Welcome to rascott.com
This is a
personal site that reflects my interests in news,
current affairs, aviation and travel.
email me at robert@rascott.com
Now In Dubai:
Scott
Consulting
Photo Albums
My photographs have been moved off this site and are now stored on Picasa. They
were simply taking up too much space on my web host.
Please use
this link to see my list of photo albums.
Some
Useful links:
Information:
World Time
Clock
Exchange Rates
Journalism:
ForeignPolicy
Nationsonline.org
Project Syndicate
Amnesty International
Reporters w/o borders
The Guardian
BBC World News
CNN Asia
Bangkok Post
Daylife.com - news
Gulf News
Arabian Business
World News
WSJ - Asia
Good causes:
Sister
Joan - Bangkok
Regional Info:
BKK Magazine
HK Magazine
In
Singapore Magazine
TimeOut Dubai
Back in the UK:
Newton Ferrers
And for fun:
Lin Ping live panda tv
EarthCam
History
BBC Archive
National Media
Museum
The British Library
Imperial War Museum
There are many other links on my AOB blog page.
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An Occasional Blog
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Dubai based Airline bloggers
TampaxTowers
Egypt Thailand Blogs Bangkok Metblogs - city life Thai-blogs.com - rather serious
2bangkok.com
-
not really a blog but always up to date on Bangkok news
BKKOK.com
Thai
Girl The exotic adventures of a literary
sexagenarian.
Thai Films
Thai Mass Transit Systems
Dubai Blogs
dxbae
- picture blog
Al - Emarati - English language UAE blog
Grumpy
Goat
Arabic affairs blogs
The Arabist
Hong Kong Blogs In China: Danwei - media and advertising news from China
Shanghai
Diaries - self explanatory
Hong Kong Cinemagic
My Olive
Tree - Macau blog
In Singapore: Xiaxue - self-confessed mean, bitchy, sex goddess who says "wah" a lot!
Mr Brown
- colourful commentary from Singapore
In Burma:
In Canada:
Media:
Tabloid
Watch (UK) Aviation: Amadeus (airline schedules) Airline meals - see it b4 you eat it !
Airliners
- aviation forum, trip reports and pix
archive Planenation - commercial aviation news Airchive - a web museum of commercial aviation.
CrankyFlier - mainly US commentary
Sharjah -
1937
Johnny Jet News: The Guardian - UK
Arabian
Business China sites: Bangkok info sites Worthy Sites:
Rconversation - from Rebecca
MacKinnon, ex-TV reporter-turned-blogger.
Golf Sites:
Fun Sites:
Penguin baseball
Technology Ideas:
Stuff -
gadgets
TNooz - Travel Tech
The Rest:
Black
Flamingo - recipes and life (no golf!)
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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30 April 2011 Robert Amsterdam on coup rumours in Thailand - "The coup rumors that are currently dominating the Thai political discourse are not remarkable. Instead, what is remarkable is that the public has become so used to it. After having suffered no fewer than 18 coups in less than 7 decades, the Thai people have been psychologically conditioned to see these unlawful seizures of power as a normal part of public life, rather than as a destructive force more typical of a third world backwater." He is right - but his credibility is so much lessened by the fact that he is paid by Thaksin. **************************
Oh dear - the editor of the Voice of
Thaksin magazine was arrested by the Department of Special Investigation
Saturday on charge of taking part in the conspiracy to topple the
monarchy. DSI investigators arrested Somyos Prueksakasemsuk in
Aranyaprathet district in Prachin Buri. Add this to the closure of community radio stations in red shirt heartlands and it does appear that there is a plan to silence opposition voices wherever possible. ************************** ************************** UNITED will resume Tokyo Narita - Hong Kong from 29OCT11 with Continental Boeing 737-800 aircraft *************************** ****************************
**************************** The latest attack was a blow to Morocco's most important tourist city. Tourism is Morocco's biggest source of foreign currency and the second biggest employer after agriculture. *************************** He is right - and someone had to say it. 28 April 2011 Bahrain's news agency reminding us of who really runs that sad little country - Massive Show of Gratitude to Saudi Monarch ************************* 27 April 2011 The Thailand-Cambodia conflict might simply be understood as bigger country picking on smaller country. Thailand's population is 67 million while Cambodia has 14 million. Thailand's GDP is at US$584 billion, Cambodia's GDP is at US$30 billion. Thailand's military budget is US$ 4.3 billion, Cambodia's military budget is US$ 191 million. Not much of a contest! Back in Dubai. Late arrival from Nice last night. Pity that the weather was best on the day we left! 25 April 2011 The Wall Street Journal on the political impact of the latest border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia: "The military, palace and business
elite all fear that supporters of deposed Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra will win their fourth straight general election. The last three
results were annulled by a coup and court rulings, and the red shirt
supporters of Mr. Thaksin have become increasingly restive as a result of
their disenfranchisement. Even if their Puea Thai Party wins, there is a
strong chance they will not be allowed to form a government. So further
unrest later this year seems likely. 24 April 2011 Dubai’s population stood at around
1.929 million at the end of March and could surpass two million by the end
of 2011, official data showed on Sunday. Males largely outnumbered females at
the end of March, estimated at 1.479 million against about 431,415
females. ***************************** Alex and I are in Nice - but it was raining heavily for most of today. We went by train to Monaco - but that was a disaster - it was so wet there that we went to a cafe and came straight back home. The stands are going up for the Monaco Grand Prix on 29th May. Strange little town. 21 April 2011 Golfers and sponsors with heads in the sand: Golf legend Colin Montgomerie is
confident that Bahrain’s European Tour event will take place at the start
of 2012 despite the unrest that has affected the Gulf state. There is plenty of reason to worry - people are being arrested and imprisoned without charge. Military rule is being imposed by overseas military forces from KSA and the UAE. Sponsors need to disassociate themselves with the Bahraini regime and so do sportsmen - this is akin to supporting apartheid in the 60s and 70s and is not acceptable. **************************** 20 April 2011 Just a little pre election reminder of who really runs Thailand! And a little more on Thailand's boobgate hypocrisy. 19 April 2011 It is a man's world - Dubai Population now @ 1,929,110 of which Men are 1,497,695 or 77.6 of total and annual growth 5%! : Dubai Statistics Centre. ***************************** Raise a finger and it is jail time and deportation. Terrify a tourist with assault and threatened rape and it is a suspended sentence. It is sad to think that the judgement may in some way reflect the nationality of both the victim and the attacker. In my idealistic world the law is not dicriminatory. 18 April 2011 Emirates on 06JUN11 to operate Airbus A380 service on Dubai - Rome EK097/098 flight, 1-time only *********************** 17 April 2011 Golf today at Al Hamra - played like a donkey and got too much sun! Other than that a really nice day out ! *********************** ************************ ************************* He is running at 13 miles an hour - that is just under five minutes for each mile - amazing! 16 April 2011 Tai is on her way to LAX. Lucky girl. A change of scenery would be welcome. And I am home and bored. A walk around the Executive Towers building site did not cheer me up much either. Such a mess. We were in Festival City yesterday - I had not been there for a while. Worrying to see how many stores, cafes and restaurants had closed leaving vacant retail space. I guess 3 year leases had come up for renewal; and retailers had taken the opportunity to cut there losses. The mall is stuck between Mirdiff City Centre and Dubai Mall and loses out to both of them. The only real footfall is in Ikea which is in a separate building with its own car park.
************************************* 14 April 2011 Musical self indulgence: Faye Wong
*************************************** Bridge over Troubled Water - Simon
and Garfunkel Quickly followed by Supertramp's Crime of the Century and 10CC's The Original Soundtrack. Great songs live forever. These were played at school on an old Alba monophone record player. And Tai just asked me - what is a "LP" ! I am so old !! 13 April 2011 EK gets an A380 to Athens! An Emirates Airbus A380-800, registration A6-EDK performing flight EK-17 from Dubai (United Arab Emirates) to Manchester,EN (UK), was enroute at FL380 over the Black Sea north of Istanbul (Turkey) when a female passenger (47) suffered symptoms of a stroke. The crew turned the aircraft south
heading towards Izmir (Turkey) before turning west and diverting to Athens
(Greece) for a safe landing on runway 21L about 50 minutes later. The
patient was taken to a hospital. ****************************** "We at Toronto to Japan are thrilled to announce our big event – Hope Blossoms, a night of entertainment inspired by the grand tradition of the Japanese variety show. Canadian icons including Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, Jian Ghomeshi, Adrienne Clarkson, Bob Wiseman, Basia Bulat, Jim Cuddy and Oh Susanna will share the stage to bring Torontonians laughter, tears – and hope. Not only a fundraiser, this is a show of solidarity for the people of Japan." *************************** Accidental Tourist: Thai water torture 12 April 2010 One interesting note on Twitter: "Hey Dubai,, how's it going with all the Saudis? Now you know how it feels like to have them all over the place. Sincerely, Bahrain =)) #ksa" *************************** But the authorities in the UAE are wise enough to know that Emiratis and other residents have access to the widest range of international news sources. Which is why these arrests seem to be a classic case of shooting oneself in the foot. The rest of the word thought that the UAE was an oasis of calm amid teh regional turmoil and unrest. Here - concerns are already being
raised by NYU which has a campus in Abu Dhabi -
UAE Detains Prominent Professor, Raising Questions About Academic Freedom
At NYUAD. Habiba Hamid, an editorial writer at the UAE English-language paper The National, wrote a list of thoughts about the bin Ghaith arrest. She notes that the government taking the step of arresting a “credible domestic dissident for political reasons…seems unprecedented.” She adds, “Whilst thus far it has been impossible to verify whether or not Dr Nasser bin Ghaith has in fact been arrested, the perception that he may have been (as he is an exceptional figure) appears to, whether intentionally or not, criminalise dissent.” Do read Ms. Hamid's thoughts - they give balance and contest that foreign residents in the UAE will otherwise be unlikely to share. ***************************** The three page article was guillotined out of every edition on Vanity Fair available for sale in Dubai. Why? It was not pornography. It was not political. It was not revolutionary. It was satire. And yes it was spiteful - much good satire is. But the reaction from the authorities simply validated his article. Growing up is about learning to accept you have critics; and being able to laugh at yourself. Dubai is still an infant. As one commentator noted - "Satire has a history going back to the Ancient Greeks. Like caricatures, satire educates as it ridicules and lampoons. The Middle East, as in Asia have not had any revolutions in thought and ideas (which suits their autocratic regimes pretty well) and sees all critique as “insults” not to be endured. The maturity and resilience of a culture (and all the good things that come with it) comes with the ability to laugh at oneself. Anything else just leads to more wars and more tragedy." Exactly. **************************** ***************************** You could change so many people's lives with $4million. ****************************** 11 April 2011 The UAE has some of the most savvy leaders in the region which is why this story is a concern: UAE arrests democracy activists They have to know that this does not play out well internationally - just when Dubai looked likely to benefit as a place of calm and tolerance amid the regional turmoil. The three political arrested include
economics and law professor Nasser bin Ghaith who works at La
Sorbonne in Abu Dhabi. Newspaper coverage here in Dubai is very cautious. As this report summarises. Newspapers Inconsistent Over Blogger Arrests *********************** ************************ And from his manager - "What people seem to forget is that Rory is only 21. If he was American, he would still be in college and here we all are thinking he should have won the Masters. He is No8 in the world, and here we all are thinking he is an underachiever. It's daft." 9 April 2011 Now here is a career change for an Emirates Airline pilot....Mareh Bejou was a pilot for Emirates when he flew to Tripoli in mid-February. The next day he was a revolutionary who told his airline it had better send another pilot to take the plane back to Dubai. **************************** 8 April 2011 So Pia goes home on American Idol - big shocker that one - maybe a woman cannot win Idol. But the judges are at fault here - they wasted a save on the commercially very suspect Casey Adams a couple of weeks ago. Big big mistake. ************************** *************************** **************************** But these were not the original Coconuts - these were third generation Coconuts. Now Belinda Carlisle (why would someone want to be named after one of England's grimmer towns?) can still belt out a song. But Paul Young. Man - you have got to stop singing. The voice is gone. As for Meydan - it was the first time I had been out there. The car parks are not finished with lousy sign-posting and massive potholes. Trackside it looks spectacular. Massive stands for basically one big race night each year. They really do need to find other uses for the venue - I guess concerts are a part of that. The Brits do like a drink. The concert was standing room only ringed by bars. Tai was flying; I was driving; we looked a bit out of place carrying a water bottle. 5 April 2011 Dan Rivers is back in Thailand for CNN. There must be trouble ahead. His first report was on the conditions of near slavery that many people suffer in Thailand's fishing fleets. Interesting. But there was no balance, He did not interview anyone from the government or local authorities so it was hard to get a sense of balance in the story. 4/4/11 On TCM last night - Come Fly with Me. From 1963! Flying was a bit different then!
************************* Great
picture of Dubai from airliners.net taken in March from an EKA340 -
Exec Towers (and Millennium bottom left of pic). 3 April 2011 With the cricket world cup over for
another four years here is Vic Marks' team of the tournament: Hard to argue. Maybe Harbajan for Ajmal? Maybe even Swann for Ajmal. Not an Aussie in sight. And no Kiwi - despite making it to the semi final. ************************ Find me another country - other maybe than Qatar - where citizens make up only 11.5% of the nation's population. And how much of the wealth of the nation is represented by that 11.5%? *************************** 2 April 2011 Best April Fool story from yesterday - the Sun'a wonderfully headlined - Planet of the Apps. Genius. The mock up IPads's were made from cardboard with marmite covered raisins stuck on them to get the gorillas' attention. 1 April 2011 flydubai from 22 April 2011 launches
its 34th destination, Addis Ababa. Dubai – Addis Ababa route will be
operated 3 times a week with Boeing 737-800 aircraft on Tuesdays, Fridays
and Sundays.
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31 March 2011 Web site agony: This started with me having to change from publishing the site using FrontPage extensions (which are prehistroci in internet years) and publishing via FTP. Then as I was trying to sort out the file structure to help me publish the site I deleted all files from my hard drive - even from the recycle bin. So I had to recover the site from online by downloading it back onto my laptop. But then lots of things now do not work - some of the picures do not publish - while some of them do. The color of my site links has changed. And not all the pages are republished yet - cos it takes so, so long. In part that is Du's fault - out local bandwidth provider has lost an undersea cable and the internet is crawling along. **************************** And that excludes the Indian diaspora scattered all over the world...no wonder they are good at cricket. ************************* ************************* There was a cricket match in Mohali yesterday. India won. Pakistan came second. But the consensus from people watching on TV in Dubai was that Pakistan won the battle for the best looking women in the crowd - and the cameras were as focused on who was there as they were on the cricket match. 30 March 2011 Small cricket match in India today - as the India v Pakistan semi final brings both countries to a complete halt. Suspect there wont be much work done in Dubai today either. 29 March 2011
Emirates in flight magazine - April
2011. And while on the subject of magazine covers:
****************************** ************************ Without a shred of confirming evidence she repeated the claim that the red shirts burned down Central World so how could they be allowed come back now. No one has been charged with the Central World arson. The government may be winning the propaganda war if people are accepting these statements without question. My friend is smart. She represents Thailand's future - well educated; open minded; international; she should be asking why are these people still out protesting; what needs to be changed and how can we make change happen to create a fairer society. 28 March 2011 The UAE's very bad habit of locking up victims of rape and sexual assault has to end. They are victims not offendors. Rape victim sues UAE luxury hotel 26 March 2011 The Guardian on the Canadian PM - Charisma-free and charmless, Canada's prime minister Stephen Harper is the very model of a modern political leader. ************************* This will be interesting: The Civil
Court will on Friday at 10.00 am hand down its verdict for Bt245 million
damage in connection to the seizure of two Bangkok airports by the
People's Alliance for Democracy in 2008. And the outcome: The Civil Court has found 13 PAD members guilty of closing the airports during their rally in 2009. It has ordered the 13 to pay 522 million baht in damages to the AOT. Which
appears to be double the amount suggested earlier in the Nation. Midsomer Murders returns to UK television this week. The show is based on the books by Caroline Graham, and was launched in 1997. It has featured 251 deaths, 222 of which were murders. Your everyday UK village! Am amazed that there is anyone left there ! *********************************** The world lost one of its greatest actors and celebrities yesterday: Elizabeth Taylor - In this gallery, LIFE.com presents the best unpublished photos of Elizabeth Taylor from the magazine's archives, including shots from her very first wedding, from the sets of Giant and Cleopatra, and from her legendary romance with two-time husband Richard Burton. 21 March 2011
The new Boeing 747-8
Intercontinental soaring above clouds and mountains during its first
flight. Given how few Boeing has sold it will need all the luck that it can get! The airlines like the range, payload and economics of the 777. I am not sure why Boeing needed the 747-8? ********************** ********************** 19 March 2011 Apparently - The full moon this weekend is going to be the "biggest" and "brightest" we'll see until 2029. ***************************** Meanwhile the hub of Bahrain's
rebellion was destroyed as the country's embattled leaders intensified
moves to crush an implacable reformist movement rippling through the Gulf
states. Demolishing symbols does not creak people's resolve.... 17 March 2011 In Japan the number of confirmed dead and missing now stands at nearly 13,000 while some 450,000 people have been staying in temporary shelters amid sub-zero night-time temperatures. ************************* ************************** And dinner last night at a beach restaurant called "same same but different." Simple review - same same but indifferent. *************************** "This has all been greatly over-hyped by foreign media. The radiation rates in Tokyo are same as they were back in December. All the protections around the reactors are doing exactly what they have been designed to do. The health risks are low near the edge of the evacuation zone, and almost non-existent in Tokyo even considering the worst case scenarios. What people need to be concerned about are the 100,000s of Japanese without shelter, warm clothes, blankets with little water and food in the north part of Japan. There are still thousands waiting to be rescued. People are dying and suffering in those devastated areas, while the media continues to create panic around these reactors. This is a small problem, even in the worse case compared to the damage the tsunamis have caused." 16 March 2011 Back in BKK after a few nice days in Chiang Mai. Ketawa Stylish resort is a nice small hotel to stay. Close to Riverside and Goodview. The Sunday walking street market market is huge; it seems that everyone goes there. Quails' eggs taste good. Fried banana is a great snack as you walk through the market. Monk Chat is popular. **************************** Suggestions include the need to "air your shoes after use...Moisturise your skin" three times a week and some instructions such as "Males are not permitted to wear earrings or any other visible piercings" and "Do not sniff the perfume immediately after you spray it." Best of all "Your weekly treats should include, the use of a facial mask and exfoliation." And they still have to grease the landing ! 13 March 2011 There is a good live Reuters blog from Japan. Over 300,000 people evacuated in Japan. The death toll now assumed to be in tens of thousands. The government has warned of a possible explosion at a second reactor building at the earthquake-damaged Fukushima 1 power station. An explanation of the nuclear issue from the BBC. Updated pictures from the BBC. Thailand on Saturday donated five million baht (164,000 U.S. dollars) and other disaster relief necessities as an initial assistance to victims of massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the Foreign Ministry said. Oh dear - there are at least 45,000 Thais working, studying and living in Japan. The Thai Royal Family is worth how much - some US$35billion including the Crown Property lands. Seems to me that Thailand could dig a little deeper in aid. 12 March 2011 Pictures from the Japanese tsunami - words are not necessary. ************************** A.A. Gill wont be welcomed back in a hurry. But no smoke without fire. The article is in Vanity Fair - a monthly magazine. The article is meant to entertain. And it does. Of course it uses exaggeration but there is no smoke without fire. Publicly the UAE lives in denial of its mistakes and its excesses. The newspapers are full of appallingly sychophantic articles oozing praise for the leadership/ But the reality is as one commentator said "If Dubai is still unable to be self critical on where things went wrong then it shouldn't bother paying it's debts. It'll just do it again." A.A. Gill gets a lot of things factually wrong, he mixes different stories and situations and makes harsh stupid racial generalisations. But....if you only can accept and write good news stories then someone else has to act as the counterbalance. 11 March 2011 Arrived in Chiang Mai last night; easy flight over to Bangkok on EK and connected onto Thai Airways to Chiang Mai. Nice to be away from Dubai for a few days. **************************** The simple summary so far of a truly awful day for the people of Japan: 8.9 magnitude earthquake hits Japan,
numerous aftershocks Best way of keeping up to date is to follow the live updates from say the BBC or the Guardian. The BBC site is also streaming its television news. The Kyodo news agency says that the death toll from the earthquake and tsunami is expected to exceed 1,000. Japan is not unused to earthquakes and their building codes have probably saved thousands or even hundreds of thousands of lives. The BBC is reporting that the pressure inside the No. 1 reactor at its Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant has been rising, with the risk of a radiation leak. Al Jazeera's resources in Asia are
not as developed. And all I have access to is Al-Jazeera and the woeful
Channel News Obama this evening: President Obama's statement concludes: "Today's events remind us how fragile life can be. Our hearts go out to our friends in Japan and across the region, and we are going to stand with them as they recover and rebuild after this tragedy." It is night in Japan. The extent of the damage will only really be known in the morning. 9 March 2011 While Emirates focuses on adding capacity to existing routes, Qatar Airways which maybe has less focus on the bottom line continues to add new destinations. From 14 September 2011, Qatar will launch service to Sofia where Airbus A320 aircraft operates 4 times a week via Bucharest. The Budapest service, which currently operates via Bucharest, will become a daily nonstop service (increasing from the current 4 weekly). From 5 October 2011, Qatar will be launching 5 weekly Doha – Oslo service on board Airbus A330-200 aircraft. Emirates is being trumped by Qatar in Scandinavia. ************************** **************************
Confirmation of EK's third daily to Manchester: Emirates from 01MAY11 is introducing
3rd Daily Dubai – Manchester service, operated by 3-class Airbus A330-200
aircraft. Note that Qatar and Etihad are both about to go double daily to Manchester - so there is a huge addition of seats to the middle east and beyond from the UK northwest. As BA pulled out of Manchester it really did leave the door open for the gulf airlines to take over. ********************** ********************** The latest Thai acronym for heavy handed security and excessive censorship is CAPO - Centre for the Administration of Peace and Order. This was the CRES - center for the resolution of the emergency situation! ********************** ****************************** 7 March 2011 "You lick the lollipop of mediocrity once, and you suck forever." Not me - a US golfer. ************************** *************************** Sad that the Chinese are scared by an army of little green leprechauns having a good day out! *************************** I guess the only consolidation is that some of the US media and some bloggers are sufficiently concerned that we do get to hear and read about Manning's condition. In many parts of the world we would never know his condition and treatment. 6 March 2011 Total media black-out from MUFC
after defeat at Anfield. Even MUTV blanked. It really is a bit feeble. If
this was anyone other than Man U then the FA/Premiership would be dealing
with it. ****************************** ****************************** And I cooked enough chicken last night to be able to feed myself today as well. 5 March 2011 One of the more respected UAE commentators tweeted tonight: "In case you didn't get it yet: Libya is not Egypt, Egypt is not Tunisia, Tunisia is not Algeria, Algeria is not Yemen & Yemen is not Bahrain" He is right - but the point is one would not happen without the other - Tunisia empowered the Egyptians, who inspired the Libyans, who have left people across the Middle Eat and North Africa thinking that maybe they are due a greater share in the social and economic well being of their countries. ************************** It is a good example of just how international a city Dubai is. ************************** XYA5555 Please don't forget that protests are still continuing in Bahrain - with protestors still camped out on the Pearl roundabout and many marchers gathered there today - for the weekend. ************************** So I get caught up with episodes of The Good Wife - still the most intelligent of US tv show. 3 March 2011 How bad is the property market in Dubai: from today#s Gulf News: A one-bedroom apartment in The Waves, Dubai Marina, used to cost Dh1.95 million during the boom time, but the same property is now available for Dh650,000, according to PowerHouse Properties ***************************** ***************************** ****************************** “I am a lawyer, a revolutionary from the emirates …. I am not going to eat this land. I will die here as a pussy. You accountants and women who snog Qaddafi … get out of your malls and fill the airplanes …. A hot group of direct people who have taken ecstasy have disemboweled police stations like mice … report the rabbits. football players in washington protested for days near a non alcoholic beer sign …. Then the humvees came and spanked them …. I have not yet ordered one mistress to be tied. When I do, everything will tickle. There is no going left. Only up, down, circular!” But it is just possible that he makes more sense than Charlie Sheen. 2 March 2011 Qatar Airways follows Etihad & Oman Air, to have pulled out of London’s Gatwick Airport. Other then BA and Virgin Emirates is now the only international major airline serving there. I am with the New York Times' Nicholas Kristof on this: "If there's a symbol of everything wrong with television news, it's the focus on Charlie Sheen. Here we have America caught in historic budget debates that could lead to a shut-down of government, and the Middle East is in the midst of an equally historic democratic uprising -- and TV "news" is giving a microphone to a fallen drug user with serious personal issues? It all makes me embarrassed for the news media." Piers Morgan had a one hour fawning interview with Sheen on his prime time CNN show. The wall to wall coverage of the Oscars was pretty bleak as well. Keeping people dumb seems to be the US media directive. 1 March 2011 Credit to Jamie's Italian - who took the trouble to reply to my email. **************************
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