Just seen this - what do people think, good idea or a disaster?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11978628
|
'Foreign Consortium'...
they'll probably need some very experienced British directors in the future, present MP's might be in with a chance if they make the right choices i suppose, that'll keep the wolf from the door when they retire sans pension.
|
Private means making money/profits. So don't be surprised that under this system you might get charged for the privilege of being rescued. Cue personal insurance for climbers, walkers, boat owners and deck hands. Or if not covered a wacking great bill.
A potty can of worms.
|
|
The Sea Kings were zero houred re-builds when they replaced the elderly Wessex back in the nineties - they lacked some functions as they were deleted due to cost. They have served the Air Force well though, working in very tough flying conditions not least a salty atmosphere..they fly regularly over here and the local MRT have noting but the greatest respect for them - but times and needs change.
|
|
Insane. Not only the same fallacial basis as PFI, presumably, but inefficient to boot given the RAF and the Navy train crews and operate aircraft anyway.
|
|
Like the Railways, Gas, Electricity, Waste disposal, Water et al. Utter madness to part with it/them. More short termism. This is just the reason I am not eligible to vote.
|
I can see the sense in gas & electricity. Railways only came into "public ownership" after WW2 after they were left on their knees after the war effort and received stuff all in return.
Personally I don't want to live in a soviet state where "the workers" own everything. But I can't see the sense in making search & rescue private. They're not even selling it off (are they?). No assets or people will change hands.
John
|
>> I can see the sense in gas & electricity. Railways only came into "public ownership"
>> after WW2 after they were left on their knees after the war effort and received
>> stuff all in return.
>>
>> Personally I don't want to live in a soviet state where "the workers" own everything.
>> But I can't see the sense in making search & rescue private. They're not even
>> selling it off (are they?). No assets or people will change hands.
>> John
>>
Who owns our electricity and water and rubbish. I do believe it is foreign companies. Where's the ruddy value in that then mate? Possession is all. Make it work in our 'ownership' and send to grass those that don't pull their weight. Worse to come methinks.
|
and what about all of the foreign companies owned by British, err, companies?
So they're owned by foreign investors. So what? Times change, they will change hands again. If Britain ever has any money again they may move back into British ownership but if not, so what?
Goodness knows I think BT is a waste of space but remember when they were "The Post Office" and it was an honour to be allowed to have a phone? Remember party lines? There's a jobsworths thread elsewhere, if you want to see a jobsworth in action (difficult, admittedly) go watch a "public servant". I worked for British Steel when it was nationalised so I have practical experience.
So when are you emigrating to Cuba comrade?
John
|
|
Had another bad day have you?
|
:-) Quite a lazy one today.
John
|
www.raf.mod.uk/rafvalley/aboutus/sartu.cfm
These guys fly over our place twice/three times a day...
They are privately contracted to the RAF. It's nothing new to the RAF in fact this happened between the wars as well with basic training.
|
Not really surprising news.
There are currently 12 search and rescue bases around the country, Currently 8 are operated by the RAF/Navy and 4 are operated by a private company Soteria CHC.
Since Soteria have performed successfully for several years the decision to give them the contract for the remaining 8 bases when the RAF/Navy Sea Kings are decommissioned is hardly surprising. The Company is under the control of the joint agency of the MOD and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
Hardly a disaster or the end of the world as we know it .
|
|
I always felt more comfortable (if you ever can in a helicopter) when flown by a military trained pilot, and I have been flown by both military and civil trained pilots extensively as I used to do an almost weekly commute for a five year period. Who is going to train these rescue pilots?
|
ON, I don't think you need to worry about training. They are at least as well trained as service crews in this work CHC are the largest operators of commercial helicopters in the world. Their search and rescue division operates in many countries throughout the world including UK.
They already operate the bases in Sumburgh, Stornoway, Lee on Solent and Portland. They use one of the best helicopters for this work, the S92.
www.chcsar.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=26
|
OK they seem to know what they are doing.
I hope I don't require their services when I am in Perth, (the Australian one), in a few months.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sun 12 Dec 10 at 21:15
|
>> I hope I don't require their services when I am in Perth, (the Australian one),
>> in a few months.
Not flying Quaintass A380 are you?
A helicopter seems safer to me.
|
>>
>> Not flying Quaintass A380 are you?
>>
>> A helicopter seems safer to me.
>>
No, Emirates, Glasgow / Dubai, then on to Perth. Its a 777 on both legs.
|
|
If this does happen, we should then put Cameron and Clegg in a leaky dinghy and send them out to sea...
|
|
and be left with a Miliband?
|
|
Labour party were planning the same thing as well.
|
|
All the Coalition have done is just rubber stamped, unchanged, the Labour party plans.
|
>>All the Coalition have done is just rubber stamped, unchanged, the Labour party plans.
1. The Labour Government had plans to cut spending by £40Billion. There was no detail.
2. The Colaition plans to cut spending by £80 billion.
Lots of detail.
Apart from those minor issues, they are of course identical as you say..:-)
|
|
We are, as you well know, specifically talking about the plans to privatise search and rescue services.
|
|
This poxy government seems intent on minding the pennies and letting billions of Pounds go out without a murmur. Save a few million here and there - examples being the above sell-off and the use of "brass plated" and nickel steel coins by the Mint. There are lots more. Then they go and give £7,000,000,000 to bail out Ireland, and about 6,500,000,000 to the "EU". Loopy.
|
If Ireland went under, this country would disappear under the mire faster than you could ever imagine, making the last banking crash seem like a minor blip.
7 billion to keep them afloat? Its money well spent.
|
|
We should not have been required to pay it.
|
|
The effects of not doing so are too awful to contemplate. Where do you think the Irish banks got most of their money from? Where do you think a million people will go to when their country collapses?
|
>> Where do you think the Irish banks got most of their money from?
Us, via "Europe".
>> Where do you think a million people will go to when their country collapses?
The USA.
|
Irish sums are simple.
Pay £7 billion to prevent Ireland and its banks go tits up.
Pay RBS and other UK banks about £150 billion immediately if Ireland goes tits up .**
It's hardly rocket science and all the information is there on the internet for the ignorant to read before making crass remarks . :-)
Or put another way. If George Osborne (reckonned by his opponents to be thick) understands it, so can I ...It's so simple even a meerkat understand it...
** plus another £200 billion about 6 months later when the Portugese, Greek and Spanish banks follow...
Last edited by: madf on Mon 13 Dec 10 at 15:30
|
The £7 billion is in fact a loan not a gift. The interest rate has not yet been agreed but is likely to be around 6%
Since the UK government is able to borrow at less than half that rate, providing the Irish government does not default, we could come out of this at a profit.
|
>> The £7 billion is in fact a loan not a gift. The interest rate has
>> not yet been agreed but is likely to be around 6%
>>
>> Since the UK government is able to borrow at less than half that rate, providing
>> the Irish government does not default, we could come out of this at a profit.
>>
>>
Good to see zero, madf, CGNorwich et.al. pointing out the facts.
But then the OP and his cronies won't ever let facts get in the way of their ideology.
|
>> But then the OP and his cronies won't ever let facts get in the way
>> of their ideology.
Come on, then, what "ideology" is that?
|
|
He posted a link and an open question ?
|
>> Come on, then, what "ideology" is that?
>>
Refer to his contributions on previous threads.
|
>> >> Come on, then, what "ideology" is that?
>> >>
>>
>> Refer to his contributions on previous threads.
>>
>>
swiss tony on French Riots:
"Have we really all forgotten who started to sell (give away?) the family Silver?
The one who closed down a lot of UK production?
The one who made it easy to borrow money that many couldn't really afford?
The one who sold run-down houses that the landlords were happy to see the back of, to people who had little or no chance of affording?
I could go on.... but can't be bothered..... save to mention school milk. "
|
Go on then.
Who did start off the sale, if it wasn't the milk thief?
Last edited by: swiss tony on Tue 14 Dec 10 at 06:20
|
Well as more UK production closed in the last 13 years than in the previous 25 years,,
the answer has got to be: the Lib Dems!
|
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12007031
Apparently one of the Sea Kings had a dodgy MoT and had been clocked.
|
As CG Norwich has pointed out already the SAR service is already part privatised and I had a long talk recently with a very experienced ex RAF SAR pilot who we employed recently in my company .
He was employed in one of the privatised SAR services but what he saw was happening with the running of the service caused him to resign ... I will not go into details .....but it is not a good omen for the future
|
>> Just seen this - what do people think, good idea or a disaster?
It sounds crackpot to me. And surely it is just bad PR regardless of the reality, which to be honest I know nothing about.
|
|
Was an inadvertent witness to a rescue by a 22 Squadron Sea King today in the village, a fine display of intricate and precision flying into a "busy" area to collect a fallen walker by the lake here - it drew a crowd of passers by, cars everywhere. No doubt it was Prince William at the helm (listening to local comments) !!! ;-)
|
I was at a country show in deepest rural Northumberland a few years ago when the air ambulance was called.
They had to interrupt the Cumbrian wrestling to find a patch of grass for it to land.
The lead-up to the chopper arriving was quite funny in a way.
There was a series of increasingly desperate calls over the PA asking for a doctor to come forward to attend to the injured person.
|
|
We're very lucky here we have the Air Ambulance base at 6 miles, RAF Valley at 20 odd miles and the Police air support base at 25 miles away - all three could have attended here quite easily, the ambulance and Police helicopters could have landed easily (being smaller) I suppose the location of the injured woman (about 20 feet and a difficult climb to the road, especially with head/spinal injuries potentially) made winching a requirement. Impressive again the precision that the aircraft was flown on the hover during winching in the relatively confined spot.....it looked like a nasty injury.
|
I recall a few years back when some silly bint got lost on Ben Nevis, with just a jumper on, and was rescued the next day, at great cost by the RAF, and after much night walking-about by the mountain rescue club (all volunteers).
Next thing, she sells her story to one of the tabloids for thousands, and questions were asked in the House as to why the volunteers and RAF crew risked their lives, and got sod-all for it, while she cashed in.
A mate of mine is in the local 4x4 offroad rescue volunteers, and tells me stories of stupid folk doing similar stuff, expecially on table Mountain. He gets called out at silly hours and ends up seraching for no reward whatsoever.
So... my point is: PRIVATISE, get sponsorship from one of those phone companies, and nail the muppets you save!
|
Looks like it's on hold for the moment.
www.shephard.co.uk/news/7943/
|
with just a jumper on
Ni wonder the tabloids were interested...!
|
...Ni wonder the tabloids were interested...!...
Many a true word said in jest.
Like it or not, one of the first questions newsdesks will have asked about that lass in Bristol was: "Is she fit?"
The next, even more important question: "Are there some decent pics to demonstrate that fact?"
|
I remember the French Navy rescuing a couple of topless girls who floated away on their lilo's in the current off shore.
There really wasn't any need to dangle each one from the winch and fly the over the full length of the beach, but It was a great sight and a lessons to the girls no doubt.
|
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-12142729
Looks like they've earned their pay today - no mention of the local job here.
|
I see this has now been halted for now www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12389512
"Plans to privatise the search and rescue helicopter service have been suspended amid concerns about the bidding process to find a supplier.
It comes after the preferred supplier, Soteria, admitted it had access to commercially sensitive information."
|
Another Government sell off.... - Tooslow
