French bean

Nothing new there, the summation about the engines, the flawed work-around and the lack of pilot traning came out almost immediately after the 2nd crash. What hasn't been fully explained yet is why the FAA took Boeing's word on the suitability of the software and why the FAA allowed Boeing to do it's own flight safety checks and effectively allowed Boeing to self certify the aircraft as fit to fly.

A friend in Wales a few years ago had a similar issue with school trips.He was expected to pay something like 2k GBP to send his son for 1 week in Austria. This would include white water rafting, rock climbing and absailing. He asked why send them there when Wales has great rivers, Snowdonia, plenty of outdoor adventure training centres and fantastic coast line. As he put it, that one week for just his son was more than the cost of his family's skiing holiday. I also knew of someone that was expected to raise something like 3 grand to send the son on a school trip to New York. Tell me that's really for the kid's benefit. So it's not just here, it's all over.

I'm the Captain, I'm in charge. No I'm the Captain, everyone knows the Captain is in the left hand seat. No, I'm the Captain, besides I've the the throttle for the engine. No, I'm the Captain because I've got the aircraft brake lever. No, I'm the Captain ....

Like me. But now it's retail, wharehousing, distribution, manufacturing, public transport that is less limited than before. The only people who don't seem to be public sector apart from the emergency services of course.

I like the fact that Sunday here is still sacrosanct and that shops close over Easter and Christmas. Each day is the same in the UK, more people are having to work weekends to support retail, everyone rushes around, 7 days a week, in ever decreasing circles and have no time for themselves or their families. Why do people need to shop on public holidays and Sundays?

Not so sure, car buyers are fickle and change alleigiences quickly. Look at the rise of Hyundai and Kia, they were laughed at in the 70's and 80's. Look at the annihalation of the British motor industry. PSA has now bought Vauxhall/Opel from GM. Fiat is the owner of Chrysler. The late CEO of Fiat Marchionne said that there will be no more than 5 majoe automotive manufacturers in the future.   Whether the German manufacturer's will be able to continue as the leaders in mass produced cars is debatable after the diesel scandal, the price fixing cartel scandal and the overpriced products they sell. Of course, we don't know how the Chinese manufacturer's will fare in thenext few years.

Forget Africa, there's enough trouble at home. History has shown time and again that when there is mass unemployment and poverty that breeds discontent which then leads to friction and the rise of populism. My issue is that the very wealthy spend a lot of effort on not paying taxes to improve peoples lives but all of a sudden find money for a building run by one of the wealthiest organisations in the world - the Catholic Church. When Windsor Castle burnt in 1992, the Queen didn't rely on handouts although they were welcome, she donated some of her own money raised cash through the Royal Estate and started paying taxes. Where's the Catholic Church in all this? They use the building, they raise a lot of money through it so now's the time for them to start dipping into their own funds.

Nice gesture yes. Shame about the peasents, the wealthy in the World for many centuries have always put material wealth before people's welfare.

Just read that and whilst it's nice it also raises questions like how can these very wealthy people and organisations find money immediately to rebuild a building and yet don't have money to reduce poverty, government debt or starvation amongst french citizens. The building is owned by the Catholic Church that has God knows how many millions stashed away and yet it is outsiders who seem to be stumping up a large part of the cash.It is the Church's responsibility to look after its property. No wonder Martin Luther turned on the Pope.

It's early days yet and we don't know the cause but as this fire started on a Monday afternoon and not in the middle of the night, the chances are it is the result of some work or process being carried out on site not some deliberate act of vandalism.

I have no doubt it does happen but Voice of Europe is a right wing anti immigrant piece of drivel designed to whip up the masses. Unfortunately there is a lack of indepth investigative journalism these days with most of it coming across as been lazily researched and badly written.

Voice of Europe J2? That very reliable, credible and unbiased source. Think I'll wait until we get the details on church attacks from other more credible sources.

Is your glass half full or half empty?

It's what I do, when we moved here, we rented a 7.5 tonne. I photographed everything in view of the lady doing the paperwork but unfortunately broke a door mirror before returning the vehicle. The bill was 100€ I think. Now this was Dec '12 so not that long ago with Eurocar.   The shocking thing was that when I got to Dover the vehicle had to be weighed before boarding the ship, it weighed 8.5 tonnes. That was with just normal houshold furniture and possesions and we'd already brought some stuff over.

Don't you mean 'The Spy who loathed me'