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
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:
Met Office Volcano watch
World Time Clock
Exchange Rates
Journalism:
Nationsonline.org
Project Syndicate
Amnesty International
Reporters w/o borders
The Guardian - UK
BBC World News
CNN Asia
Bangkok Post
Daylife.com - news
Gulf News
Arabian Business
Good causes:
Sister
Joan - Bangkok
Regional Info:
BKK Magazine
HK Magazine
In
Singapore Magazine
TimeOut Dubai
Travel:
Circle of Asia
Tales of Asia
Smart Travel Asia
Finance:
FinanceAsia
Aviation:
Amadeus (airline
schedules)
Airliners
- aviation forum
Thailand Info
thailand.com
learningthai.com
sawadee.com
bangkok a-z
Back in the UK:
Newton Ferrers
Government:
The
"new" White House
Photography
Denis Olivier - black and white
And for fun:
Lin Ping live panda tv
EarthCam
History
BBC Archive
National Media
Museum
The British Library
Imperial War Museum
The opinions expressed on these pages are entirely personal unless they are credited; you may not agree with all, or anything, that I write. So please use the feedback page to respond, comment or berate me.
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An Occasional Blog
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Thailand Blogs Bangkok Pundit - politics 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
dxbae
- picture blog
Al - Emarati
- English language UAE blog
In China Danwei - media and advertising news from China
Shanghai
Diaries - self explanatory
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
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 News The Guardian - UK
Arabian
Business China sites Bangkok info sites Worthy Sites Niall Ferguson - my favorite modern historian
Rconversation - from Rebecca
MacKinnon, ex-TV reporter-turned-blogger. Fun Sites
Penguin baseball Technology Ideas
Stuff -
gadgets 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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29 June 2010 Significant common sense from Sultan Al Qassemi in The National newspaper. Judicial reform will make the country stronger He is correct on every count and it is good to see The National sewing the seeds of change. 27 June 2010 1966 and all that. Which of course has to be in black and white - which is how we all watched it at the time. And that is why today still matters ! ********************* Sorry - but how dopey (pun intended) can you get. *********************** Meanwhile in another bout of euro hate - the Mail is upset: "British shoppers are to be banned from buying eggs by the dozen under new regulations approved by the European Parliament. For the first time, eggs and other products such as oranges and bread rolls will be sold by weight instead of by the number contained in a packet." 25 June 2010 I need to tell you about the Mirdiff City Center Starbucks store where the manager single handedly has ensured that I will never revisit his store and ideally never set foot in a Starbucks again. His attitude of personal or company gain before customer does not deserve my business. They are outrageously up-selling anything they possibly can. I said that his job was to serve us the drinks that we asked for not
something we did not ask for. I really do only want what I ordered. 24 June 2010 But the weather in Dubai is miserable - grisly, hot, humid - and with sand and dust blowing at low levels and messing up visibility. Not weather to go out in. ********************** ************************* 23 June 2010 Double standards in Thailand - not a surprise - but no wonder the red shirts feel persecuted. And it tells you all you need to know about the government's real intentions: This is from the Bangkok Post: "The prosecution on Wednesday deferred until Aug 4 a decision whether to indict nine People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) leaders in connection with the 193-day occupation of Government House in 2008. The nine PAD leaders have been charged with illegal assembly, causing unrest and inciting the people to break the law in violation of Articles 116, 215 and 216 of the Criminal Code. The prosecution has postponed many times its decision on indicting the nine suspects. Kaiyasit Pitsawongprakan, director-general of the Criminal Litigation Department, announced the latest delay on Wednesday. He said police have not yet completed their examination of additional witnesses as requested by the suspects." Why hurry - it has only been two years. Meanwhile their are red shirt leaders and supporters already detained in jail across Thailand. Such a disgrace. ************************ ************************ *********************** ************************ 22 June 2010 New airlines have often used images of sexy flight attendants to create an image. Southwest Airlines launched in the 1970s with women in hot pants and leather boots. There was Braniff Airlines, Virgin Atlantic. Even Hooters Air. Singapore Airline still uses the image of its Singapore Girl in its advertising. So it is surprise that a Russian start-up airline, Avianova, has
eye-catching ads with its planes being washed by bikini-clad models. But you don't want to know about the airline - you really want to see the advert....now if only Emirates or SQ produced a similar advert. Enjoy ! 21 June 2010 From November Air Berlin will start flying 3 flights a week from Berlin to Dubai. Can access for Emirates be far behind? *********************** To be honest even I felt a but guilty about buying BP fuel the day after Tony Hayward had made it completely clear that he has not got the message from the USA - and while the people of the US Gulf are busy fighting his oil spill he was out sailing off the Isle of Wight. Poor judgment. ************************ ************************* The Mirror (well it would!) gleefully reporting that : "Senior Conservatives are apparently livid over revelations of Energy Secretary Chris Huhne’s affair with former aide Carina Trimingham, which have led him to end his 26-year marriage. They blame Deputy PM Mr Clegg for not vetting his frontbenchers properly as it’s the third Lib Dem humiliation just weeks since the coalition took power." ************************** The first aircraft to touch down at Al Maktoum International – Dubai’s second airport – will arrive later on Sunday as part of the facility’s preparations for an official launch on June 27. ******************************* 19 June 2010 Aung San Suu Kyi is 65 today. 17 June 2010 RIP Andy Ripley - former England international Andy Ripley has died from prostate cancer at the age of 62. Back row forward Ripley won 24 caps for England in the 1970s and was part of the successful British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa in 1974. He did some remarkable charity work - even when his illness was well advanced. ************************** Louisiana Representative Joseph Caotold told one of Hayward's colleagues this week that even the resignations of BP officials would not be enough. "In the Asian culture we do things differently. During the samurai days, we just give you a knife and ask to you commit hara-kiri," he said. I guess he has conveniently forgotten Bopal and Exxon Valdez then ? **************************** The Rageh Omaar Report: Thailand: A year of living dangerously can be seen from Wednesday, June 16, at the following times GMT: Wednesday: 1900; Thursday: 0300, 1400; Friday: 0600; Saturday: 1900; Sunday: 0300. ****************************** 16 June 2010 Had to fly to London Heathrow today - as Tai was not back from Bombay in time for us to get the Birmingham flight. It was OK - but the flights was packed and sometimes I do feel like I need a shower after an Emirates flight. 15 June 2010 It was 40C at 9pm tonight! Summer is here. 14 June 2010 Midnight and its 35C in Dubai. Too hot. Am sure that is why I feel tired ! Deleted someone from facebook for the first time today. Feels both powerful and strange; suddenly disconnecting with someone is verging on the traumatic. But the good part is you dont need to say why - and you dont need to argue about it. Just do it. 13 June 2010 Paranoid Nation - the Nation newspaper still cannot get Thaksin out of its head - reporting that "Concern is growing in the ruling Democrat Party that ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra is offering money to "buy" MPs to vote down the 2011 fiscal budget bill - a move that could threaten the Abhisit government, as the government has just a slim majority according to a count of MPs." ***************************** This is the guy who was given US$10 million in 1980s Dubai and told to build an airline; and that the airline would be the catalyst to build a city. 12 June 2010 True joy in South Africa:
************************ 11 June 2010 Meanwhile in Saudi Arabia - The Gulf News is reporting
that "A Saudi court has convicted a man and sentenced him to four months
in prison and 90 lashes for kissing a woman in a mall. I know they are entitled to their laws. But does the
sentence really reflect the crime. And if this was on CCTV how about
someone issuing a warning first? The US breast beating over BP is getting too much for me - not only do I find myself nodding in agreement with Norman Tebbit and Boris Johnston, I am also finding myself defending a major oil company. ***************************** And how many people were detained after the yellow shirt PAD shut done Bangkok's airports in 2008. None. No wonder so many Thais are alarmed at double standards. 10 June 2010 Lord Tebbit on his web site today noted: “The whole might of American wealth and technology is displayed as utterly unable to deal with the disastrous spill — so what more natural than a crude, bigoted, xenophobic display of partisan, political, presidential petulance against a multinational company?” ******************************** Rumour has it that the old Hualumpong rail station in Bangkok is to be closed and turned into yet another unnecessary air conditioned shopping mall. Such a shame. I arrived here in 1984 in my first ever visit to Bangkok. Probably got to the hotel in the rickshaw pictured above ! ******************************** Justice Minister Pirapan Salirathavibhaga said the probe could lead to the prosecution of the fugitive ex-premier through the International Criminal Court, but he denied the move was politically motivated." Gotta love that last sentence! ******************** 8 June 2010 What sort of strange threat is this from the Nation's editorial today: "The government needs to prove beyond reasonable doubt Thaksin's involvement in the arson attacks. And if other countries continue to permit him to stay, let them do so at their own peril. The payback could be nasty." Are foreign nations being threatened by this rag of a newspaper? ******************* ******************** ********************* 7 June 2010 "The Year of Living Dangerously" is on TV tonight - with a very young Mel Gibson as aussie journalist Guy Hamilton in pre- revolution Indonesia. And Sigourney Weaver as well. ********************** ************************ 5 June 2010 Noisy party above me - I hate condo living when neighbours think that late night partying is OK. F***ing awful music as well. If it goes on past midnight...... ***************************** 3 June 2010 How to make that the new airport does get some use. You ban some planes from using the old airport! Brilliant! Dubai International, the busiest airport in the Middle East, has announced two measures to contain noise. First, it announced the phased withdrawal of older generation aircraft that do not conform to international noise and emission standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation. ICAO classified Chapter 1 and 2 aircraft will be banned from operating cargo flights at Dubai International from October 31, 2010 and passenger flights effective March 27, 2011 consistent with the International Air Transport Association's seasonal schedule change. However, these aircraft will be allowed to continue operations at Dubai World Central-Al Maktoum International airport until April 1, 2012. |
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2 June 2010 Heading back to Dubai in the morning. Not sure what to expect. Been stressful recently. **************************** 1 June 2010
Must be an escapee from the BKK red shirts? Or maybe just Alex at AirSoft in HKG. 30 May 2010 Just when I thought Robert Amsterdam had been quiet - here he is again. There are many wonderful bits of information floating around on Twitter - but this one caught my eye - Only 15% of males shave their privates. Girls should demand better or at least equal treatment! I flew from Bangkok to Hong Kong last night on Thai Airways. It was good to be back in a 747 again. But sad to see such a light load - maybe 15% or 20%. No IFE other than main screen; pleasant if aging crew. Chicken with yellow noodles. Wine from full bottles into a real glass. And it is (as always) nice to be back in HKG. ************************** I never expected to find black ink fettuccine with seafood in a wasabi and cream sauce in Lamma! 29 May 2010 It took less than two weeks for sleaze to hit the ugly couple - the UK alliance of Lib Dems and Tories. The Sun#s headline summed it up - "Lib Dem Minister claimed £40k to live with gay." Oops. This is the man appointed as Chief Secretary to the Treasury. A man in charge of cutting government expenses. Yet he was busy paying rent to his male partner. His only good fortune is that the media is basically pro Tory and pro this government. If he had been a Labour MP........ But the allegations must mark a serious setback for the new government, which has pledged to clean up politics in response to the expenses scandals that overshadowed the last Parliament. 27 May 2010 More than a few years ago my poor mother was lying in a maternity ward underneath the runway for Birmingham's Elmdon airport - and waiting for me to arrive. Bet that was painful ! 26 May 2010 Happy birthday Ms. Ong. ********************** 25 May 2010 There has to be more to life than breakfast cereal for dinner! *********************** “There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we now know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. These are things we do not know we don’t know.” ************************* 22 May 2010 Funny old game golf. Certain that he has missed the cut Robert Karlsson heads home from the PGA at Wentworth near London on Friday night. He gets within 500mtrs of home in Monaco before finding out he'd made the cut last night. Spins around and heads back to airport Could only get as far as Orly, stayed o'night then a taxi drive with a sleepy driver to a private airport for a flight to the UK that cost $11,000 After 3 hrs sleep he arrives at Heathrow at 0620, was at the course at 0645 and teed off at 0820. Then he shoots a course record 62 to go from last to 1st ************************ But at 6.05 they call - only just woke up. Not up to golf - late night and hung over. *************************** **************************** "Thailand has been feeding off a false illusion of tranquility for years now. The current situation its about many things including: urban versus rural, Isarn versus Bangkok and the south, Thai versus Chinese, poor versus rich, haves versus have nots, the monarchy, who will succeed the king, corruption, lack of representation, dysfunctional institutions. That isn't even half the list and all these issues are coming together is spurts and creating divisions in Thai society. Problem is the divisions are real, people are taking sides and things are getting worse. This weeks events events will be swept under the rug for now but will resurface as another uglier explosion in the not too distant future." And this tell you all you need
to know about old style Thai politics: 21 May 2010 Not a lot to report. Tai is on her way back from Beirut. I have to get an early night - need to get up early to play golf in the morning. And it was 44C today. Summer is here. 19 May 2010 Long day following events in Thailand. Good lunch with a friend and ex colleague - KK - smart guy - he will go on to achieve great things. ************************
18 May 2010 Two least favorite care drivers on Dubai roads - Maserati drivers and Sunny drivers. ************************* And for anyone living in the Old Town this was an efficient way to get home. Strange. Why build a road - open an exit of Dubai's main highway - and then close it? *************************** 17 May 2010 Emirates US ad for its 777 services from JFK, Houston, SFO and Lax to Dubai: *************************** In these days of easy travel we do take so much for granted. Tai's mother had never flown overseas before. Her longest trip was a bus ride to Malaysia. But the UAE is truly foreign to her, and I suspect, she will land with some relief back in BKK. Air travel is easy. But not if you are 60 something and have never done it before. And it is not easy if you dont speak or read a word of English and you don't recognise roman characters. Airports are intimidating places if you are unsure where you are meant to be. We arrived back in Dubai on Thursday morning. Tai's mother got to see her daughter at work - and at the end of the flight visited first class. The crew were very sweet and took some pictures with her. We went to the Creek, to assorted and numerous Malls, to Souk Madinat, the EKHQ and to Fujairah for lunch at the Hilton - and a drive through the desert. Though the only camels we saw were scavenging the garbage by a truckers stop. She never changed her watch to Dubai time; and seemed surprised that the time would be different ! But Tai is her mother's daughter - they shop for hours without deciding on anything ! 16 May 2010 Woody Allen on ageing - More depressing news from Bangkok. It is very hard to see where and how the current troubles end. Clear the red shirts out now and they will re-gather elsewhere. Don't take action and the yellow shirts will start their campaign. 13 May 2010 So on the day we left for BKK their was an election in the UK and the day we get back to BKK from Sydney a week later - we get a coalition government of the most unlikely bedfellows. The Guardian's summary of the new arrangement is likely to be prescient: "The first days of a new government are rarely typical. For the moment, goodwill, good sense and good grace are much in evidence. Reasonable people will rightly accentuate the positive while remaining watchful. These are hard times and Britain faces hard choices. Inevitably the hard pounding will soon chip and bruise the new coalition's shiny novelty and generous intentions. Then the world will turn and things will get harder. Right now, however, the new government deserves its chance and the new politics its moments in the sun." ************************************* Wonder how they will celebrate their 25th anniversary? 9 May 2010 Sorry I have been quiet here. I have been traveling through Bangkok to Sydney and hotels do not seem to embrace internet access A big thank you to the crew of Emirates 418/9, Chris, Andrew, Nassim and all the team, who have made me feel very welcome through the flight. It is so nice to be back in Sydney - 26 years since I first came here. The winter weather is stunning. Perfect blue skies and highs in the mid 20s. Pity about the lack of sleep. Dont know how the airline crews work on so little rest. Saw my dear old friends, Noel and Jane yesterday afternoon - I have known Noel for over 30 years now. 5 May 2010 This is the third day of drilling in the apartment below us What the f*** are they doing? This is not the contractors. It is the owner or tenant. Two nights ago they were drilling at 12.20am. When I suggested that they might want to stop they actually seemed surprised. At 12.20am. Some people simply have no manners or consideration. Just a simple note to their neighbours saying that we will be doing some work between say 10am and 4pm for the next two days and that we apologise for any inconvenience. But no - they just keep on going. Will have to see how much we are expected to put up with tonite. Their apartment is 3301 by the way. Just in case anyone else is fed up with the noise! 3 May 2010 Photographer Gerald Donovan just published 4250 photos, stitched together, of Dubai, creating a 45 gigapixel image. The photos were taken from the Ubora Towers on 29 April. The site allows you to zoom in on sections of the photo, similar to Google Maps. This is probably a new world record for gigapixels. The existing record seems to have been a 26 gigapixel image of Paris. Its a great picture - looking over Business Bay - you can see Executive Towers and Millennium. ************************* An Al Jazeera blog this week said that "This ongoing crisis has been dominated by misinformation, rumours and speculation." Bangkok's Chinese Thai middle class office workers and professionals
appear to regard the ‘red centre’ as a dangerously violent place. This is
fuelled by the government media and the typical prejudices of their class. Social media works well for the anti-reds. Thailand's online community is inevitably dominated by young, professional city based people who openly talk about the Reds as dirty, ugly, vulgar, low, inferior people who belong to the “bannok” (rural class). They quickly spread through email and facebook many of the worst rumours about the red shirted protestors. The Thai media such as the Nation complains about foreign reporters and news organisations. But they do offer some much needed balance and objectivity. The government's shocking complicity in the propaganda war is depressing. MCOT being especially guilty. Their latest - suggesting that the H1N1 virus is spreading through the rally site. 2 May 2010 How good is Rory McIlroy - 62 on Sunday to win at Quail Hollow! 128 over the weekend ! Finished 3,3,3,3,3,3. Wow ! Phil Mickelson second, Tiger Woods did not make the half way cut. ************************** At some stage even this site should come out with its own vote of support; like all the UK press has been doing relentlessly over the weekend. It may end up being - I really dont mind who you vote for just dont vote Tory; and of course never ever vote National Front. That way it is just possible that the system will change and a party that gets 1/3 of the votes gets to have an representative voice in government. ***************************** He claims he is innocent. The funniest and saddest thing is that he argues that the meeting was intimidating and he was just saying what he needed to say to get out. He says he was in Russia. The meeting was in Kiev in the Ukraine. In the NoTW video he looks and sounds quite relaxed. Damning. Time to put your hand up and go into damage minimisation. The allegations - seen by a mere few million people -
are damaging to him and to the ******************************** Nothing else to write about. Sorry. 1 May 2010 The international crisis group ( a Brussels based conflict resolution advisory) has now had its say on the situation in Thailand. One telling observation: "While some blame Thaksin for the stand-off, the
protests have moved far beyond his control. Many Thais are deeply
disillusioned by an elite that denied them the fruits of development for
decades and then ousted a government elected mostly by the rural poor.
Thailand is a country prone to violence, with a history of bloody
insurgencies and authoritarianism – an uncomfortable reality for most
Thais to accept. Violence in Bangkok could spread if there is a
crackdown." I really do want to see this for myself.
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