Gurkha Courage - Justice for the Gurkha's

A Gurkha soldier serving with the British Army in Afghanistan has been killed in action. Meanwhile four of his comrades in the Royal Gurkha Rifles have been awarded the George Cross, second only to the Victoria Cross in terms of gallantry awards. Once again the Soldiers from a far land are serving our Queen and Country in Combat. Their predecessors have fought and died in many lands on our behalf winning the admiration of those who served along side them and the respect of the enemy they faced.

Yet if they retired from the British Army prior to 1997 they do not have the right of residence in the UK See: Gurkha Justice Campaign Post

As Remembrance Day approaches it is timely to remind people that One hundred thousand Gurkhas fought in the First World War. They served in the battlefields of France in the Loos, Givenchy, Neuve Chapelle and Ypres; in Mesopotamia, Persia, Suez Canal and Palestine against Turkish advance, Gallipoli and Salonika. One detachment served with Lawrence of Arabia.
250,000 Nepalese Gurkhas served in the Second World War and in Britain's (so called) Small Wars to the present day


The Campaign led by Joanna Lumley now has the support of Home Affairs Committee of the House of Commons and a Letter has been sent to the Home Secretary requesting that Right of Settlement be extended to all former Gurkhas 

So with cross party support, it shouldn't be difficult to get the relevant legislation drafted and passed in this Parliament!

Three Elections - Interesting Results

Due to other matters and being diverted by another issue, the Idle Man is behind the curve on posting about three important elections, so:

Glenrothes
Whilst back in July I saw the SNP victory in the Glasgow East By-Election as a much needed 'shock' to the current Government
(I enjoyed the Glasgow East By-Election), this time around as one who believes in the United Kingdom, the last thing I wanted was an SNP Victory. The pundits predicted it would be a close run thing between Labour and the SNP and therefore it was a relief when Labour won comfortably.

I found Alan Cochrane's Article in todays (8th Nov 08) Online Edition of the Daily Telegraph particularly Interesting:
Glenrothes by-election: Scotland independence question sank Alex Salmond's SNP as it sums up my views so much better than I can express them!

US Presidential Election
The lead up to this election retained by interest much longer than usual, but with 14 Days to go, I just got totally turned off by the amount of increasingly repetitive coverage being given by the British Media.

However as an Interested observer I was not so much impressed by the fact that Barack Obama won, but the scale of the victory.
Regardless of what happens Barack Obama as the first mixed-race Afro-American President elect has already earned a footnote in History. As President he is going to face serious challenges both at home and abroad, but is also burdened by expectations from his supporters which are so great, that no president could meet more than a proprotion of them. It is therefore vital that he and vice-president elect Joe Biden, build a strong team to support the new presidency that can work their way through the minefield of challenges facing them and with the support of a Democratic controlled Congress pushes through the agenda he has set.
I hope history will assess him as one of the great American Presidents, but only time will tell!

New Zealand General Election
In Britain the lead up to the New Zealand elections have been
over shadowed by Glenrothes and the US Presidential elections, the result marks a shift in New Zealand from Centre Left, to Centre Right, with the National Party winning 45.5% of the vote, to the previously incumbent Labour Party polling 33.8%.

Because of proportional representation system, to form a Government, John Key leader of the National Party is going to have to gain the support of several minor parties and the at least tacit support of the Maori Party. As the Maori Party views on some matters is highly divergent from those of the National Party, this could get interesting.

Helen Clark who has been New Zealand Prime Minister for 9 years, accepted responsibility for her parties loss of the election and will stand down as Labour Party Leader.

The Idle Man see this change as being as much about the electorate being jaded (Third-Term-Itus) about the Labour Government as a vote for National Party Policies.
As an observer, I have had mixed (in some cases extremely negative) views about Helen Clark's policies, but despite this believe she has been an important and overall one of New Zealand's best Prime Ministers.

BAA Refuses British Eagle Tribute Flight - UPDATE

This is an update to my previous post: BAA Heathrow Refuses British Eagle Tribute Flight

The BAA in its original statement as to why the Slots had been withdrawn, gave the reason as: They were concerned that the operation of the DC6 at Heathrow was potentially disruptive to normal operations.
To quote from my previous Post:
As every effort had been made to ensure that the DC6 operation would be no more potentially disruptive than any other Heathrow Flight, this is balderdash!


In the Flight Global News Article, the reason was: Congestion Concerns.
As the Slot Requests were originally granted by ACL (Slot Coordination Limited) Who are responsible for Heathrow Slot Coordination on behalf of all concerned, obviously wouldn't have granted slots if they had any indication that this would cause/exacerbate congestion.

In an email response Mike Brown (BAA Chief Operating Officer Heathrow) stated: To operate nostalgia or other flights of this type is totally inappropriate at such an airport.
This is interesting on several counts as:

• The DC6 has Operated a commemorative flight for the BAA from LHR
• If this was the policy, why were slots initially granted and arrangements made to waive landing and other fees?
• f the DC6 was carrying an AOG Spare, or a commercial cargo, would this have meant it was OK?

In addition, it should be noted that extremely well run European and US Airports welcome the occasional visits by 'Heritage Flights' and do everything possible to accommodate them.

Subsequently the Heathrow Media Centre in an another email response reverted to the Congestion Concerns Theme.

Personally I believe that Mike Brown's stated reason was probably nearest to the truth.

But I will leave final word to someone more erudite than !:
The BAA, the current incumbent of what amounts to an aviation heritage site as well as a major contributor to the UK economy, is also displaying a lack of any sense of history; and a mean-spirited lack of gratitude to the industry on whose past and present motivation its revenues depend.

BAA Heathrow Refuses British Eagle Tribute Flight

Whilst this crass last minute decision by the BAA to refuse to allow this tribute flight to operate, has the Idle Man 'spitting feathers' others are close to apoplexy!

At a time when the BAA needs to win friends and influence people, this decision will lose friends and alienate people, well done chaps!

Background and Summary
As the last leg of a successful European Tour that has taken Douglas DC6A G-APSA to Innsbruck, Berlin Tempelhof (prior to the closure of that historic airpot) and Rotterdam, it was planned to operate into London Heathrow.

This was not just any Rotterdam-Heathrow flight, but to commemorate the 40th anniversary on the 7th November 2008 of the last British Eagle Commercial Flight which was also Rotterdam-Heathrow, with an Aircraft delivered to British Eagle in 1958 (Fifty Years ago).

Now operating into the World busiest International Airport requires more planning than the other Airports on the Tour, but as the Aircraft has visited Heathrow in recent years both on Commercial Charter and two previous commemorative flights (including one for BAA), the team planning this flight understood what needed to be done to enable it to go ahead.

Included in this was satisfying Air Traffic Control that the DC6 could conform to the relevant requirement and this was achieved, plus obtaining the required Airport Slots and again these were granted.

In addition the planning was positively helped by BAA Staff who arranged for Landng Fees to be Waived and by Signature Flight Support the Handling Agents who agreed to waive handling fees.

Yet two days ago the BAA withdrew the Airport Slots because they were concerned that the operation of the DC6 at Heathrow was potentially disruptive to normal operations.

As every effort had been made to ensure that the DC6 operation would be no more potentially disruptive than any other Heathrow Flight, this is balderdash!

The DC6 Flight Team News Report In Full
The following is the full News Article from The DC6 Website an Air Atlantique operation:

HEATHROW REFUSES ENTRY
With great regret we must announce that we are no longer able to visit Heathrow this Friday, 7 November. We realise that this will be a bitter disappointment to many people.

Operation into London Heathrow, in common with many large airports, requires the allocation of a slot for each movement. Slots for our intended operation were allocated to us last week, at which point we confirmed with our supporters that we would be making the journey. Yesterday, however, we were advised by a representative of BAA, the airport operator, that these slots were to be withdrawn because they were concerned that the operation of the DC6 at Heathrow was potentially disruptive to normal operations. In the course of several commercial charters into Heathrow in recent years, and two previous commemorative flights (including one for BAA), our experience has been that the DC6 does not cause any inconvenience. Moreover, we were able to demonstrate to the relevant ATC unit that the normal approach speeds and operating procedures of this Public Transport certified airliner were in line with current standards and would require no special treatment. We have had the great pleasure over recent years to visit each of the other capital airports in Europe. Regrettably, this busy international airport felt unable, at the eleventh hour, to agree to our visit.

Our flight this Friday was intended to commemorate the last commercial flight, exactly forty years ago, of a British Eagle aircraft on exactly the same route from Rotterdam to Heathrow. The captain of that original flight was to join us. We had hoped that this would be an uplifting event in these turbulent times, to remind people that flying can still be a fun and romantic endeavour. Unfortunately it appears that commercial priorities, or perhaps a misunderstanding of the nature of the DC6, has caused BAA to decide otherwise. We are tremendously grateful to our handling agent at Heathrow, Signature Flight Support, who generously agreed to sponsor our ground arrangements, and to members of the BAA team who arranged that our landing fees would be waived.

The aircraft will return directly from Rotterdam to Coventry within the next few days. We will publish the times accordingly. This will conclude public flying for this season as the aircraft enters scheduled maintenance on 23 November.

We look forward to an exciting new season in 2009 and to meeting more of you throughout next year.

Trade Unions and the BNP

Firstly, I will state that I have never been a member of any Political Party and in terms of my politics I am effectively in the centre, wavering slightly to the left, or slightly to the right depending on the issue.

Secondly, I was a member of a Trade Union for over a decade, with the result that I am extremely cynical and suspicious of British Trade Unions, although I still support the need for them.

Now the question is should a member of any extreme Political Party also be a member of a Trade Union?
Having watched in the past, with loathing and deep concern elements of the extreme left attempt to influence and control a mainstream Trade Union, perhaps the obvious answer is NO!

But that rule would disbar someone with strongly held Political beliefs from having a vote on issues that have a direct effect on their Pay and Conditions in a Unionised Company, so membership of a Political Party should not be a bar to membership of a Trade Union, or indeed Guild, or Staff Association.

Then again should the Trade Union Movement align itself with any Political Party, in my opinion NO!
But the reality is that the TUC is aligned with and provides major funding to the Labour Party and that is NOT going to change.

What apparently is being attempted is to allow Unions to disbar membership, or expel an existing member for being a member of a Political Party (Hang ON that is a major infringement of Civil Liberties).

So if I was member of any party then I could be barred from Union Membership?
Apparently so, but this is a targeted attack on the extreme right, in particular the BNP!

Whilst I find the BNP core agenda totally unacceptable, I also find the core agenda of the Extreme Left just as unacceptable, but for different reasons. However neither the British National Party (BNP), nor (for example) is the Socialist Worker Party (SWP) an illegal organisation. So why should membership of either bar membership to a Trade Union?

Well apparently the BNP is a special case because it is deemed Fascist as against the SWP which is merely an Anti-Capitalist Revolutionary Marxist Organisation. So one has Race and Immigration as part of its core agenda and the other wants to turn Britain into a Marxist State (which would certainly result in mass emigration, rather than illegal immigration).

So why has the BNP in particular become an issue inside Trade Unions and therefore because of its political clout with many Labour MPs, a Political Issue in Parliament?
Because the BNP is (unfortunately) doing rather well, especially among the rank and file members of several major unions and also has won council seats in some Labour held Parliamentary Constituencies.

The vehicle for changing the law to allow Unions to bar/expel those who are members of a political party the Union Leadership doesn't like, is the new Employment Bill. This is now back in the Commons after being amended by the Lords.
The rise of the BNP has produced 'fear uncertainty and doubt' in both the Unions and the Labour Party. Instead to tackling the reasons for this move of to an extreme right wing party, they are just trying to smother its ability to gain influence within the Union Movement.

The Unite Union Web Site puts its views as follows:
MPs and unions fight to protect right to expel extremists. Leading UK trade unions and MPs are pressing the Government to show leadership and act to protect unions from attack by extreme right-wing groups.

Fears are growing across the labour movement that unless the Government backs a series of key amendments to the Employment Bill as it enters its key Commons' stages on Tuesday (November 4th) trade unions will become highly vulnerable to infiltration from the BNP and the far right.

According to unions, Labour MPs and anti-fascist campaign group Searchlight, amendments to the Bill made during its Lords' stages must be overturned because they prevent unions from expelling people for membership of a political party, an issue that came to recent prominence when train drivers union Aslef fought for and lost the right to expel a BNP activist from their ranks. Further, the Lords' regressive changes come at a time when the BNP is a growing menace and seeking to extend its bases within Britain's communities.
End of Extract from Unite Web Site.

So the Unions want the right to expel extremists, which sounds reasonable, except this apparently will only be applied to the BNP and far right. Does this mean that the Trade Unions are concerned that so many of their members will become members of the BNP that they will overturn the current leadership at least at local level?
Apparently so!

But what is to stop a Union from applying this to members of other parties, Conservative, Liberal-Democrats, SWP, etc?
Apparently Nothing!

So who will define what is an acceptable Political Party to permit Union Membership?
The Union Leadership, because they know best. Oh really!

Trade Unions should only be concerned with protecting members pay, terms and conditions, plus in skilled trades the applicable standards, not the politics of individual members. But British Unions spend much of their time playing domestic politics rather than actually fulfilling their primary purpose.

Attempting to change the law purely because of Political expediency is almost as unacceptable as the policies of the BNP and SWP and impinges on the Civil Liberties that should be central to our democracy.