Gatwick!

Really, what a mess and how interesting what a small and low cost mission this has been by the interlopers.


As said in the comments to the previous thread here, it is entirely possible that several drones were pre-programmed far in advance and left to do their thing, probably ending by crashing into one of the nearby lakes so as to make evidence harder to find.


As always, it is often the small things that make the difference. Overall though, a right pain for all involved but it is not like we have not all experienced before flights being cancelled due to bad weather, crappy airlines, insolvency of airlines etc. The media reaction in a 24/7 news cycle has amused me the most, trying to get frustrated people to get angry and upset when in the main they are in fact quite phlegmatic about the situation!


So who has done it, the money from the Police is on environmental campaigners and I can see this as a possibility, but it would be wrong to rule our state actors at this stage - likely not the usual terrorists as this is a disruption attack rather than one designed to inflict injury.


Anyway, happy holidays, blogging will be light next week! The annual prediction game awaits!

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PS - this has the ring of plausibility about it ...  (h/t the whole interweb  - ND)

Media budget reaction shows why paradigm has shifted to an unstable political scene

I went to buy a newspaper today, probably because like most people I wanted to read about how Barcelona had done it!


In fact, what struck me was the horror show of a reaction to the budget. I watched the budget yesterday, nothing was said. The Government was talking about small £16 million improvements to roads and such like. No mention of £55 billion on HS2. It was a non-budget.


The one small thing was  1% change in NIC's for the self-employed - this would only impact to the tune of around £160 a year to a relatively small number of people. This is not 2p on income tax for all.


Yet the papers behave (because they are stuffed full of "personal service company types") as if the world has ended. Not only that but Labour rail constantly against the current do-nothing Government as if they are literally murdering babies and are the most evil Government of all time.


Truly, we live in a time of mass hysteria - there must be good reasons as to why, but perhaps that will take longer to figure out than a blog post.


In this environment though I see clearly why Trump and Farage are successful. Firstly they play the exaggeration game which helps fill the medias' need for sensationalism, then they top it off with very radical change.


Given the reaction to a non-budget, I can see why there is a need to go for radical change; minor steady-as-she-goes policy is shouted down as if it is a declaration of war. So, instead, you may as well go the whole hog on immigration bans or whatever floats your boat. The mass hysteria generated can only reach a pitch of 100% - so go for it, do crazy things, it can't get any worse.


I am not yet convinced that this will improve matters in the country as a whole, as it may result in much more extreme governments going forward. Perhaps this is a reaction to all Governments being  more or less the same in most areas during my adult life; it could come with a high price if we end up with McIRA as Prime Minister!