rascott.com                                                                                 news, views and an occasional blog...


Welcome to rascott.com
This is a personal site that reflects my interests in news,
current affairs, aviation and travel.


 

Photo Albums
My photographs are now stored on Picasa.
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
SCMP
Good causes:

Sister Joan - Bangkok

Regional Info:

BKK Magazine
HK Magazine
In Singapore Magazine
TimeOut Dubai
Back in the UK:
Newton Ferrers

Bournville News
And for fun:
EarthCam
History

BBC Archive

National Media Museum
The British Library
Imperial War Museum

There are many other links on my AOB blog page.


Links

(blogs that are not updated have been deleted)


An Occasional Blog


 

 

Dubai based Airine bloggers

TampaxTowers
Style High Club
The Trolley Dolly
Life,as I know it (now Edmonton!)
Bjorn Moerman
James Nixon
TheEKSource

Jens Krüger
 

Egypt

Sandmonkey
Hammonda.net
 

Thailand Blogs

Bangkok Noir

Bangkok Pundit - politics

Thai-blogs.com - rather serious

2bangkok.com - not really a blog but always up to date on Bangkok news
BKKOK.com
Thailand Voice promoting blogs from Thailand
Thailand Golf

Thai-blogs -Thailand life and culture
trythaifood - thai recipes
CityLife Chiang Mai

Thailand Crisis not updated but important in understanding 2006-2009.
Absolutely Bangkok
Bangkok Bugle

Thai Girl The exotic adventures of a literary sexagenarian.
Thailand Jumped the Shark

Thai Films
Siam Report
Thai ENews - In Thai
Prachatai - Thai news in English
New Mandala - new perspectives on SE Asia
NewsInBangkok - another news blog
Thailand Intelligent News - interesting opinion and  links
Political Prisoners in Thailand
GregToDiffer
Hua Hin Golf
Philip Golingai (mainly Malaysia)
ThailandVoice
Musings from Thailand
Women learning Thai
Vaitor
Ricefield Radio
Reporter in Exile
Robert Amsterdam - Thailand
Somtow's world
Dirtii laundry
Thai Cables
Siam Voices

ThaiWomanTalks

Tasty Thailand
Siam Intelligence Unit
Mouth of the Mekong
Carabao in english
NickoBongiorno
Andy Hall - migration and human rights


Asia Blogs

Banyan - The Economist

Asia Unbound - CFR
Zen Journalist
The Marmot's Hole - Korea
The writings of MD Nalapat
Democratic Voice of Burma
Ideas for India

 

Dubai Blogs
Mainly Photos; mainly from Dubai - Gerald Donovan at work!

dxbae - picture blog - also Gerald Donovan
UAE Community Blog - uniting all UAE bloggers
Dubai informer - news and events.
The Grapeshisha Blog - commentary  on a changing Dubai
One Big Construction Site - a long term expat on life in Dubai
Secret Dubai Diary - rather disillusioned expat commentary - sadly seems to have died - but again worth keeping for some interesting recent history.
Dubai As It Used To be - self explanatory - fascinating!
Kippreport - news and commentary
Life In Dubai - moved to Oz

Fake Plastic Souks
Dubai Astronomy Group

Gulf Photo Plus

Dubai Media Observer

The Gulf Blog
Dubai Construction Update

Dubai Race Night
Burj Khalifa

Grumpy Goat
Ever changing lanes
Spontaneous Euphoria
Christopher Saul - Dubai Blog
MattJDuffy

Sport360
The Hedonista
Dubai as it used to be
DubaiDevelopmentsGuide
Al Serkel Avenue
 

Arabic affairs blogs

The Arabist
Felix Arabia
MidEastPosts
The Culturist
Pan Arabian Enquirer

Doha News
Al Monitor
The Gulf Blog
Al-Bab
The New Arab

 

Hong Kong Blogs
Digital Life
- A Hong Kong picture blog - interesting pics
A Big White Guy in Hong Kong - self explanatory
Ordinary Gweilo
Hemlock's Diary. And people think I am opinionated - try this!
BigLychee

EastSouthWestNorth - commentary
Glutter.org - Greater China democracy news and many great links
Hong Kong Hustle

Hong Kong Paintings

Hong Kong Outdoors
Hong Kong and Macau Stuff
Hong Wrong
Hong Kong Free Press
 

In China:

Danwei - media and advertising news from China

Shanghaiist.com
The China Beat - how the east is read.

Hong Kong Cinemagic
Shanghai Scrap
The Paper Tiger
Peking Duck
China Law Blog
China Rises
China Media Project
China in Africa: The Real Story
LivinginChina.com
Sinocism

Chinageeks
Beijing Cream
China Daily Show
Ministry of Tofu

In Macau:


 

In Singapore:
The Singapore Daily

Xiaxue - self-confessed mean, bitchy, sex goddess who says "wah" a lot!

Mr Brown - colourful commentary from Singapore
Singapore Democrats
The Online Citizen
Icarus flew too high
Bonjour Singapore

 

In Burma:

National League for Democracy

 

In Canada:

BlogTO
Now Toronto

 

Media:
On the Ground ND Kristof

Tabloid Watch (UK)
The Diplomat - Asia Pacific

CJ Purcell
Foreign Policy
Vanity Fair
Watchdog reporting
Fleet Street Blues
BellingCat
 

Aviation:

Amadeus (airline schedules)

Airline meals - see it b4 you eat it!

Airliners - aviation forum, trip reports and pix archive
A Captain's Blog - the routine of a California based 767 captain
FA Uniforms - interesting collection of the old and new

Planenation - commercial aviation news

Airchive - a web museum of commercial aviation.

CrankyFlier - mainly US commentary
AvHerald - daily log of airliner incidents
RandPeck's blog

Rand Peck - writing and photography from a US based 757 captain
PlaneBuzz - airline financials
SmartCockpit

Sharjah - 1937
Boarding Area business travel
World Airports

Flight Wisdom
ATC - Toronto (YYZ)
Today in the sky
Ask the pilot
The Flying Scotsman - A BA pilot blog
Key Magazines - UK
Crossing the Sky
Blogging at FL250
Flight Level 390
The wings stayed on
PilotOutlook
Birmingham Airport
Aviation Queen
LiveATC.net

AirplaneFood
Flight to Success
Routehappy

KPAE - Paine Field Blog
UxMilk (mainly Qantas)
World Stewardess Crews
Airways magazine blog
DubaiAirportsConnect
APEX Editor's Blog
In a Foreign Sky
Better on a Camel
Simon Blakesley Photography
Jethead
Holding Pattern
Learmount


Travel:

Johnny Jet
Paris photo blog
Business Traveller - Asia
Camels and Chocolate
GranTourismo
Legal Nomads
Circle of Asia
Tales of Asia
Smart Travel Asia
Untraveller
The World and his TukTuk
QuiteAlone - Matthew Teller
Around the World in 80 Elephants
Mouth of the Mekong
GranTourismo Travels
Seat 61

 

News:

The Guardian - UK

BBC World News

CNN Asia

Bangkok Post
Gulf News

Arabian Business
CNNfan.com scary fan site!
Twitmericks
vox - Research-based policy analysis and commentary from leading economists
Next Media - news animation

 

Bangkok info sites:

thailand.com

learningthai.com

sawadee.com

thailandstories

bangkok a-z
stickboyBangkok
 

Worthy Sites:

Niall Ferguson

Rconversation - from Rebecca MacKinnon, ex-TV reporter-turned-blogger.
RGE Monitor - macro-economic analysis
Migrant Rights

Cricket Archive
Good experience
Heresy Corner

What Matters - McKinsey
Freedom House
Apollo Lunar Surface Journal
Project Apollo archive
 

 

Golf Sites:
wei under par

The Christina Kim
MichelleWiezy

 

Cricket sites:

Alternative Cricket Almanac
99.94
Cricket with Balls
The Old Batsman
StumpedForADuck
The NightWatchman
Lords.org
The Full Toss

 

Other Sports
Sulia.com - football

Richard Keys - football

 

Fun Sites:

Fun signs
Urban Dictionary
Earth TV

Useful Sites:

World Time Clock

 

Cooking
Cooking Light

 

Technology Ideas:
Loose wire

Stuff - gadgets
TechCrunch

Boing Boing
The Next Web

TNooz - Travel Tech
The Immedium Blog

ViralBlog
The Next Web
Now and Next
The Sports Scientists
FacebookStories
LiesDamnedLiesstatistics
Mixed Topics

 

Photography
unchartedphotography

Glen Calvin Photography
GulfPhotoPlus

 

The Rest:

Black Flamingo - recipes and life (no golf!)
Mixed Topics
All About Cricket

Brain Pickings
Ballpark-it.com - recipes
Bored Panda

 

TV:
Northern Exposure

 

Place from my past:
Bournville Village
Redbourn - the Geoff Webb collection

 

Watford FC
Watford 2 Liverpool 1 May 1983
Watford Mad (WFC)
BHappy - a Watford Blog
Watford Legends

WFC.net
Putajumperon - Watford FC and others

 

 

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.

 

31 December 2015

Flydubai are ending three routes in January:

Nizhny Novgorod, Russia on 16th
Bujumbura, Burundi on 19th
Kigali, Rwanda on 20th

28 December 2015

The death of royal dog Khun Toengdaeng was being reported by social media two days ago. But the Thai newspapers are only reporting it today - presumably after waiting to see what they dare or dare not say. In the land of the paranoid reporting any activity involving the Thai royals is fraught with difficulty,

22 December 2015

Dear Mr Grant. One word. Condom.

Hugh Grant has become a father for the fourth time.

The 55-year-old actor’s girlfriend Anna Eberstein reportedly gave birth to their second child on Wednesday  Swedish newspaper Subdsvall Tinding has claimed.

The new arrival is a sibling for the couple’s three-year-old son John.

The ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ actor also has two other children with former flame Tinglan Hong, a daughter, Tabitha, four, and two-year-old son Felix, who was born just three months after Anna gave birth to John.

21 December 2015

Bye, bye to another series of Homeland - Sunday night’s episode was a bit of a mess. One highlight - Saul and Ivan’s conversation. The sarin drama ended too quickly; Allison’s demise was too dreary; Jonas broke up with Carrie by giving her a sweatshirt, Sol was whining, and the whole thing just had the feel of a desperate race to the close.

Got to feel sorry for Quinn - got nothing bu abuse all series and appears to have been killed off.

20 December 2015

We had a nice couple of days away in Rome this week. Lots of walking and even got to see the Pope doing his weekly meet the people in the Vatican. He pulls in quite a crowd.

As we were passing through Vatican security the guard rather wonderfully told us to just "look out for the white boy!"

*****************************
Arun Bhatia, the owner of Delhi-based investment firm Telstra Tradeplace, has claimed AirAsia India (I5, Chennai) is effectively controlled by AirAsia (AK, Kuala Lumpur Int'l) in contravention of Indian investment laws.

Speaking to The Economic Times, Bhatia said the Malaysian budget carrier's CEO Mittu Chandilya acted on the instruction of AirAsia Group's founder and CEO Tony Fernandes, and was in fact solely a figurehead.

Maybe it was the airline's name that was the giveaway!!

17 December 2015

So once again EK are removing benefits from its employees. It is a wonder that people stay. More adverse changes to the travel benefits.

Not everyone does - here is one leaver on PPRUNE - and in fairness to him or her this is a pretty accurate message about not just Emirates, but too many companies here.

"Flying pilot, I did leave, I grew tired of the continual lies, the constant denigration of flight crew and borderline sociopathic behaviour of fleet, flight ops and commercial management, all washed down with a dose of 20/20 hindsight and punitive mindset, which is used to justify incompetence and idiotic knee-jerk policy decisions taken by individuals whom in the real world wouldn't be put in charge of a lemonade stand.

All that coupled with having to be constantly aware that any issue no matter how trivial or minor can escalate and cause life changing events with respect to your career, your family and potentially your health."

Hard to disagree.

14 December 2015

Starting from 3 May 2016, Emirates will launch four weekly flights to Zhengzhou and Yinchuan.

Yinchuan and Zhengzhou will be the 4th and 5th Emirates destinations in Mainland China after Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

The UAE bilateral with China only offers these two new cities plus Urumqi and Kashgar, the latter two and Yinchuan being in Muslim dominated regions.

Sichuan Airlines currently fly from DXB to Yinchuan via Chengdu.

11 December 2015

A third runway at Heathrow is never going to happen: Prime Minister David Cameron's government delayed a decision on whether to build a new runway at Heathrow Airport on Thursday, arguing that it needs more time to study the impact on air quality, noise and other environmental concerns.

Cameron had promised a firm decision by the end of this year on whether to choose Heathrow or Gatwick for airport expansion. Business leaders in Britain argue that the country needs more airport capacity in southeastern England to keep the country growing.

Heathrow had been selected by an independent panel over rival Gatwick, but in recent weeks, speculation has been building from Cameron's office that a decision would be delayed, in part because of environmental issues raised in a Parliamentary report earlier this month.

***********************
Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi is one of the smarer commentators on Middle East affairs - on Facebook today he asked "Why are Arab governments who should be concerned with fighting ISIS, Al Qaeda, a plethora of extremist violent jihadi groups (and for the Gulf States countering regional Khamenei's ambitions) expending their resources on harmless activists, writers, bloggers, journalists etc.?"

I suspect he already knows the answer - fear of anything that might destabilize their own inherited rule.

6 December 2015

Just a day in Singapore wiith Tai and she continues down to Melbourne while I head up to BKK for a few days.

Singapore was wet, humid and even more crowded. a wet Singapore leave little to do except eat and wander the malls - which all look increasingly similar.

It did strike me that I may never see Singapore again - or at least not for a very long time.

For a few years it was home - but it was not a happy home. And to be honest - if I do not see the city again - that is ok.

5 December 2015

Tai and I had visitors this week. Canadians. 19 years old. Models.

And I felt old.

The girls stayed in their bedroom whenever they were in the apartment – emerging for the bathroom or food. They live on their phones which I suspect is where they communicate best. It is a funny world when people may be more concerned about what their fans on Instagram think about them than being concerned about making a good impression on real peopel...or maybe they are at a stage of life when they do not care what people think….

If you stay as a guest in someone’s house you do make an effort to engage – no one expects much – a simple how are you conversation – a simple description of where they have been or what they want to see…the apartment was a hotel room for them. We were the staff…so we were best ignored.

************************
On the good news side the World Air Games are in Dubai this week which has provided some fun photography and a chance to watch all types of flying machines and people.

Lots of pictures - on my pictures pages and instagram account.

27 November 2015

One comment on Thailand - posted in New Mandala - sums up the state of the nation:

"When “Good People” receive cash/kickbacks/commissions/percentages/etc in Thailand, it is NOT “corruption”. Rather it is what is owed to them due to their high position, good intentions, honest efforts and beautiful Karma from their exemplary past lives. Their proper and well-deserved reward under the unwritten rules of the Thousand Year Old Thai Patronage System. Only when “bad” people, especially “bad” people connected with Thaksin, receive cash/kickbacks/commissions/percentages/etc, it is “corruption”.

Everybody in Thailand knows this. It is an essential part of “Thainess”."

Hard to argue.
 


 

 

 

26 November 2015

Have not seen any official announcement from EK but this shows some good work with a crystal ball

Emirates has pushed back the launch of flights to Mali’s capital, Bamako, for “operational reasons.”

The four times weekly services via Senegal capital, Dakar, was scheduled to commence on October 25. It would have been Emirates’ 28th destination in Africa. The new route “has been deferred until further notice due to operational reasons,” Emirates said by email, adding that the existing Dubai-Dakar service continues to operate as normal.

Passengers booked on the Dakar service will be reimbursed or rebooked via Casablanca in Morocco.

I suspect Bamako will not now happen after the events of last week.

25 November 2015

It is Dubai Innovation week.

Not that anyone in the private sector was aware of it.

You cannot say this publicly - but really this is all about one government department talking to another government department.

The gap between what is said and what is done remains far too wide.

22 November 2015

Watched Thongchai Jaidee play the final round of the DP World Tour Championship today.

He started at 11 under - got it to 14 under after 11 holes - which would have been good enough for 4th place - and then dropped eight shots over the last 7 holes including a 9 on the 18th.

He did look tired.

21 November 2015

Last weekend it was Paris.

Last night there was an assault on a hotel in the capital of Mail - Bamako. Among the hostage taking some 20 or more people were killed.

Today the whole of Brussles has been shut down due to what the authorities are calling an imminent terror threat. The subway is shut down. People are being told to avoid public places from theaters to shops to sports events.

The news headlines were simple:

Shops close, football is cancelled and people are urged to stay home as army patrols streets in face of ‘serious and imminent threat’ of Paris-style attack

19 November 2015

Emirates A340-500 A6-ERE, which last operated in service on 6th November, operated the EK640/EK641 Dubai – Kabul rotation today.

15 November 2015

Here is a twitter classic:

Now is not the time for commentdickery or how French flags are crowding your FB feed. Show some compassion or just keep your mouth shut.

Interesting. I have plenty of compassion. I just don't like to apply it either selectively or only when I am told that it is OK to do so....

 

Dubai insisted that its major buidings were lit up in the colours of the french flag - though worth noting that they did this more than 24hrs after other prominent world landmarks - was there concern that Duabi was missing out on the pr images or was this real compassion - or maybe a mixture of both.

As I wrote in a note to a friend:

 

"Tonight in Dubai buildings will turn red, white and blue. It feels wrong; more of a PR stunt. "We need to get our buildings in the picture with others around the world" - or is that too cynical? What level of slaughter decides whether buildings should be lit up? Why was Beirut less deserving of recognition than Paris? Why isn't the Syrian flag flown daily in respect of some 200,000 killed there in the last four years?"

People were using a facebook tool to put a french flag on their facebook profiles; but it was the french flag or no flag at all. Where is the outcry for other atrocities?

Yes it is awful. But making one slaughter more awful than the one before is poor judgement. Where was the Russian falg when the metrojet liner was bombed out of the sky or the Malaysian flag when MH17 was shot down by a missile.

 

The list goes on. Compassion is fine. Justice would be better.

14 November 2015

One note from the Dubai Airshow.

There is still no word on when Concourse D will open at DXB.

First they said it would open in the second quarter of 2015, then it was delayed to the third, and now we aren't hearing anything.

Concourse D is apparently the first project completely designed and planned by the current Dubai Airports team under Paul Griffiths.

If they cannot get Concourse D right then how will they handle DWC's expansion and opening.

10 November 2015

O Canada.....What a cabinet:

PM Trudeau announced his new liberal cabinet last week:

Minister of Health is a doctor.
Minister of Transport is an astronaut.
Minister of National Defense is a Sikh Veteran.
Minister of Youth is under the age of 45.
Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food is a former farmer.
Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness was a Scout.
Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development was a financial analyst.
Minister of Finance is a successful businessman.
Minister of Justice was a crown prosecutor and is a First Nations leader.
Minister of Sport, and Persons with Disabilities is a visually impaired Paralympian.
Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, and Canadian Coastguard is Inuit.
Minister of Science is a medical geographer with a PhD.
New titles include
Minister of Immigration, Citizenship and Refugees was an Immigration critic.


And the cabinet is made up of 50% women.

Proud times. Lets hope each and everyone of them makes a difference.

9 November 2015

Emirates today announced its plans for a second gateway in Istanbul with the launch of a daily service to Sabiha Gokcen Airport, beginning 15th December, 2015. The new service complements Emirates’ existing 11 weekly flights to Ataturk Airport.

Located on the rapidly-developing Asian side of Istanbul, Sabiha Gokcen provides easy access to the city’s new financial centre as well as to popular outlet malls and thermal spas in the vicinity. Passengers heading to the European side can also take advantage of regular coaches that operate between Sabiha Gokcen and Taksim Square every half hour, taking approximately 45 minutes.


The new service will commence with a daily flight operated by an Airbus A330-200 aircraft in a 3-class layout - 12 in First, 42 in Business, and 183 in Economy.

Emirates will be the only airline operating a scheduled wide-body aircraft at Sabiha Gokcen Airport. The airport is primarily used for domestic and European charter flights.

Emirates flight EK119 will depart Dubai at 17:15 and arrive in Istanbul at 20:15 daily. The return flight EK120 will leave Istanbul at 22:05, arriving in Dubai at 04:20 the next day.

Istanbul is a turnaround for Emirates crews; this will be a very tough flight for the crew who will basically be on duty from 15.30pm to 05.00am.

8 November 2015

Atlanta-based Delta operates the only passenger service between its home hub and Dubai, but announced Oct. 28 that it will cease the route from Feb. 11, 2016.

Delta said its Dubai pullout decision was made “amid overcapacity on US routes to the Middle East operated by government-owned and heavily subsidized airlines.”

 

7 November 2015

Back in Dubai and now a qualified private pilot. Feeling pleased with myself. I worked hard.

Here are some thoughts from my examiner in an email: spot on really - my landings at SRQ were OK. The landing at TPA was a bit grim.

"Your check ride was as real as it gets. We accomplished everything in the PTS as well as a "real scenario" flight. Your knowledge is that of a commercial pilot. Your flying abilities in most areas well above the PTS. The landings were the only minor issue and they met the mins per the PTS. When you upgrade to the 172 you will find your landings will be much easier."

The skycatcher is not an easy plane when the wind is blowing! Too light!