i used to love thunderbirds. i would probably still watch it if i had it on dvd. not only was it a great idea but it was full of neat gadgets and vehicles. my favourite was thunderbird 2. i would wager that a love of thunderbirds lay at the heart of the idea for the international rescue corps, a charity that specialises in rescue work in places that disasters have taken place.
they recently flew out to japan in order to help with the disaster there.
even more recently they flew back into heathrow because they didn't have the right permit to enter japan.
rather than be out there rescuing, they spent two days stuck in tokyo airport before coming back. they blame the british embassy for this. according to the daily mail (yes i know never a good source to use) "an exhausted ray gray, 55-year-old leader of the team from the united nations-registered organisation, said: 'all we needed was a bit of paper.'
(exhausted? all they had done was sit around for a couple of days - what would he have been like if they actually had gotten around to doing some rescuing?)
he went on to say that the japanese had asked them to come, but the british embassy wouldn't sign off on some papers.
they say red tape is to blame.
unusually for a tory, william hague is not having any of that. it is not red tape to blame, but the simple fact that the embassy was stretched to deal with the ongoing situation.
he goes on to say that the japanese had said that they, irc, would have to be self-sufficient as no logistical support could be given to them by the japanese. according to mr. hague irc arrived with no transport, and no logicistical or language support. in effect they hadn't done what the japanese requested of them and would not be able to fit in with the japanese rescue plans.
considering the situation there - that would be a bad thing.
paul baxter, the spokesman for irc, said 'we went over there with the permission of the japanese...they wanted us there. but once in tokyo, the authorities would not give us a transit permit until they had received paperwork from the british embassy stating that we were a bona fide charity for disaster zones.'
ok let's just break that down shall we.
the japanese wanted them there, and gave permission for them to be there.
except when they were there the japanese wanted proof that they were a bona fide organisation. mmm the second part of that sort of undermines the first part.
as you know i am not one to jump to the defence of a tory, but this is one of those times when i think mr. hague is probably right. that irc are taking the easy option of blaming the british embassy when the problem was of their own making.
somehow i don't think the japanese would be turning away anyone who could help - provided that they could do it without adding additional strain to the ongoing operation.
just what i think.
the thing that is wonderful about the daily mail (aside from its tenous relationship to the facts) is just how quick its readers are to comment without reading the full story. they are almost pavlovian. just put 'red tape' in the headline and bosh bang boom you already know what the comments are going to be and you can pretty much guarantee that all they have read of the story is the headlines.
with the right headline in place the mail readers go into a frenzy that blames central government and such things as 'health and safety' 'jobsworths' 'political correctness' 'public sector workers' without ever really bothering to read the story.
they all seem to want to leave britain for better places. they all want to blame someone else for things that are not quite the way they like them. each and everyone of them happy to slag the country off.
none of them it seems is actually capable of reading the story from start to finish and making a comment based on the whole piece. who can blame them - so much easier to do it based on headlines alone - it makes perfect sense.
still if the mail wasn't full of contributors who are a hamper short of a picnic then there would be no point to it.
oh and in future mr gray and mr baxter make sure you have crossed the t's and dotted the i's before you fly off to the next disaster zone.
they recently flew out to japan in order to help with the disaster there.
even more recently they flew back into heathrow because they didn't have the right permit to enter japan.
rather than be out there rescuing, they spent two days stuck in tokyo airport before coming back. they blame the british embassy for this. according to the daily mail (yes i know never a good source to use) "an exhausted ray gray, 55-year-old leader of the team from the united nations-registered organisation, said: 'all we needed was a bit of paper.'
(exhausted? all they had done was sit around for a couple of days - what would he have been like if they actually had gotten around to doing some rescuing?)
he went on to say that the japanese had asked them to come, but the british embassy wouldn't sign off on some papers.
they say red tape is to blame.
unusually for a tory, william hague is not having any of that. it is not red tape to blame, but the simple fact that the embassy was stretched to deal with the ongoing situation.
he goes on to say that the japanese had said that they, irc, would have to be self-sufficient as no logistical support could be given to them by the japanese. according to mr. hague irc arrived with no transport, and no logicistical or language support. in effect they hadn't done what the japanese requested of them and would not be able to fit in with the japanese rescue plans.
considering the situation there - that would be a bad thing.
paul baxter, the spokesman for irc, said 'we went over there with the permission of the japanese...they wanted us there. but once in tokyo, the authorities would not give us a transit permit until they had received paperwork from the british embassy stating that we were a bona fide charity for disaster zones.'
ok let's just break that down shall we.
the japanese wanted them there, and gave permission for them to be there.
except when they were there the japanese wanted proof that they were a bona fide organisation. mmm the second part of that sort of undermines the first part.
as you know i am not one to jump to the defence of a tory, but this is one of those times when i think mr. hague is probably right. that irc are taking the easy option of blaming the british embassy when the problem was of their own making.
somehow i don't think the japanese would be turning away anyone who could help - provided that they could do it without adding additional strain to the ongoing operation.
just what i think.
the thing that is wonderful about the daily mail (aside from its tenous relationship to the facts) is just how quick its readers are to comment without reading the full story. they are almost pavlovian. just put 'red tape' in the headline and bosh bang boom you already know what the comments are going to be and you can pretty much guarantee that all they have read of the story is the headlines.
with the right headline in place the mail readers go into a frenzy that blames central government and such things as 'health and safety' 'jobsworths' 'political correctness' 'public sector workers' without ever really bothering to read the story.
they all seem to want to leave britain for better places. they all want to blame someone else for things that are not quite the way they like them. each and everyone of them happy to slag the country off.
none of them it seems is actually capable of reading the story from start to finish and making a comment based on the whole piece. who can blame them - so much easier to do it based on headlines alone - it makes perfect sense.
still if the mail wasn't full of contributors who are a hamper short of a picnic then there would be no point to it.
oh and in future mr gray and mr baxter make sure you have crossed the t's and dotted the i's before you fly off to the next disaster zone.
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