government support to do what he ultimately
wants as it will be a requirement from the government (to guarantee the
debt) that the Qantas model as it is today is finished.
This post is not about debating the direction the QF group is going. Or
the way he has gone about doing it. It is very simply stating FACTS."
**************************
Chow Yun Fat is one of the genuinely good guys -
and this is fun: "While many of his colleagues choose to spend their
paychecks on cars and name-brand outfits, Chow Yun Fat is happy to hop
onto a crowded bus with the public while dressed in clothes purchased
years ago.
Surprisingly, the superstar is rarely recognized. "Ninety percent of the
people on the subway would be staring down at their phones. Who would even
notice me? It's like stepping into an abandoned land!""
A group of us from
Reuters were in the same restaurant as CYF and a guest one evening. Out
intrepid future CNN host saw him and walked across to say hello. He was
utterly charming; posing for pictures and chatting.
21 February 2014
Do take note: BlackRock
Frontiers Investment Trust Plc (BRFI), a $297 million fund run by the
world’s biggest asset manager, said it “substantially” reduced United Arab
Emirates holdings last month on concern stocks rallied too much.
“While the U.A.E. economy in general is performing well and Dubai is
booming, we are increasingly concerned about the level of speculation in
the market,” investment managers Sam Vecht and Emily Fletcher in London
said in a regulatory filing. BlackRock had $4.2 trillion under management
at the end of 2013.
20 February 2014
Seems inevitable we
will soon end up with new caretaker govt which is not headed by Yingluck.
Most of focus on who is PM but not the how, but the howis very important.
By law, PM must be an MP. Also, no Lower House to vote for new PM.
Legally, see no way around this.
Remember that
Parliament was dissolved by Yingluck for a new election on 2 February that
the Democrats refused to participate it.
Avoid military &
judicial coup tht wd provoke RS uprising. Grind the govt down through EC,
NACC etc.
19 February 2014
Thomas Fuller in the
New York Times: "After a series of confrontations in recent weeks and the
wide circulation of photographs of heavily armed men among the protesters,
the protest movement increasingly resembles an armed insurrection against
the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra."
*****************************
“The further a society drifts from truth the more it will hate those who
speak it.” ― George Orwell
18 February 2014
Cricket news: India
have now played 14 straight Tests overseas without winning one. New
Zealand, on the other hand, have drawn with England and beaten India and
West Indies in their last three home series.
17 February 2014
How bad are the
winter olympic judges - well here is the Toronto Star on the ice dance
judges:
"The villainy of ice dancing knows no bounds. Strip away the sequins, wipe
off the pancake makeup, delete the frozen-in-place smiles, and what’s left
is a tawdry whore of a sport where the judges are the johns. If the fix is
not in against Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, then I’m the Princess of
Wales."
*************************
The Dubai population reached 2.2 million by the end of 2013; during the
daytime the population is higher by 1 million.
16 February 2014
Service charges for
residential and corporate units in the Burj Khalifa increased by 27 per
cent and 37 per cent, respectively in 2013.
Owners of residential apartments pay Dh70.02 per square feet compared to
Dh55.01 per square feet (psf) in 2012. In 2011 and 2010, the charges were
Dh55 and Dh52.77 psf, respectively.
Charges for Armani Residences were set at Dh85.35 psf compared to Dh83.12
psf in 2012, while corporate suites charges are set at 104 psf compared to
Dh76.03 psf in 2012.
No wonder there are
defaulting owners and unpaid service fees.
15 February 2014
12 wickets for Johnson
in the first test in South Africa and suddenly England really do not look
so bad. Wonderful, hostile fast bowling.
***************************
From the Bangkok Post today:
"From heckling to death
threats, from trolling to live bullets. From malignant distribution of the
enemy’s home address and licence plate number, to good old calls for his
head, both real and metaphorical. Burn the witch at the stake: the
“punishment” for thoughtcrime in the land of crooked smiles is severe."
This is how the ulta royalists respond to reasoned discussion of the role
and future of the Thai monarchy.
14 February 2014
Happy Valentines Day
******************************
Emirates acquires its 45th A380 today. MSN141 A6-EEQ will leave Hamburg
later today.
13 February 2014
Naughty people at Qatar
Air, They probably need to do some work on their understanding or local
cultural issues and recruitment legislation - from Arabian Business:
"Qatar Airways stirred up controversy in Norway last week after posting an
advert asking women to wear short skirts to a cabin-crew recruitment day,
the alarabiya.net website reported.
The website reports that the airline came under fire from Norway’s
anti-discrimination ombudsman, particularly as the same advert asked men
to dress in business attire.
The advertisement was later changed by the airline."
Sadly it does show
where the airline's recruitment priorities lie.
11 February 2014
This tells you plenty
about the French: 2nd February 2014: Due to the high demand of Y/C red
wine on LYS flights, Catering will load additional bottles.
10 February 2014
Emirates Airline plans to ground 19 or 20 planes from May because of
runway construction work at Dubai International Airport, the airline's
president Tim Clark said on Monday.
That number of planes represents roughly 10 percent of the airline's fleet
of about 200 planes. The work is expected to be finished by July 20, Clark
told reporters.
"It'll have an impact on the revenue. We will have to learn how to manage
this," he said without elaborating.
Initially Emirates was
talking about a 50% reduction in flight schedules; there have clearly been
negotiations about allowing Emirates greater access during the single
runway operations.
Assume that EK will
ground the A330s, A340s, A345s and the smaller 772s. The airline will try
and keep the A380 schedule intact as far as possible through this period.
******************************
Air Arabia has been been designated the official carrier of Ras Al Khaimah
following the recent signing of a strategic partnership agreement with the
Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) there. The move will now allow the
Sharjah-based LCC to operate flights out of Ras al Khaimah, replacing RAK
Airways, which suspended all flights last month in the wake of mounting
financial constraints.
I have no idea what
this means in reality as it is a fairly simple drive from RAK down to
Sharjah - and why would Air Arabia want to operate a second hub so close
to its home base. An Air Arabia bus from RAK city centre would be more
than enough.
*******************************
Transaero Airlines will switch its Moscow Vnukovo and Moscow Domodedovo to
Dubai services from Dubai Int'l to Dubai World Central effective May 1.
Other airlines will no doubt follow.
*******************************
England was wet and miserable. So bad that it was not wroth trying to
leave the house in Devon for two days. And then a fairly miserable 4 hours
plus drive up to Heathrow.
*******************************
But had a nice time with Tai in Vienna during her 24 hour layover there.
It was cold but dry. And it is a nice, safe, conservative, historic and
solid city to walk around. Easy journey in and out of Vienna Airport.
I probably got the last
seat on Austrian out of London to Vienna and from Vienna to Dubai.
The second flight was
on a refurbished 767 - with winglets - and a new cabin. Shame about the
food. But the flight was on time. The passengers are well behaved and the
IFE had a few decent movies.
And Austrian must be
the only airline to offer "The Sound of Music" as part of its movie
offerings!
*********************************
Had a great dinner in Vienna - but the only way to enjoy a big schnitzel
is with sweet chilli sauce. The sesame asian ribs were more interesting.
5 February 2014
Emirates is launching
Abuja and Kano from 1st August 2014.
The flights operate as
follows:
EK785 DXB1030 –
1450ABV1640 – 1750KAN2025 – 0615+1DXB Daily except Tues, Thurs, Sat.
EK786 DXB1030 – 1430KAN1625 – 1735ABV2005 – 0615+1DXB Tuesday, Thursday,
Saturday.
An Airbus A340-500 will operate the service initially.From 01JAN15,
service will switch to Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.
Emirates has no
passenger rights between Abuja and Kano and vv.
Abuja is Nigeria's
national capital.
*************************
Before you even think about flying Qatar Airways have a read of the
following:
The truth about the luxury of Qatar Airways
Qatar Airways inclusion 'disgraces oneworld alliance'
**************************
Madness from the old boys' network that runs English cricket. After a
shambolic tour of Austrlai the ECB has now decided to end the
international career of Kevin Pieterson - clearly by some distance
England's best and most talented batsman.
England have a T20
World Cup in 4 weeks. A fifty over World Cup in 12 months. And the Ashes
in 18 months.
England need KP. The
fans pay to watch KP. We dont pay to watch Joe Root or Gary Ballance.
The defining problem
with the KP issue is that everyone who really knows why this extraordinary
decision has been taken cannot or will not tell us why. That should be
unacceptable.
So just how dreadful is
he? And why could England not manage him?
The ECB is in a
shambles.
4 February 2014
A weekend in London and
Sussex - hotel next to Paddington station - very convenient.
Perfect Saturday
morning. Sunny weather. Walk across Hyde Park. Subway to Borough Market -
spanish breafast and a walk around the market. Lots of great looking food
there.
Across Tower Bridge.
Subway up to Liverpool Street and Spitalfields market. Eventually back
towards Covent Garden.
Tai was asleep by
6.30pm - must have tired her out.
***************************
Sunday was unusual. A reunion of a few of us who had parents working in
Nigeria in the 1970s. Hosted by the splendid Guy and Jane Dudeney about 20
of us descended on their lovely home in Sussex.
It was a little strange
to see people that I have not seen for 40 years. Tai was not even born
then!
And really all down to
Facebook as we would never have found eachother without it.
30 January 2014
Rare common sense in
the
Nation:
"The protesters have
proposed Thailand seriously needs critical reforms before an election -
but have never determined clearly what they want to reform. The most
problematic issue for Thai democracy in their demands was the call for an
unelected "People's Council" to enforce the reform.
The boycott of an election or even opposing the election is nothing new in
the political struggle in this country and in the world. People rising up
in other countries have also boycotted or opposed elections - but only
when they saw it would not be free and fair, or the ruling government had
made changes in the rules to get the upper hand.
In Thailand it was to the contrary. The opposition Democrat Party, which
is closely associated with the protest, made some changes in the election
law in its favour when it was in power during 2008-2011. There was no
serious complaint about previous elections in 2011 that brought this
current government into power. Hence, there was also no point in calling
for reforms in election procedures before polling. And it makes no sense
to disrupt an election that the protesters' favourite party has
boycotted."
*************************
You almost could not make this up: The Democrat Party in Thailand will
petition the Constitution Court to nullify the Feb 2nd election because
the poll will not be held on the same day across the country and 28
districts have no candidates.
Of course they forget
to mention that there are no candidates where the Democrat backing
protestors blocked the registration process.
So the Democrats are
demand the election be cancelled after they sabotaged it themselves!
And finally the
Democrats are considering lawsuits against the international media for
claiming their party obstructed the election process. It is as if the past
few months never happened. Bizarre.
***************************
Egyptian prosecutors say they will charge 20 al-Jazeera journalists,
including two Britons, an Australian and a Dutch citizen, with fabricating
news and tarnishing Egypt's reputation abroad. The 16 local defendants are
also accused of belonging to former president Mohamed Morsi's now-banned
Muslim Brotherhood.
The journalists include the Australian former BBC correspondent Peter
Greste, and the al-Jazeera's Canadian-Egyptian bureau chief Mohamed Fahmy,
who has worked for CNN and the New York Times. The identities of the other
defendants, including the two Britons, are not stated, and some of them
are understood to have been accused in absentia.
In a statement, prosecutors said the defendants aimed "to weaken the
state's status, harming the national interest of the country, disturbing
public security, instilling fear among the people, causing damage to the
public interest, and possession of communication, filming, broadcast,
video transmission without permit from the concerned authorities".
29 January 2014
This is what you get
when you try to debate politics with one of the supporters of Suthep's
protests in Bangkok - "Well there s no need to debate such topic...if u
disagree with it., leave it."
Typical. I don't agree
with you so I dismiss you.
Without discourse
Thailand is dooomed to a cycle of increasing viciousness.
28 January 2014
"Suthep: So I demand
all PDRC units from all over the country to do every possible way to
prevent this election" -but still no evidence! I ask PDRC in every
provinces to be prepared, to not let election on Feb 2 be able to proceed
through no matter what. Suthep repeated allegations that YL brought armed
men from Cambodia to attack PDRC protesters.
**************************
Yingluk: Elections will go ahead. Suthep: Blockade of govt offices will
continue. Chalerm: protest sites will be cleared.
**************************
Thailand degenerating into farce: Criminal Court rejects DSI request for
arrest warrants for 16 PDRC leaders, citing lack of evidence.
Turn on the f***ing
television!!
**********************
Jake Needham: "It becomes increasingly difficult to avoid the obvious
parallels between the mobs in the streets of Bangkok and the fascist
brownshirts who stalked Italy in the 1930′s bullying and threatening
people until they had forced out the government and seized power for
themselves."
***********************
Mad Men returns with all-new episodes Sunday, April 13 - just so you know!
Final series as well.
27 January 2014
Emirates looks set to deploy part of its Airbus A380 fleet into India
following the removal of a ban restricting the aircraft from flying into
the country.
The decision to allow airlines to fly the double decker superjumbo to
India was announced in a statement on Monday by Ajit Singh, India’s Union
Minister for Civil Aviation.
*******************************
So the impending judicial coup continue in Thailand with the Nation
reporting that : "The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) will
Tuesday seek to fast-track impeachment proceedings against caretaker Prime
Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on charges of dereliction of duty over the
rice-pledging scheme.
NACC member Vicha Mahakun said the commission could expedite the case to
less than two months.
He said Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva had earlier filed a
lawsuit on the same charge seeking Yingluck's impeachment and that the
NACC had decided to take it up and work on it in parallel."
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26 January 2014
Skytrax is always fun
to review occasionally: here is a typical recent EK economy comment:
"would it hurt the crew to treat the passengers like customers? Smile,
respond to passenger calls and don't stand around the galleys gossiping.
Won't be flying myself and family again and wouldn't recommend Emirates."
Another recent one
says: We flew Sydney - Dublin return and it was underwhelming, to say the
least. The service on board was very poor, meals were rushed and it took
over an hour and two requests to get a glass of water, on more than one
occasion. The cabin crew were at best not very friendly with some being
extremely rude."
Tai said her flight to
Perth was horrible. It was a two class plane so she was working in Y. Not
a polite crew is the nicest way of putting it.
Their are no crew bunks
on this flight. Just some blocked seats at the rear of the cabin. On the
return trip there was only time for a one hour rest but no chance to sleep
as the crew in the galley were so loud. Now she knows how the passengers
often feel.
I have commented to a
sfs and purser before about this - especially when the crew are loudly
discussing company issues that should not be given a public hearing!
EK seems to be
struggling with its recruitment; its training or its feedback. The service
is not what it was.
****************************
Forty-five out of 50 advance voting stations in Bangkok werer closed today
because of protests.
The Election Commission
did nothing to protect the polling stations so that people who wanted to
could vote and they appear to have done nothing to protect individual
voters.
Inevitable there were
unpleasant clashes with at least one dead and eleven injured.
Protest leader Suthep
Thaugsuban this evening appealed to military leaders to come out to
protect demonstrators after another one killed. He is suggesting that the
shooter is Khmer and that the army are needed to protect him and other
protest leaders.
It is not the
government's role to protect the polling stations. The Election Commission
is in charge of the process and security.
Sadly it appears that
the EC were determined to get as much polling as they could cancelled as
they have their own agenda that the election should be postponed.
Predictably the whistle
mob, which claims to represent the Thai people, were actively preventing
people from voting which has to be as "anti-democratic" as you can get.
So we see PDRC gameplan.
Block all possible polling places. EC cancels the vote immediately. And
the government can do nothing since if the police do act, the government
gets swiped as for violently suppressing (not) peaceful protests.
Bizarre.
25 January 2014
Li Na won the Aussie
Open womens tennis today - when she gives up tennis she has a career in
stand up comedy.
The Wuhan native
entertained the crowd in Melbourne with her post-match speech, which some
in the Western world were dubbing “the best Australian Open victory speech
ever,” spawning a #funniestspeechever hashtag on Twitter.
Ms. Li called out and thanked her agent “for making me rich,” and her
husband, whom she thanked for fixing her drinks and fixing her racquets.
“Thanks a lot, you’re a nice guy,” she told him, to cheers and laughter
from the crowd. “Also you’re so lucky to find me.”
*************************
A poet at Emirates - as posted on the Staff Travel site;
"From the 9th deck of this great ship, the leadership decides to covertly
reduce the rations of the sailors onboard.
The sailors take wind of this, and become angry. “We labor so hard, by day
and night, to make this ship move swiftly through rough seas! The ship’s
rations are plenty. The forepeak is filled with supplies! Why then do you
reduce our keep? We need these rations to maintain our strength in order
to move this great vessel through these perilous seas!” say the sailors in
a desperate plea to their masters.
The leaders look down below decks at their sweaty minions, and in disgust
scream, “Keep rowing! Keep rowing!” "
23 January 2014
ATC over Europe might
be fun next week with industrial action planned for France (all week) and
Italy Germany Slovakia Hungary Austria & Cyprus (part of 29th/30th)
The German action has
been cancelled.
**************************
The Thai caretaker government has banned gatherings of five or more people
deemed to be trying to incite unrest as part of its measures to "quickly
put to an end" to the emergency situation.
The announcement,
signed by caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and released on
Thursday, also urged the media not to publish any information that could
cause misunderstanding and affecting national security...
Full details have not
yet been released.
Fair to assume that
both the ban on gatherings and teh slef-censoring media will be completely
ignored making the so called state of emergency completely useless.
This was a big mistake
by the government - the protestors were running out of both steam and
credibility. The SoE just gave them a reason to continue to exist. Dumb.
***********************
This year's Thailand Open golf championship has been postponed after
the Thai government declared a 60-day state of emergency.
Originally scheduled from March 13-16 at Thana City Golf & Sports Club on
the outskirts of Bangkok, the $1 million tournament would be moved to "a
more suitable date" later in the year, organizers said in a statement.
*************************
This tells you all you need to know about Suthep and his protestors -
tonight Suthep (was) "on stage praising Tony Cartalucci as best Thailand
expert. Accusing foreign media as biased & influenced by Thaksin's
lobbyists."
Tony Cartalucci is not
a real person - no one has ever met or seen him. He has not journalist
accreditation. His name appears to be used to a group of conspiracists
with zero understanding of what is really happening in Thailand and who
appear to think that a coup and miliary rule solves every problem.
As for the western
media - it is simply ludicrous to suggest that the combination of the BBC,
CNN, The Economist, the Washington Post etc can all be wrong.
**************************
Suthep also said tonight that: "there must be NO ELECTION!" We will take
action to prevent the upcoming election from happening in every province."
The Dems boycotting the
election is one thing. Stopping people from exercising their democratic
right is another.
Though I still doubt
that the election will proceed. The Constitutional court will find some
grounds to postpone or cancel it.
***************************
Just a reminder - Engagement in social media must at least mean the
ability for a consumer or future consumer to reach out to and get response
from a company.
*****************************
Here is an interesting note on PPRUNE - "Seems the cabin crew stampede to
resign has begun... EK are apparently desperate enough to send recruitment
emails to former cabin crew now in their home countries, some of whom did
not leave on good terms.
Now why would they do that? Galley FM suggests they can't keep up without
compromising the quality of service more than they already have and thus
looking for experienced ones to rejoin...."
There are two aspects
to EK's service. i) the crew in economy are often so new that they have
little clue what they are doing. Also the crew that they have been
recruiting have a very different idea of what service really means
compared to crews recruited say five or more years ago. Service, at least
in economy, is inconsistently average. ii) i do fear for what could happen
in the event of a serious emergency on an EK flight. One of the great
aspects of the miracle on the Hudson five years ago is how calmly the crew
managed the evacuation. But it was a very, very experienced crew. Take a
two class 773 with 386 passengers in economy and a young and inexperienced
cabin crew.
Not a thought to dwell
upon.
Jestar Asia has also
started to recruit crews with prior experience. Makes a lot of sense.
22 January 2014
Happy birthday to my
Mum - 81 today.
************************
Emirates will serve its Moscow route with a double daily A380 service from
1st August 2014
************************
Question for Emirates - do you really want this guy flying your
passengers?
On Twitter:
Capt Abdullah - @Abdullahbalti
Bio: Pilot in EMIRATES AIRLINE true patriotic paki..wishing pak bright
future and real leaders.Loves Pak Army watsoever
LatestTweet:
@TarekFatah @MaajidNawaz soon u will be beheaded by any mujahid of all
Mighty Allah insha Allah
I don't care what
provoked it - it is not right. And if you read further it is a pretty
emotional/angry timeline.
Update on 23rd. Capt
Abdullah's account is not longer on twitter. I assume someone at EK
suggested that proposing beheadings might not be compatible with his
career as an Emirates pilot.
***************************
One typical comment from pprune on the staff travel fiasco:
"It's the dichotomy of,
on the one hand publicly - "we are doing you a favor" while
surreptitiously doing the opposite privately - that is most offensive.
My initial reaction was: the Company's complete underestimation of the
intelligence of the staff to quickly checking myself and realizing...
...we are powerless...it's a dictatorship.
It's one thing for them not to care about anything else but the bottom
line...but it's an entirely different proposition for them not to
'respect' our intelligence and treat us with contempt.
Another sad day."
21 January 2014
Dear England.
A pub in a motorway
service station. Are you insane? There is only one solution for drink
driving and that is zero tolerance. If you have been drinking then you
should not be drinking. The airlines enforce a 12 hour gap from bottle to
throttle. That has to apply to driving any vehicle.
************************
The UAE executed a Sri Lankan national by firing squad today. Ravinda
Krishna Pillai was convicted of premeditated murder after he fatally ran
over the Emirati in an SUV during an argument between the two.
Executions are rare in the UAE and a leading official told Arabian
Business authorities had made every effort to persuade the victim’s family
to accept Pillai’s offer of blood money but they insisted on the death
penalty being enforced.
There are online
reports - use google - that suggest there is far more to this story than
has been revealed.
My views on the death
penalty are well known and consistent. No one has the right to take
another life. And that includes the state.
**************************
Thought for the day: "Kings are not born: they are made by universal
hallucination." GEORGE BERNARD SHAW, Maxims for Revolutionists.
*****************************
A state of emergency has been declared in Bangkok and the surrounding
provinces. It doesn't really mean much - not yet. But it does give the
authorities new powers, for instance to invoke a curfew should they wish
to.
But why now - just
seems like red rag to the yellow bulls - or as zenjournalist said: "If
there's one thing guaranteed to revitalize the whistle mob it's putting
Chalerm on TV to announce a state of emergency."
Exactly.
*****************************
What does it mean for the 2 February election? Well today the Election
Commission asked the Constitutional Court about delaying the election; the
government then declares the SOE; next the court will cite the SOE as the
primary reason for postponing the election.
Which leaves the
country knowhere. With a caretaker government held to ransom by a few
noisy people with whistles and a yellow shirted judiciary.
20 January 2014
So Vanessa Mae is going
to ski for Thailand in the winter Olympics - speaking to the Reuters news
agency she said: "I wanted to compete for Thailand because there is a part
of me which I have never celebrated – being Thai."
So to celebrate being
Thai she is going skiing. Bizarre. She does have a home in Zermatt
Switzerland and she is a proficient (if not top class) skier. But this is
hardly an example of her Thainess. More a flag of convenience.
*******************************
Thai AirAsia X (Bangkok Don Mueang) took delivery of its first A330-300
HS-XTA on January 15 at Bangkok Don Mueang. The aircraft transferred from
parent carrier AirAsia X will likely be used for the certification process
ahead of the launch of proposed long-haul operations from Bangkok Don
Mueang to destinations in North Asia, Australia and Europe. Interesting
times ahead in Bangkok with the Scoot/Nok joint venture starting up.
17 January 2014
Person of Interest
is back with a vengeance - and it was fun - maybe because it involved
airliners!
Here is one review:
"Finally the cloud
lifted! We’ve had a run of dark, depressing episodes on Person of
Interest, and this week we finally got a respite. While trying to flee his
former life, Reese lands in the middle of drama in the not-so-friendly
skies. A computer nerd, under escort by US Marshals, is the target of a
bevy of assassins – all of whom decide to take a shot at him midflight.
When we start out, Reese is trying desperately to catch a flight out of
town. He learns quickly that when the machine doesn’t want you to do
something, you run out of options, fast. His tickets get canceled, the
flights are overbooked, etc. Reese thinks Finch is responsible and doesn’t
realize that the machine is acting on its own. The machine manages to
corral Reese onto a flight with a “Relevant” – a person who is valuable
for national security.
What happens on the flight is simply…..fun! Since the death of Carter,
Team Machine has taken one blow after another. It was great to get a break
from that. Reese is in rare form and demonstrates his incredible ability
to knock people out for long periods of time. He takes out an obnoxious
co-passenger, a US Marshal, a Colombian assassin, and an Israeli duo. On
the last one, he gets some help from a flirty flight attendant. One thing
that I liked about the flight attendant was that she was not in her 20s,
and she was pretty in a non-supermodel way. As with Zoey, I appreciate
that the show pairs Reese with age-appropriate women and not fresh out of
college eye candy.
While Reese is taking care of business, the liquor is flowing. Reese downs
some Scotch early on, forces the computer nerd to “thin his blood” with
some whiskey, and even has the flight attendant fill a kid’s sippy cup
with booze to make him go night-night. The last one was particularly
funny, and before anyone gets upset, it was only “one finger.”
Reese eventually reaches out to Finch to find out why the computer guy is
so important. This part of the story was a bit of a stretch. The guy had
invented a website that allowed people to use bitcoins to pay for drugs.
That part has ties in reality, but what seemed tenuous was that the
government wanted to silence him because it’d been taking a portion of his
profits. I would’ve liked something a little meatier for his alleged
threat to national security.
The best moment came at the end when Reese remembered why he works with
Finch. He has a unique ability to help people and wallowing in his own
misery is no kind of life. When he meets up with Finch, Reese realizes for
the first time that he is not the only one mourning Carter’s death. Finch
has a hard time hiding his excitement when Reese says he’s willing to
return to the job. It’ll be nice to have the team together again and it
was definitely good to have a lighter episode."
The show will go
without Carter. Different but just as good.
****************************
Thailand edged closer to bloodshed today when a something like a
firecracker or small bomb/grenade was thrown by an unidentified person at
Suthep's march causing some eight some injuries after lunch.
16 January 2014
Dubai Group has signed
a $10 billion debt restructuring deal, two sources with knowledge of the
matter told Reuters on Thursday, bringing an end to the last major
hangover from the emirate's 2009 financial crisis.
Dubai state-linked entities borrowed heavily from banks to fund a spree of
acquisitions during the boom years of 2006-08.
But as credit markets dried up following the global financial crisis and a
local real estate bubble burst, they found themselves unable to manage
their obligations and were forced to renegotiate tens of billions of
dollars of debt.
Dubai Group, the investment vehicle owned by the emirate's ruler, signed
the restructuring deal on Wednesday, the sources said, speaking on
condition of anonymity as the information is not public."
Another increase in
service fees coming then.....Dubai Group will extract cash from wherever
it can.
****************************
EK will start a second daily Dublin flight on 1st September:
EK 163 DXB DUB 1600 2050
EK 164 DUB DXB 2220 0855*
15 January 2014
Thailand's so-called
Democratic Party was in power from 2009 when the courts gave them control
of Parliament until they lost the 2011 election - so they had two years to
introduce the reforms that they now argue are necessary before they are
willing to fight another election.
What did they do?
Nothing.
Pathetic really.
14 January 2014
There are rumors going
around that EK will get additional access to Vancouver, and maybe a
Calgary/Edmonton connection in Canada. Also from the sound of it Toronto
should go daily, if not double daily.
Just rumours.
Visit two of the
following; Iran, Uruquay, Nepal, Iceland.
Definitely go back to
Japan.
Read at least half of
the books that I have bought and not yet read!
Ok - that is a good
list to start with. Gentle reader, I will let you know how I get on.
2 January 2014
So here we are at the
start of another year.
And after a rather
strange year end that was hard on Tai.
The drama started on
her flight back from Bangkok when an elderly passenger fell ill and
required CPR from the crew.
Sadly he died about ten
minutes after the plane reached the gate. There were messages of support
from crew managers. But Tai was not directly involved in looking after the
passenger so was less affected than some of the other crew might have
been.
*************************
Then in the early evening of 31st we found out that our expected guests
would not be joining us for the evening. Which was fine except that it
left us with more food than we need.
*************************
The Burj fireworks were spectacular. But short. Under four minutes. The
crowds were lighter this year as many people went to see the waterfront
fireworks. It is hard to get a good vantage point to see these properly.
And it seemed to be more about creating a show that would have Dubai in
the Guinness Book of world records than about it being a show for the
people of Dubai.
One day Dubai will have
to get past this need to be the biggest, tallest, most etc. Size is not
everything. Quality matters as well and that builds a lasting legacy.
Remember the airshow.
Washed out on the final day because the exhibition building was not
waterproof. Poorly constructed it did not do its job.
13 January 2014
The real danger of the
Bangkok shutdown is that the situation quickly gets getting out of hand.
Until now, we have witnessed a (dirty) game of elite chess. The
Shinawatras trying to use an amnesty bill to bring Thaksin back to
Thailand. The anti-democracy whistleblowers trying to remove the
government and cancel elections that they can never win.
The strategy appears to be to provoke a military coup by causing bloodshed
on the streets.
So far the government,
police and military have behaved with the greatest restraint. Indeed the
government even conceded to a new election.
But this weeks shutdown
Bangkok is a dangerous raising of the stakes. Remember that until now,
including the storming of the ministries, the authorities have maintained
full control over events.
But there are plenty of red shirt sympathisers in Bangkok who need to make
a living; taxi drivers, street vendors, van drivers etc. How long can they
be restrained from protesting against the protesters.
The ensuing bloodshed may be enough pretext for military intervention.
And that is what Suthep
needs. He needs bloodshed. While Yingluk and the Puea Thai cabinet simply
hope to do nothing and weather the storm.
But if this does become violent then both sides may lose control. And if
the red shirts in the north mobilise (and their patience has been
remarkable) then.....the resulting battle is too awful to think about.
It is bad enough that
this showdown continues to see Thais fighting Thais and friends fighting
friends. The if you are not with us you are against is rhetoric is
alarming.
*****************************
The saddest part about the Thai protests is how this Bangkok/southern
based mob invoked the Thai flag as their symbol as though they somehow are
the only true representatives of the nation. They are not. They represent
but a small minority.
**************************
Tina Fey at the Golden Globes said "Gravity" was about 'how Clooney would
rather float away in Space rather than spend one more minute with a woman
his own age.'
Perfect!
**************************
Is there any point in releasing a movie when the censor has removed over
1/4 of the film: The version of The Wolf of Wall Street being screened in
Dubai is about 45 minutes shorter than its original running time of 180
minutes. The changes were made by the distributor on the advice of the
National Media Council, the government authority that vets the content of
films before approving their release.
Other films with
content that does not conform to the UAE’s cultural values were not
released at all. The 2011 movie The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was not
shown after the producers declined to make the cuts recommended by the
National Media Council.
*************************
Cate Blanchett got the best actress globe for Blue Jasmine; I really
disliked that film.
12 January 2014
The first half of the
final season of Mad Men begins on Sunday, April 13 - just so you know!
***************************
The Economist : "Thailand could also do with a new constitution. The
current one no longer works. The political system has broken and no one
can see the way to devise a new one. The main opposition group, the
Democrat Party, should contemplate a name change: to the “anti-Democrats”,
perhaps, or the catchier “Born to Rule!”. It is boycotting next month’s
election not because it would be unfair (though it might be), but because
it would lose. It has not won a general election for more than two
decades. Its supporters in the south are outnumbered by those in the north
and north-east of the country, who keep on voting in proxies for Thaksin
Shinawatra, an exiled former prime minister. The forces that the Born to
Rules represent, including much of Thailand’s traditional elite, find this
impossible to accept. They are openly campaigning for what amounts to
dictatorship, though they do not call it that. Democracy has not worked
for the Democrats."
The full article is
here.
8 January 2014
So FIFA does not want a
summer world cup in Qatar in 2022. So why were they allowed o bid for a
summer world cup - and why were FIFA delegates dopey enough to grant Qatar
a summer world cup.
Here is a likely
prediction: the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar will be on Sunday December
18 ... which is already Qatar National Day.
*****************************
Met one of my near neighbours in the elevator today - he is 7ft 2in (219
cms) - I have never met anyone that tall. Very nice guy - but it must be
tough remembering to duck all the time - even to get out of the elevator
and escape my questions !
6 January 2014
Thailand's problems in
one sentence: "Nothing like a career politician backed by billionaires
soliciting money from the middle class to destroy the poor."
As Suthep leads his
followers around Bangkok soliciting handouts.
5 January 2014
England have been
thrashed in Australia - five tests to nil. In the last test in Sydney
England won the toss - for the first game in the series - put Australia in
to bat and then managing to lose in three days.
There may never have
been a more one-sided test series. Perhaps Pakistan v England in the UAE.
Merciless, vicious
cricket from the Australians and the poms had no response.
Hard to know where
England go from here. This England team is simply not as good as they
think they are. They can win in England; they struggle overseas - remember
the 3-0 thrashing by Pakistan in the UAE at the start of 2013.
So where to from here.
They look completely shell-shocked. The Flower-Cook relationship is simply
to cosy. If this was a business they would both be fired. If this was a
company the share-price would be near rock-bottom. So change at the top is
necessary.
The tour appears to
have ended the careers of Swann (retired), Trott, Panesar and Prior.
I imagine Pieterson
will also retire. They wont give him the captaincy so why continue?
Carberry really does
not look a long term England opener. Rankin is not a test bowler. Root and
Compton appear to have been sidelined.
But the trouble with
England is that changes are incremental and the fundamental attitude does
not change - unimaginative, attritional cricket.
Something needs to
change. And the change should start at the top.
3 January 2014
Resolutions are hard -
especially as I am l not very good at making them or living up to them!
So what about 2014.
Make better use of my
time - find a real purpose beyond caring for family. Even a job -
something that I want to wake up for and enjoy.
Finally learn to play
the guitar rather than sitting and looking at it.
Learn wordpress.
Be active.
31 December 2013
A6-EMM is apparently
haunted. Just so you know.
**************************
It really is not the protests that are dangerous in Thailand - it is the
road where the statistics are 266 killed and 2,502 injured in 2,355 road
accidents during the first 5 days of the holiday.
***************************
Happy New Year - and a peaceful, kind 2014 to you all. Thank you for still
reading me!
And thank you to Tai
for always being there.
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