Maybe re-thinking the subsidy on aviation fuel needs a look at, but would Richy dare, I doubt it very much.
Right, I get all that but I'm just going to play devil's advocate for a bit so don't take offence. I remember seeing Emma Thompson fly from LA to London, and back, for a climate change protest. She said she had to be in LA for work, despite America having quite a few actresses of their own. I dunno what you do but 'was your trip really necessary'.
Absolutely not mate, it's just a topic for debate and something I've been pondering for a while. I've started wondering what progress mankind are actually making and I've come to the conclusion that it's none at all. We praise ourselves to the skies because we've found a vaccine for a bug that we created ourselves and one that's still killing us every week. The problem with flights is that they shift huge amounts of people around very quickly. (As far as Covid was concerned, I'd have stopped pleasure boats and restricted them to freight only.) Even when Covid was in the UK we had Chinese arriving hourly and tourists flying to Spain which was in a lockdown. It was the airlines, themselves, who knocked it on the head.
I'm a major loss insurance assessor specialising on natural disasters. It's impossible given the size of the country to have enough people available to do my job in a particular area when a major flood, earthquake, cyclone, hurricane or bush fire occurs to manage without us flying in from all over the country. We are currently in the process of helping approximately 42,000 people rebuild there homes and their lives. Zoom wouldn't do it unfortunately. We can manage our team meetings on zoom but it's a bit difficult to ask an 80 year old woman to crawl under her house so we can remotely take photos of the footings etc.
I've started wondering what progressmankind are actually making and I'vecome to the conclusion that it's none atall. this is something I’ve wondered about for quite a while. When I was 16+ a 70 acre farm used to have enough work for themselves and 2 married men with their families, now 10 of these farms have been bought by one man and only keep the owner and 2 contractors in work. IMO 700 acres keeping 30 families working is progress not the other way round.
Hollywood and celebrities all over this. I'm so woke and really want x, y, and z to change I'll talk about it, post about it or go to a protest. Can all you plebs make the changes though as I'm afraid I can't as I need to do x, y and z to be able to rake in the millions!
Add to that my wife just called me and told me that they've made her mum palliative. We think she may have 6 weeks but if i need to get back in a hurry i don't think a 22 hour drive would be the safest way of doing it.
Well I suppose some people would think it is progress, allowing people like ourselves the freedom to write what you just have.
Apparently she had to be in LA for work ... ... as if she can't find any work here and had to do a Norman Tebbit
devils advocate here, but do 30,000 odd of us HAVE to pack out the pubs & clubs, then congregate in a stadium for 2 hours every fortnight, not to mention the planes, trains & automobiles for away games?
I bang on about reporter never asking the right question and your comments in above post would be the obvious one. I remember Clinton banging that podium "l did not have sex with that woman (Monica Lewinski) sp. Did any reporter ask the obvious "well, what were you doing with her" what a criminal that man is. Rant over, l can see both points of views and agree with @Ozzymac we have friends and family in various locations in Aus and flying to these locations is much easier than other modes of transport. As for the environmental issues, any mode of transport is environmentally damaging.
Agree about faff of checking in and practically undressing to get through security, so why do we do it? Dependable weather and cheaper prices. However, I don’t get the prevalent attitude that everyone is entitled to a holiday “away”, whether it be in U.K. or abroad. A holiday away from your home is a luxury, not an entitlement. When “I were a lad” most people stayed at home, the more affluent went to Blackpool or the like. I was 14 when I went “away” - 6 days in a wooden shed attached to a gipsy caravan at Ovingham. My next was at 27 in Malta, then a wait of 17 years for my next one in the Isle-of-White. The point is, I did not feel deprived in any way because many working class didn’t get away at all. I believe people worked harder in those days and certainly for longer hours and shorter holidays. So I don’t know where this entitlement comes from. I’m not an uncaring person but my attitude to holidays is if you can afford them and have the time and inclination: fine. But they are not a MUST. Sorry for the length of this reply.
My sympathies are with you mate. It’s terrible when you HAVE To go. Stick in there, friend, you’ll get through it!
I don’t know why it is, Smug, but this country always seems to lag way behind other countries when it comes to stopping, or even just restricting, entry.