CHAPEL END CHARLIE

I see some news reports are now referring to the disappearance of flight MH370 as 'unprecedented'. Well although the unexplained disappearance of a commercial airliner in peacetime is certainly an extremely rare event, I have to take issue with that description. Although admittedly it happened a long time ago when both avionics and search and rescue capabilities were comparatively primitive, surely the loss of the British South American Airways (BSAA) Avro Lancastrian 'Star Dust' back in 1947 is some kind of precedent. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSAA_Star_Dust_accident It took 50 years to solve that riddle, I doubt the fate of MH370 will remain a mystery for anything like that long.

I'm not sure whether your complaints re today's NHS are founded on the manner in which it is currently organised, or more on the level of public resources it has devoted to it. A mixture of both perhaps. But if you object to the way it is run today I can only conclude from that that you therefore believe it was a better, more accountable service at some point in the past. I'm see no evidence to support this hypothesis. For example twenty years ago if a patient were as dissatisfied with their treatment as you seeming are today do you really think that the old NHS would in have in any practical sense been a noticeably more responsive organisation to deal with? Perhaps you might have had a more local healthcare service available, but whether that local clinic/hospital would have been properly staffed and equipped with the latest equipment and whether in truth it would have provided shorter waiting times for patients are matters that seem arguable at best. In a era of ever more sophisticated (and thus expensive) heathcare, the undoubted inconvenience of increasing centralisation and specialisation of NHS services may just be the price we have to pay to see improving outcomes. If on the other hand you want more of the nations resource's devoted to the state healthcare sector so that you can 'have it all' as it were then in a democracy all you need to do is vote for a party that will deliver that and if enough voters agree with you then your desire may prevail. I must say this in itself raises a whole series of interesting questions as to what area of state expenditure you intend to divert scarce public money away from to fund that ambition ... pensions, defence, housing, the social services? It seems to me that today's NHS has grown to become a Frankenstein-like hybrid of state provided healthcare services competing within a kind of pseudo internal marketplace, this amalgamated with some private enterprise involvement on the margins to further confuse matters. This may not be a satisfactory organisation providing the nation with a truly world class service, but the reasons it has developed into this monster are that the old ways of doing thinks were widely held to be utterly unsatisfactory too. If you really want to go 'back to the future' to find a way forward then fine, that however seems to be a easy answer to a complicated problem my way of thinking.

What measure are we employing here to prove that the (still fundamentally Public Sector) state Health and Education services in this nation are manifestly inferior today compared to what they were in the past? For instance has life expectancy fallen, or are exam results worse? Hey 'Mid Staffs' was a utter scandal and getting a doctors appointment these days can be a bit of a bugger too. But rest assured I know for a fact that the Comprehensive School I attended back in the 70's was about as 'bog standard' as it could possibly be and my poor old uncle left Hospital after a hernia operation back in 1977 with brain damage. The past of our memory may be a comforting place, but in truth it was not always a better one.

The stereotypical 'sinister US conspiracy' theory smells strongly of bullsh1t to me while what we might call the 'deranged pilot' scenario seems to fit in with the (few) known facts of the matter. Perhaps the pilot attempted to effectively 'hijack' his own flight in order to make a political protest of sorts and after some hours in control either the 777 ran out of fuel and crashed into the sea, or others on-board the airliner finally managed to break into the cockpit and the airliner crashed while they fought for control - as per what is widely suspected to have occurred aboard United Flight 93 during the 9-11 event. We may never know the truth unless and until the aircraft is located and the relevant Flight Data and Cockpit Voice Recorders are examined.

I don't know how old you are Jonny but I suspect the 1970's are a era you were either too young to properly remember, or perhaps you were not even born then. The history of the state control of industry in this country is a long and complex one. This history was rooted in a era of relative national decline while at the same time working people were gradually gaining the degree of power and self confidence required to object to the appalling conditions there were then expected to endure. Millions laboured under outdated working practises and a lack of sufficient vision and investment. The (many) consequences of both the 20th Century's cataclysmic world wars and a widespread desire to see all that sacrifice result in a better world cannot be discounted either. However it is sometimes now forgotten that this vision of a better (state controlled) future led to nationalisation being extended far beyond the boundaries of what were once known as the 'public utilities' and into diverse areas such as vehicle manufacture, coal and steel production, and even the road haulage industry of all things. Now to be fair there were some success's - for example the state stepping in to save Rolls Royce jet engines at a crucial moment in that firms history springs to mind - but overall the record of politicians attempting to control business was not a happy one. For instance £millions must have been wasted in a forlorn attempt to save shipbuilding in this country, and those old enough to remember the days of British Rail will confirm it wasn't all that great a service either. Political decision making is afterall driven by the pressing needs of the electoral cycle while business is (or should be) concerned with longer term growth and making a proper return on investment for shareholders. As for the world of finance, although in the past there was a greater degree of state regulation in place the banks themselves were never formally part of the state sector per se (pre the 2008/9 crash that is) so to criticise their "privatisation" is to misunderstand the facts of the matter. Okay for obvious reasons giving bankers a good metaphorical kicking has become something of a national sport of late, and many of them deserve it, but I don't remember quite so many objecting during the decades when the financial sector of this economy was racking up huge annual profits and making a substantial contribution to the national exchequer in the process. Surely the root cause of the banking problem is not that our banks were free from public ownership, but rather the lack (and difficulties of imposing) effective cross boarder regulation on a incredibly complex and confusing international financial marketplace that I seriously doubt anyone fully understood in the first place. There are good reasons why all over the world (North Korea excepted) nationalisation is on the wane and privatisation is in vogue. The explanation for this phenomena being that time and time again nationalisation, and the ensuring lack of a profit motive, has proven to be a inefficient method motivating people to perform at their best. The state has an valid and important role to play in society - markets must be effectively regulated for instance - but owning and running business is not part of that role. So as for the question; has privatisation improved this nation? Well I think back to the dark days of Leyland Motors producing shoddy built and highly unreliable cars at the taxpayers expense. I remember British Steel racking up annual losses so huge they were almost incomprehensible to the man in the street and the only answer I can see is 'yes'.

So this event started before the last communication between the pilot and Malaysian ATC when the pilot reported no problems.

Some days ago US sources (the CIA or NSA presumably) indicated that no increased level of electronic 'chatter' between known terrorists groups had been detected. This information, and the fact that no credible claim of responsibility has yet been made, strongly suggesting that Flight MH370 was not subject to some form of organised terror attack. Therefore news breaking this morning that the aircraft's transponder and communication equipment was apparently deliberately disabled leaves us looking again at possible aircrew or passenger involvement in this mysterious disappearance/hijacking. The idea that MH370 has been subject to what is effectively an act of air piracy and a ransom demand for the return of the passengers and aircraft can presumably be expected seems more like the plot of a (bad) Hollywood action film rather that any real world situation I can recognise. The questions seem to be multiplying faster than the answers here.

The old 'rose tinted spectacles' are in high demand on here today it seems. I'm old enough to remember the dark days of the 1970's when men like Tony Benn and his ilk were at the zenith of their power and influence. Reading some of the more gushing contributions to this thread however forces me to conclude that some of our younger members would benefit from taking a step back, divesting themselves of the rose tints, and conducting a honest assessment of what kind of a unholy mess Benn and his fellow travellers would surely have made of this country had they gotten their way - and they so nearly did. Remember this was a man afterall that while the Cold War was still very much a 'going concern' wanted this nation to withdraw from NATO and abandon its provisions for democracy's mutual defence - with consequences that could have been disastrous for not only this country but the wider world too. The European Union (although we knew it as the 'Common Market' back in the day) may still be a controversial issue with many, but remember Tony Benn represented a old school branch of socialist thinking that was quite as anti EU as any Daily Mail reading UKIP supporter is today. Gods knows today's dominant 'Free Market' model is not yet a perfected vision of how Human society should be economically organised. Nevertheless surely one thing we have learnt is that the Bennite 'Command Economy' alternative has proved to be a utter disaster everywhere it has been tried. I say anyone who really believes that going back to the days when Government controlled, organised and effectively owned much of our industry can only be a misguided romantic (like Benn probably was) or someone too young to remember the appalling state this nation sank into when we last attempted to do something like that. On a personal level I dare say meeting Tony Benn would have proved to be a infinetly more pleasant experience than spending any time at all with Margaret Thatcher would have been. I strongly suspect he was a more humane, better educated, intellectually more able and all round superior example of Humanity than she ever was. But the great paradox for us all is that history has shown that she was right far more often than he ever was. Indeed from my point of view it seems to be a exercise in intellectual dishonesty to argue otherwise.

Having remembered viewing it as a young child I made quite sure to obtain the DVD box set of the BBC's mammoth 26 part series 'The Great War' when I found a copy a little while ago. Like me this series dates all the way back to the early 1960's and although time may have taken its remorseless toll on yours truly I can confirm this programme has lost nothing of its awesome sense of scale, solemnity and gravitas over the intervening years. It's a interesting exercise to compare it with Jeremy Paxman's series 'Britain's Great War' that aired recently. Paxman's (much shorter) series unearthed many fascinating insights into life on the Home Front during the war while the 1964 series concentrated very much on the fighting. I hugely impressed with both programmes, but I'm left feeling that perhaps 'The Great War' - with it's unrepeatable advantage of being able to interview the old men who actually fought during WWI - is unsurpassed. Indeed in Television terms I don't believe it will ever be surpassed, the celluloid equivalent of the Cenotaph almost. But I digress, the reason I'm bringing this up now is that tonight BBC2 is showing a series of interviews with (now long gone of course) WWI veterans that were originally made in back in the 1960's for inclusion in 'The Great War' but never actually used. I dare say it will be a privilege to watch. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01tgxt5

A honest politician who said what meant and meant what he said - now there's a rarity. What's no so unusual in statesmen of the lesser rank, such as he was, was that he lacked the mental flexibility required to accept that when you constantly find yourself on the wrong side of arguments - and Benn was wrong about nearly everything - you either have to adapt to a ever changing world or suffer the intellectual fate of the Dinosaurs. It's been a bad week for Dinosaurs.

From the little I saw of him on South Today and from what I've read our new chairman comes across as humorous, friendly, and quite approachable. These are not qualities I readily associate with his predecessor to be frank. In addition he seems to know what he wants and how to go about achieving that goal. The (very) big news of course is that we are told that KL intends to retain ownership of the club for the foreseeable future. Now I can't honestly say I was entirely sure she would, but I'm entirely delighted she is if you know what I mean. A good day for Southampton Football Club and all who hold its welfare close to their hearts methinks.

I can't deny it, the best US TV drama today is indeed daring to push the boundaries of television to a quite remarkable extent. However methinks they don't have a monopoly on good programming. As far as I'm concerned any list of truly great 21st Century television series that can't find a place for Simon Schama's sublime 'A History of Britain' clearly lacks proper consideration. For that matter the new wave of Scandinavian crime programming (series such as Danish TV's highly influential 'The Killing' for instance) also probably deserve to be included. Push the timeframe back a tad into the 1990's and any history fan will confirm that 'The Civil War' (Ken Burns) and 'The Nazis: A Warning from History' (Laurence Rees) were both quite unmissable. Indeed the latter series may be as good as television gets.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helios_Airways_Flight_522

In the eventuality of a complete power loss from both engines airliners are equipped with an emergency wind driven generator that deploys and provides electrical power.

I understand the travel agent who booked the tickets said that this odd route was chosen because it was the cheapest way to fly from KL to Germany. As for pilot (or co-pilot) suicide this must be a possibility I suppose. As the aircraft descended towards the water various automatic alarms (including the GPWS) would certainly have been activated. However if either flight deck crew member were locked out of the cockpit for instance (or otherwise disabled) then the danger is clear. Todays reinforced cockpit doors and the absence of a old school flight engineer in the latest jetliners may have had the unintended consequence of increasing the risk of this happening.

Train hard, fight easy is the old maxim. On the other hand I can recall more than one instance of young soldiers/marines under training dying from the effects of heath exhaustion. So perhaps a few H&S rules and a better understanding of the physical strain we put our troops under may not be a entirely bad idea.

A succinct summary of the current situation proved by David Learmont of 'Flight'

I see Pistorius is charged with both murder and the illegal possession of ammunition. Without claiming to understand all the ins and outs of this particular case, or indeed the intricacies of the S African legal system, I'm somewhat surprised to see that an alternate manslaughter charge has not also be brought. Whether he truly intended to shot and kill "with malice a aforethought" his girlfriend is arguable. The fact that he did actually intend to kill someone is not in question. He's certainly guilty of something.

I agree. I seem to remember however there was a incident many years ago in Japan when a JAL 747 had its aft fuselage pressure bulkhead repaired after a 'tail scrap' mishap during landing. The repaired section subsequently failed in flight and destroyed the flight controls to the tail resulting in the loss of the aircraft and nearly all aboard her. But today's outstanding civil aviation safety record depends in large part on the industry learning from past mistakes such as that unfortunate Japanese example. I understand all structural repairs are now performed by, or under the close supervision of, the original aircraft manufacturer and to the very highest standards possible. A repaired airliner should in effect be as good as new. Never say never I suppose, but it would be a major surprise if the recorded minor wing tip damage this aircraft suffered has played any significant part in its loss. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Airlines_Flight_123

Doctor Who: The Ice Warriors (1967) I've just been watching the newly released DVD of this classic serial from the Patrick Troughton era. A better than average example of mid 60's 'Who' I thought, a bit slow at times perhaps but with a memorable monster and a fine supporting cast led by the late Peter Barkworth and the well known 'Carry On' star Bernard Bresslaw - although in truth Bresslaw is completely hidden by his all encasing Ice Warrior costume. Sadly this is yet another of those 60's Who serials that is now (partially) lost from the BBC achieve - in this example episodes 2 and 3 (from this 6 parter) are still missing. But nil desperandum my fellow Whovians because the two lost episodes have been especially recreated in animated form for this DVD - the original audio track and camera scripts are still in existence making this process eminently possible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH1tF7SbE9E Although the end result reminds me a little of Captain Pugwash at times and it can never fully capture what is now lost, the small animation team has nevertheless produced a highly satisfactory offering that manages to convey the story to the viewer in a infinetly superior manner when compared to the old Audio + Telesnaps efforts of the VHS past. More of this please - I know the Bear will certainly agree with me on this ...

I couldn't agree more. As for offering Jack a new contract this is one of those genuine 'no brainer' decisions. To sign a replacement defensive midfielder of JC's obvious class would surely require the expenditure of £5m or perhaps £10m. Whatever combined pay rise and bonus his agent may be able to extract from the club I doubt it would amount to anything like that kind of sum. Wanyama and young Ward Prowse did well enough for us early season, but MP's neglect of Jack Cork was one of the few things he has gotten seriously wrong since he arrived here.

But Adam has been playing like this for years, it just that because he's now doing it in the Premier League the rest of the English game - and some on here it seems - are suddenly starting to take notice. I dare say NA and MP may deserve some credit, but I strongly suspect it's mostly down to his own outstanding ability to control a football, his (superb) work ethic, and the fact that at the grand old age of 25 he is now entering the very prime of his career. As for his supposed lack of form last year, I'm one of those who regarded that as mixture of exaggeration and the fact that he suffered a mid season injury that took him a while to fully recover from. Having said all that methinks he could be a even better player still if only his shooting improves.

I understand the Malaysian authorities are extending the search area because there are indications that this aircraft may have turned around before it disappeared off the radar. This is odd because if the Boeing 777 involved was effected by some technical problem then you would expect the crew would also have had enough time to transmit a radio message to that effect.

Well I've managed okay without one so far ...

That's it! The Liebheer's are planning to recycle all the hot air this forum generates and use to to power St Marys. This follows a successful small scale trial last season when a Guly thread was employed to run all the cities traffic lights for a week.