Automatic pilot
Posted on
May 15, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
The world's most-read Scottish politics website
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Wings Over Scotland is a (mainly) Scottish political media digest and monitor, which also offers its own commentary. (More)
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A tall tale
Wee Books
Video
Probably a robbery
Transphobia
Erm would this be a Scottish bank note thing by any chance? š
Recycled news is not uncommon because the papers rely on people not knowing what was in the papers a week ago, never mind last year.
Thanks to the Rev, WoS followes are always in the loop.
As for BT – definitely run out of new ammunition and is now scraping the corroded duds out of the box to fire at us. Thing is, old ammo can misfire very badly…
link to nairnyes.wordpress.com
They’re relentless 24/7 UKOK project fear now. Wonder if they’ll just disappear after independence.
19th of Sept, where’s my copy of the hootsman? I’m afraid they’ve gone sir, they did a cross boarder moonlight flit to London and call themselves, The Englishman.
Jan 2012: Poor circulation threat to future of Scotsman
April 2013: Sales slump threat to Scotsman
May 2014: ‘No copies sold’ would kill off Scotsman
October 2014: Scotsman deid
In 2012 we had “bank notes”, as two separate (snigger) words, but from 2013 on we have had the ‘united’ “banknote”.
So obviously we, like our money, are BetterTogether. š
The folk at the Scotsman must just think they had dĆ©jĆ vu, soon it will dawn on them it’s actually groundhog day.
its the tambola way of reporting, you put all the scare stories in a tambola give it a twirl first one out makes the front page. š
Are the Scotsman going to be endorsing the Greens with all the recycling they have been doing since the start of the referendum in 2012?
Training Day
I saw a twitter feed last night (cannot remember who at the moment)but the SoS has been outsold by the Sunday Herald for the last two Sundays.
Training Day says:
Jan 2012: Poor circulation threat to future of Scotsman
April 2013: Sales slump threat to Scotsman
May 2014: āNo copies soldā would kill off Scotsman
October 2014: Scotsman deid
I wonder how their *ahem* share issue is coming along, the one that the BBC were so happy to spend a lot of time over the other night instead of doing their job i.e. asking the Cabinet Office about the *cough* secret poll! š
link to bbc.co.uk If I had won Ā£161 million, I would buy it and hand it over to the Reverend, is just one “what would I do if won the lotto” daydream I never thought I’d have.
Thank you just isn’t enough Mr and Mrs Weir
Hilarious. Ministry of Truth at it again. Trust you to have archived some front pages!
Says it all Marcia. Who do they think their audience is? Unionist campaign…painting Forth Rail Bridge…similarity anyone?
it’s Groundhog day every day at BT. Stuck in the same old Westminster time loop
The Scotsman, an anagram of “O’ THEM CANTS”.
Which is nice.
Sad really sad. I have just spent a little while on the Telegraph, I needed a laugh and a good clean up. Thanks to the Hootsmon I got one. Will that be the Scottish Banknotes that are not legal tender anywhere but Scotland and heaven forfend you forget to change them if you cross the border.
Former senior diplomat Colin Munro, a Scots Unionist, just coming out insisting negotiations would take place on currency union.
Dennis Curran is an internet hit and well deserved too.
link to dailyrecord.co.uk
MochaChoca says:
Former senior diplomat Colin Munro, a Scots Unionist, just coming out insisting negotiations would take place on currency union.
That wouldn’t be the Currency Union that George Osborne, Ed Balls and the other one, what’s his name, all say we can NOT have by any chance? š
Alas the hacks that recycle the Better Together press releases wouldn’t recognise journalism if it was a 180lb halibut that had just hit them in the face.
Better Together only need one bod to send out the loop. Defence, EU, Banks, NHS, Currency, Aliens/End of the Universe…rinse and repeat.
I don’t think Better Together have said anything new in the last two years. I don’t expect them to say new before Sept either.
Our challenge is to intercept this bullshit and alter what people in the susceptible 20% or so that might swing hear. If we can convince them that this is all piss and wind then we will win the day. Given that it is Osborne and Co we do have a fair weather to do this.
eat-sleep-scare-repeat, to paraphrase a song
@ heedtracker
Drew Smith (who he?) “SNP and the YES campaign are relying on just one family for their funding”.
Not so fibber Smith – Mr and Mrs Macandroid have donated too.
The other disgusting thing is that Labour still get so much from the unions.
Another great article on Business for Scotland which deserves a wider audience, although it underestimates the value of Scotland’s oil reserves.
link to businessforscotland.co.uk
@Lesley-Anne
Naa… must be some other currency union he is talking about.
Sorry this is O’T but it’s still linked, in an obscure sort of way, I think. š
I’ve just come off one of my regular non news sites, Flightradr 24, where I can track most of the aircraft flying over Scotland.
link to tinyurl.com
Whilst I was tracking the aircraft I got to thinking, as I do from time to time, and wondered if we’ve heard anything from Better Together about Scottish airspace after independence. I mean all those international airlines would want to know whether we’d still have Scottish airspace or if there would just be a big black hole here requiring them to re-route all their flights adding hours onto their flight times. :O
Would aircraft inadvertently flying into Scottish airspace disappear never to return?
Don’t be silly, Lesley Anne. The space monsters would shoot down any planes in Scottish air space.
Didn’t this happen the last time Cameron did his “kiss, cuddle, hug” thing and, almost without missing a beat, Osborne went on a rant about “Ye cannae huv wur poond, because, jist because!”?
First it was the Treasury, then the Bank of England, now it’s just Osborne. Are they abandoning him or it just that it takes longer for sense to sink in with Osborne? But why are they threatening us. I thought we are supposed to be a valued part of the United Kingdom, the people that put the Great into Great Britain. Post Independence we would still be entitled to be UK citizens yet the UK government, the government we supposedly elected, the government that is supposed to be a union of the Scottish and English parliaments, wants to deprive us of a workable currency? Why?
“Kill off Scottish banknotes”
Ah well, that will stop the wee f*%kers going missing when you put your hand in your pocket. I always wondered how they got away.
(so)
Lesley Anne I will only believe you if its headline news on the BBC!
The remarks by the veteran Scottish diplomat, who served with the Foreign Office for 38 years and opposes Scottish independence, echo the comments made to the Guardian by a UK minister this year that a currency union would eventually be agreed to ensure fiscal and economic stability on both sides of the border.
link to theguardian.com
So the tack has changed its no longer you cannot share the pound they have added that we canthave your own notes either No shortage of English banknotes though they just keep printing them!”
The whole aviation thing doesn’t seem to attract any attention at all from BT.
Scotland is about the best placed area in europe for a transatlantic hub (on a map it looks a similar distance to the US eastern seaboard as UK/France/Spain Portugal, but on a globe it’s quite a bit closer. The idea of having to fly to London or Amsterdam for a connecting flight to the US (which then flys back over Scotland) is maddening.
Also the National Air Traffic Service has recently been moved at great expense to Prestwick.
Well it worked last time.
O/T I see that Stan James is offering only 7/4 for a Yes vote, first time I’ve seen it below 2/1.
MochaChoca
UK Gov didn’t want Scotland to have an International hub so didn’t allow Prestwick to become one. Lost business went to Schiphol etc. Someone has commented much better than I have on this earlier somewhere.
@ Murray. at 4:38
I’m almost certain that wives still go through their husbands pockets when the husband comes back in from the pub pi**ed.
One of the reasons I stopped drinking 10 years ago.
š
@Lesley-Anne
There will be no difference, except maybe flying FROM Scotland will be cheaper (once we get our hands on the tax reins).
NATS will still have control over the en-route airspace and there will be an agreement, at some point, over a Functional Airspace Block (similar to that between UK and Eire) that will be governed by EU rules.
With independdence, Scotland will have a seat at the UN and will then join the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and agree to all the high level standards and recommended practises (SARPS). They will also come under the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) rules on how to operate.
EASA is gradually taking over all the safety regulation for Europe (not just the EU btw) and the UK regulator (CAA) is gradually losing its definitive powers and becoming more of an appendix of EASA.
It gets a wee mention in the White Paper if you search for it.
Fly safe now š
MochaChoca says:
@Lesley-Anne
Naaā¦ must be some other currency union he is talking about.
Aye you’re probably right Mocha. Funnily enough I did read a tweet last night, I think it was Angus MacNeil, I may be wrong here, who said he had been told by Westminster’s Library that Westminster had been giving serious consideration to a Currency Union in 1950 and 1953 with…NORWAY! Unfortunately I’ve not found any information myself on this but it does sound rather intriguing I think. š
Juteman says:
Donāt be silly, Lesley Anne. The space monsters would shoot down any planes in Scottish air space.
Ach of course, how could I be so stupid and forget about all those warnings from Mr Hammond about aliens attacking. Oh wait a minute of course I could it’s me anything is possible! š
Sinky says:
Lesley Anne I will only believe you if its headline news on the BBC!
You mean you haven’t seen this on the BBC website yet! I mean surely this should be headline news, what on earth are the BBC thinking here, oh wait a minute the BBC don’t “do” thinking do they? š
MochaChoca says:
The whole aviation thing doesnāt seem to attract any attention at all from BT.
Aye well you know why that is Mocha, it flies right over their head without them noticing it! š
Ach there you go JT sensible as ever, I guess that’s why you will NOT be voting NO in September then. š
@MochaChoca
NATS has two major centres. One at Swanwick, near Southampton, and the the other is located at Prestwick (nothing to do with the airport). Prestwick centre also has the “oceanic” control role which has a well defined block of airspace off to the west of the UK and Eire. Roughly from 10Ā°W to 30Ā°W. There is no radar cover outh there and so they rely on other technologies to provide aircraft position reporting.
The main role of the Prestwick centre is to manage air traffic from a line roughly east/west across the Lake District northwards to a bit above Shetland. I’ll dig out the link to an airspace chart if you need it.
The airspce south of that line is handled by Swanwick, which also has a unit embedded to handle the London traffic.
Jim Thomson – Actually Scotland will have its own NATS as well as its own Civil Aviation Authority, responsible foe all aviation matters in Scotland, including the Scottish civil register.
Currently the Isle of Man controls its own civil register and earns from it.
An independent Scotland will be responsible for the airspace over Scotland, especially Oceanic control.
Currently Oceanics is a joint service run by the Irish Aviation Authority ad UK’s NATS. The control centres are in Shannon and Prestwick (imaginatively called ‘Shanwick’ control).
Oceanics or Shanwick is responsible for all transatlantic flights from and to Europe and North America
The Functional Airspace Block , which is currently a 2 way joint venture, will become a 3 way joint venture, with Scotland and Ireland taking the largest share
James123
” I see that Stan James is offering 7/4 for a YES vote”.
Obviously they know the result of the ” secret poll” which Westminster has kept under wraps.
Marcia
Preferred your other avatar. I like dealing with mature women !
Talking about airspace,we may not need any as according to Jenny Marra English/Welsh tourists won’t want to come visit us…boohoo
story in the herald.
I saw a twitter feed last night (cannot remember who at the moment)but the SoS has been outsold by the Sunday Herald for the last two Sundays.
Subsequently denied by the SoS’s deputy editor.
We won’t know officially for several months, anyway. The Sunday Herald and the SoS are both classified as regional papers (by their own choice) rather than national, so ABC circulation figures are reported only twice a year instead of monthly. The next regional circulation report will cover the first half of 2014 and is due at the end of August.
Macandroid
It is much murkier than that; re Prestwick.
The designated airport for transatlantic flights from Scotland was Prestwick despite the fact this meant people from all over Scotland had to drive to Prestwick because there was no feeder service.
Why was Prestwick the only airport for these flights? George Younger (of Younger Brewery in Alloa and the then Tory Sec of State for Scotland) was the MP for Prestwick.
Direct flights from Glasgow, or Edinburgh, Aberdeen etc, were blocked because of that.
One airline challenged that ruling based on the fact that a link from Glasgow to Prestwick was not forbidden and then flew a few tests with a full aircraft but minimum fuel from Glasgow to Prestwick, refuled and then flew onto Miami (I think?).
The absurdity of Younger’s position was exposed and direct flights fro all over Scotland to N America were permitted.
I was on the first flight from N America, Toronto to Glasgow. Unfortunately when I flew out I had to drive to Prestwick, (I lived in Fife) and in Canada I was contacted to say I would be arriving at Glasgow. I asked them how they were going to get my car up from Prestwick. Stunned silence and a day later they contacted me to say they would arrange transport to Prestwick for me. I was in a big hire car.
You are right about flight times Canada to Scotland. Given a jetstream the time from Land to land is about 3 1/2 hours and Toronto to Glasgow can be dine in 4.5 hours. The Glasgow flight is the last to leave Toronto and often I arrived before 6 am when no Customs were on duty.
KLM gave me a wee program to calculate airmiles point to point and see the flightpath. Bizarre.
The Earth is not flat and although the Mercator projection makes it seem so, the most direct route on many longhaul flights is not a straight line. For example Los Angeles to Thailand is not over the Equator and Africa. It is over the North Pole!
I used to flight to Japan over Siberia and Tokyo is not much further from Australia than Scotland. Panama is closer to Scotland than Barcelona.
Sorry for the long post.
š
Well, the most direct route for any long haul flight is a straight line, but a straight line between two points on the globe doesn’t look like a straight line on a two-dimensional map.
Prestwick’s monopoly on transatlantic flights dates to 1946, well before George Younger was Secretary of State for Scotland. Younger fought to maintain that monopoly, but he wasn’t responsible for creating it.
@Edward
I struggle to see how we’d have our own NATS. It is a limited company (well, a wee cluster of related companies) with share ownership split to give the UK government 49% staff 5% and a conglomeration of airlines and airports (The Airline Group) the remainder.
We will be entitled to a percentage share of the enterprise but, I suspect that our portion (probably just over 4%) won’t be enough to provide what you outline.
Where did you get that information anyway?
O/T
Cameron–Vote No to give the Scottish Parliament more powers.
Lying snake.
Vote YES and give the Scottish Parliament ALL powers.
In respect of the Prestwick thing I always understood that Prestwick is about the only airport in Scotland, if not UK, that can remain open when everything else is closed.
With regard to Prestwick being the chosen point of departure from Scotland I think this may be as a result back in the days of the first prop driven transatlantic aircraft. Once they were on their way and in the, in effect, dead area of the Atlantic they needed to know that they could land when they arrived and so Prestwick became the designated airport. As newer and faster aircraft came along no one seemed to think about the possibility of opening up other Scottish airports to international travel.
Yes, Lesley-Anne, I meant to mention that too: Prestwick has certain unique meteorological advantages for aviation, being damn near fog-free.
firb
I never said or mean it wasn’t a straight line, just not so on teh Mercator projection.
This projection, whilst useful and pretty much universally used in education hides real distance too. Norway, top to bottom is nearly the same distance as Norway to Greece.
The Scotsman should be rebranded The Bogeyman.
And today’s headline story is … Boo!
Jim Thomson
I think you miss understood. Just because Westminster privatised NATS, does not mean that Scotland has to accept. After all Scotland would be an independent country , as such will have its own institutions and organisations.
As Scottish air traffic control will be one that is controlled by the Scottish government. Now it may enter into a joint management with the English NATS, or it can be entirely separate.
It doesn’t matter one iota that the current NATS is a privatised limited company, Scotland really doesn’t have to accept NATS in its present form, it can work with it, but will not be required just to accept it , just because its a ‘limited’ company.
Which information are you referring to?
Cameron live on Reporting Scotland
Mystery poll confirmed by UK government officials.Surge to YES
link to newsnetscotland.com
Lesley-Anne
I think the other factor regarding Prestwick and thee restrictions to route development were down to cabotage regulations set by the UK Government.
The regulations meant that London was the principal airport for the UK, so all route agreements from other countries meant that any flight had to go to London. But pre war an post war aircraft on the Atlantic route, did not have the range, so had to stop for fuel at Prestwick (during the war it was a major staging post).
So post war, before the jet age, aircraft would for example fly from New York to Gander, then onto Prestwick, then down to London.
The cabotage regulations for post war flying included this ‘technical’ stop.
Gradually the ‘technical’ stop in Prestwick was no longer required and airlines found it uneconomic to stop in Prestwick en route to London.
Airlines were openly discouraged to actually terminate any long haul flight in Scotland. An example of the cabotage regulation was when in the early 70’s after Turnhouse was sold to the then BAA and BAA had built a new runway, Capitol Airlines of America wanted to start services between Edinburgh and the US. The CAA refused permission for direct flights, insistingng that they would have to stop off in Prestwick.
As it was plainly idiotic and uneconomic, the plans were shelved and never happened
Cameron ” Alistair Darling has my full support”. This is Tory speak for he”s a goner.
Suggested headlines forra “Hootsmon” ;-
“Kameron Kossetted at sKool in Kinross in a Kute Kilted Kozzie. Kinky.Krist.”
“Kelpies Kulled in Kruel Kameron Kuts to sKots Ketches in Kinross – Kloisters Klosed”
sKykologist reKwired.
“Roof`s rants ratcheted” ( roof Davidson)M.S.P..
Aye that’s right Edward, London and the CAA have a lot to answer for, in my view, with regard to international flights out of Scottish airports, or not as the case may be. š
Personally I would love to see Prestwick flourish in its own right whilst Glasgow and Edinburgh also grow. I think this can be achieved but it may well take a lot of inter airport co-operation.
I can still remember as a very young kid living in Ayr that one of my pal’s father was a pilot who flew DC-8’s out of Prestwick for Air Canada.
Did you see that missile moggie maulicating the mutt in America?
Eff the expense, get that cat – a Goldfish.
International flights take longer and are more expensive, as airspace over Iraq and Afganistan has be avoided. A loop.
BA slots at Heathrow – Terminal 4/5? – BA terminal, are subsidised by Westmnster. That makes flights from other airports more expensive or none existent. Airlines can’t compete and alternate routes can’t be opened from other airports. Goes back to day’s BA was owned by the British Gov. Now a British/Spanish company.
The UK has a centralist transport system, concentrated in London S/E. All major airports are based there.
Good transport links are vital for any economy. Direct flights increase tourism etc.
Freight flights go from Prestwick. Transport aircraft refuel there. That is why the Scottish Gov took the decision to retain Prestwick. Strategically important.
Anywhere but Heathrow. Awful.
Is this what you’re talking about, WantonWampum?
link to youtube.com
10 seconds of David Cameron getting his tongue in a fankle over Kirkcaldy.
Is this what you’re talking about, WantonWampum?
link to youtube.com
10 seconds of David Cameron getting his tongue in a fankle over Kirkcaldy.
Jim Marshall
The power failure of the BT billboard advert last night on Scotland Today during Alistair Darling’s interview summed it up perfectly for me. The comic timing suggested an inside job although I wondered later if it was Mr Darling’s negative aura that was so powerful it was capable of causing power outages.
I think Michael Moore should be warmed up – he seemed like a more affable, consensual guy. A soft no to bring something a little less poisonous to the No camp. I got the impression he did not dislike Scotland and her people. He could say the word ‘Scotland’ without discomfort.
But then again, he’s been very quiet since his humiliating replacement… just biding his time to declare himself a revenge Yes?
Keep telling the biggest and most outrageous lie you can think of and eventually people will accept it – well that’s the theory.
Problem the all those propaganda 1-0-1 graduates have, is the internet. Oops!
Really good showing by Humza on Question Time tonight. As a friend of mine used to say, there we were 5 against 1 so what did we do – we beat the c**p out of all 5 of them.
Hamza seems to be one of the great hopes for the future. Calm and polite beats threats any day i n my book.
Totally agree, Youssef played a blinder on Q.T. tonight
Slow, measured and dignified among duplicitous sharks who spent their time telling England how much they love Scots, when the most telling shot showed their lies when every panellist turned their back on Youssef when they thought the show had ended and the cameras were averted.?
By the way, for the number nerds re-Dimbleby`s question :-
Total number of Tory votes in 2011 Holyrood Ballot
= 246,853..
To David
Thank you for the link “on Krikawdy” but it also linked me to the Sillars-Galloway debate that I had missed.
Galloway will lose his raison d`etre at Westminster because he cannot be a London M.P. OR a Bradford M.P. as a foreign national after Sept..
Lectures Scots when he has no vote in any election or the referendum in Scotland and pretends to be a Scot only when it benefits Gee-Gee.
Galloway espouses Freedom for every country on the planet -EXCEPT FOR SCOTLAND.?
His love for Castro.Love for Saddam Hussein. Indefatigability – Admired by GeeGee. On Camera.
GeeGee has overstayed his tenure as a socialist when he opposes my right to self-determination.
In my country that he CHOSE to abandon.
Pink Cat-suit for Rula Lenska.? HUMILIATED for wonga.?
A millionaire champagne swigging socialist who likes to hear his own voice far more than he has ever listened to any Scot in Scotland.
His heart lies in London.
His lies hearten the tories he feigns hatred for.
1 PRINT “SCARE STORY 1”
2 PRINT “SCARE STORY 2”
3 GOTO 1
That’s the BT campaign sorted then.
To David
Thank you for the link “on Krikawdy” but it also linked me to the Sillars-Galloway debate that I had missed.