General News Thread

[bovril]

Can someone find that hilarious Daniel Hannan article about Britain after Brexit, and check what year it was set in...

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/06/14/litter-shoplifting-britain-third-world-daniel-hannan/

 

[bovril]

8 minutes ago, bovril said:

Can someone find that hilarious Daniel Hannan article about Britain after Brexit, and check what year it was set in...

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/06/14/litter-shoplifting-britain-third-world-daniel-hannan/

 

omg it's literally this month

 

https://www.reaction.life/p/britain-looks-like-brexit

 

[Dr The Singh]

https://www.gbnews.com/news/grooming-gangs-pakistan-flights-uk-deport

 

Wow. Admission of guilt or what?

[Sampson]

2 hours ago, whoareyaaa said:

I've pretty much gave up flying, can't stand the waiting around and queuing, on top of all the problems planes seem to be having..I think the next holiday in Europe I will be driving, channel tunnel or go on a cruise for longer destinations.

 

I've travelled a fair bit so not really that bothered no more. 

I also hate the faff of flying as I’ve gotten older. Getting to the airport early, security, checking bags in etc. Much prefer the boat/train/buses for going away nowadays. 

[Md9]

Honestly couldn’t say anything decent to any one at any point in his life other than he is friends with putin . What a plank 

[Trav Le Bleu]

1 hour ago, Sampson said:

I also hate the faff of flying as I’ve gotten older. Getting to the airport early, security, checking bags in etc. Much prefer the boat/train/buses for going away nowadays. 

People always say, "it's much quicker than going somewhere in the UK", but by the time you add in all the things you mention (plus traveling to the airport and parking your car and getting into the airport) it really isn't. You spend more time doing those things than actually flying, if you're going anywhere in Europe.

[Sampson]

29 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

People always say, "it's much quicker than going somewhere in the UK", but by the time you add in all the things you mention (plus traveling to the airport and parking your car and getting into the airport) it really isn't. You spend more time doing those things than actually flying, if you're going anywhere in Europe.

Yeah especially as most locations get you going from Gatwick or Heathrow which involves faffing around on the Underground with suitcases as well which isn’t fun.

 

It feels like it takes longer to get to from Gatwick to St Pancras on London’s public transport to get the train homethan it does to get actual train home from St Pancras to Leicester as well. Then there’s still the taxi from the train station too.

 

Not only longer but often getting to and from the airport is more expensive than the flights themselves too.

 

Much prefer to just get the Eurostar from St Pancras into France.

Edited 15 June 2025 by Sampson

[FoyleFox]

I used to love flying but I'm a lot more nervous these days. All of the destinations on my list of places I'd love to visit involve flying, so I do it. I do plan trips so they involve the least hassle, parking meet and greet, fast track security etc. 

 

The fact that one of my next flights is India to Gatwick is partly on a Boeing isn't reassuring. Hopefully, Emirates have increased maintenance checks. They are also flying me to Shanghai again, partly on a Boeing. Both are a 777 though. In the middle of those I've Air China, Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines flights, no indication of the planes involved and I might not look before boarding. 

[LCFCJohn]

We haven’t flown anywhere since 2019. COVID, the subsequent travel disruption and then my wife being pregnant with our daughter and then having a little one has all got in the way.

 

We have found that we really enjoy going to places in the UK. We do fancy going abroad again from next year but I have no inclination to fly, particularly with the volume of commercial air accidents this year.
 

Living in Sheffield, we are an hour from Hull port and can get a ferry to Rotterdam. I much prefer the idea of doing that and doing Eurocamp type sites. Doing that as a kid, they are much better holidays for kids than a hotel in Spain type ones anyway. 
 

I feel a bit bad that my daughter might not fly for a way into her life due to my wife and I deciding we don’t want to do it though. 

 

Is it selfish to not give our daughter this opportunity younger?

[Jon the Hat]

I fly quite a lot, and you do start to appreciate that priority check-in, fast track security, airline lounges, priority boarding and meet and greet taxi pick up are not perks but more benefits to reduce the stress of it all.  I still find flying with the family a bit more stressful than alone.

[st albans fox]

22 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

I fly quite a lot, and you do start to appreciate that priority check-in, fast track security, airline lounges, priority boarding and meet and greet taxi pick up are not perks but more benefits to reduce the stress of it all.  I still find flying with the family a bit more stressful than alone.

Prize for ‘stating the bleeding obvious’  16 June goes to …….

😄

[fox_up_north]

I fly a few times a year. Granted I'm not a million miles from a major airport but I've not had any issues. Flew through security last week both out and back. From landing to out the terminal was 12 minutes in Manchester.

[Torquay Gunner]

1 hour ago, LCFCJohn said:

We haven’t flown anywhere since 2019. COVID, the subsequent travel disruption and then my wife being pregnant with our daughter and then having a little one has all got in the way.

 

We have found that we really enjoy going to places in the UK. We do fancy going abroad again from next year but I have no inclination to fly, particularly with the volume of commercial air accidents this year.
 

Living in Sheffield, we are an hour from Hull port and can get a ferry to Rotterdam. I much prefer the idea of doing that and doing Eurocamp type sites. Doing that as a kid, they are much better holidays for kids than a hotel in Spain type ones anyway. 
 

I feel a bit bad that my daughter might not fly for a way into her life due to my wife and I deciding we don’t want to do it though. 

 

Is it selfish to not give our daughter this opportunity younger?

In a word no.  If you decided not to travel abroad by any means,  that would be different.  I am an older generation and I did n’t fly as a kid, but still managed to get see a fair bit of Europe thanks to my mum ( who never flew anywhere).  As as adult I have flown to all the continents, but I no longer think that I have a long haul flight left in me.   Edit I have not been to Australia. 

Edited 16 June 2025 by Torquay Gunner

[Raj]

1 hour ago, LCFCJohn said:

We haven’t flown anywhere since 2019. COVID, the subsequent travel disruption and then my wife being pregnant with our daughter and then having a little one has all got in the way.

 

We have found that we really enjoy going to places in the UK. We do fancy going abroad again from next year but I have no inclination to fly, particularly with the volume of commercial air accidents this year.
 

Living in Sheffield, we are an hour from Hull port and can get a ferry to Rotterdam. I much prefer the idea of doing that and doing Eurocamp type sites. Doing that as a kid, they are much better holidays for kids than a hotel in Spain type ones anyway. 
 

I feel a bit bad that my daughter might not fly for a way into her life due to my wife and I deciding we don’t want to do it though. 

 

Is it selfish to not give our daughter this opportunity younger?

? Really?

[LCFCJohn]

21 minutes ago, Raj said:

? Really?

Yeah….why?

[Raj]

22 minutes ago, LCFCJohn said:

Yeah….why?

How many crashes have we had this year compared to previous?

 

Didnt realise it was so many?

[Tommy G]

20 minutes ago, Raj said:

How many crashes have we had this year compared to previous?

 

Didnt realise it was so many?

You are correct. 
 

I think there are 150,000 flights a day and something like 6m passengers travel daily. 

[Raj]

48 minutes ago, Tommy G said:

You are correct. 
 

I think there are 150,000 flights a day and something like 6m passengers travel daily. 

Exactly, hardly a massive amount in comparison.

Tragic things is it normally ends in tragedy (Unless you are in seat 11A)

[fox_up_north]

The reason it makes the news is precisely because it's so uncommon. At any one time millions of people are up the air but the list of fatal crashes is miniscule.

 

Helicopters, though... I'm less inclined to ride a commercial one of those. 

[Foxdiamond]

Not flown since 1980 and no inclination to do so again

[ealingfox]

Some weird comments on here - going the airport is one of the best bits of the holiday. My only tip is turning up 2 hours early is a bit of a nonsense, security procedures are much slicker nowadays. Causes no end of grief with mrs ealing but we never turn up more than an hour in advance, can't be doing with sitting around longer than that.

[LCFCJohn]

2 hours ago, Raj said:

How many crashes have we had this year compared to previous?

 

Didnt realise it was so many?

So I actually thought the one in Kazahstan and that one that hit the wall on the runway in South Korea were at the start of this year but were actually technically at the end of 2024 (between Christmas and new year).

 

With those, the one in Washington, the Toronto airport one on its roof (thought all survived that one) and this one in India it just feels like they have been in the news a lot.

 

Or definitely feels like ones as bad as Korea, Washington and Ahmedabad don’t come along as often as 3 in just over 6 months anyway.

 

When you look it up, there are loads to be fair where people walk away. I guess these don’t make the news though do they!

[bovril]

I find airports hellish places. Stuffy, stressful, unkind places. I dislike flying, although the final hour or so when you're coming into land is quite exhilarating especially when you don't like being up in the air.

 

Train travel to Europe is much more civilized and not even that expensive now when you consider how much the cost of flights have gone up. 

[kenny]

3 minutes ago, bovril said:

I find airports hellish places. Stuffy, stressful, unkind places. I dislike flying, although the final hour or so when you're coming into land is quite exhilarating especially when you don't like being up in the air.

 

Train travel to Europe is much more civilized and not even that expensive now when you consider how much the cost of flights have gone up. 

Except you have to go to London first.

 

They need to open Ebbsfleet again.

[bovril]

1 minute ago, kenny said:

Except you have to go to London first.

 

They need to open Ebbsfleet again.

I live a couple of stops from St Pancras so for anywhere west of the Rhine it's probably as quick for me to take the train. 

But yes it'd be great if they extended the network and we got trains direct from Edinburgh to Milan or something like that.