Virgin on outstanding

Let me start this post by mentioning how I will never forget the time David Dimbleby said how these days he gets to avoid “the horrors of flying and airports”. With this one remark he gave away the snobbery and privilege that taints his entire outlook on life (in another he declared what a delight it must have been to have been an ancient farmer with only a fire in the middle of the room to warm you). While many people can only fantasise about flying, and never even get to leave their home town, Dimbleby resents spending a few hours defying what is naturally possible for human beings, seeing an aerial view of earth, and being waited upon in what is effectively a moving hotel (I bet he doesn’t fly economy either). Enough said about that, let’s talk about Virgin.

Richard Branson seems to have a unique midas touch when it comes to public services, and (although many may have stories to the contrary) he seems to have achieved the impossible feat of providing a good service, being very successful in business and being a nice guy at the same time. Credit where it is due, always.

I am flying with Virgin Atlantic today, from London Gatwick to Orlando, Florida. The booking was easy, using their website, and 10 pence cheaper from the closest reseller (Expedia). I am always happy to cut out resellers, as they have no right to take your money for doing nothing but standing between you and the service provider, so I was pleased to book directly on the Virgin web site (all in cost £308). Not only can you book online with Virgin but you can also check-in online, which I did. On arrival at the airport there were many staff to assist, and no queues. The plane left on time, and there is more leg room on this plane (a Boeing 747) than I have previously experienced. Food is better than usual, service good and entertainment selection exceptional.

Branson is doing things how they should be done – which is rarely seen in business. There are even little touches like the headphone jack on the seat is not some weird one whereby the airline can insist you buy headphones for it. No, it’s a normal headphones jack and they give you free phones or you can use your own.

By far most depressing aspect of this flight is the presence of so many incompetent parents and graceless people, but blame for this can hardly be laid at the door of Virgin. Their only shortcoming so far is that the on-board entertainment is scheduled and not controllable by the viewer – and that is hardly much of a criticism.

In memory of Luciano Pavarotti

A late tribute is better than none at all, so I post here the fine song “Miss Sarajevo”, by the greatest band in the world and featuring one of the greatest opera tenors ever. A moving video too, for this excellent and important song…

Advertising Lies

Sitting in the cinema waiting to watch The Bourne Ultimatum this evening (action-packed thriller – if highly contrived – starring the likable Matt Damon) I was again subjected to an onslaught of ludicrous advertising, the claims of which made the subsequent film seem relatively realistic.

First there was British Airways showing lots of smiling happy people on the ground then arbitrarily linking this to themselves, saying “upgrade to British Airways”. There was no perceivable connection between two.

This was nothing, however, compared with the next treat: this was Christian brainwashing organisation The Alpha Course, who had the ignorant cheek to devalue our lives by portraying human beings as products on conveyor belts, then asking “Is there more to life than this?”. The answer to the question is 1) “More than likely no, nothing at all more” and 2) – as Richard Dawkins has said – “How much more do you want?!“. Christians are so unbelievably greedy. The world is a wonderful, fascinating place and they should be happy with one life. It is disgraceful that they devalue it and always want more. They should concentrate on understanding this life by closing their bibles, permanently, and opening some science books well before concerning themselves with any other lives. There is enough here to occupy them forever, if they would only care to open their eyes. Also they should stop preying on the weak and the vulnerable.

Indeed the only decent advert before the film began was one for the Disability Agenda, which showed a troubling portrayal of the way many disabled people are bullied by those around them. So let’s be clear about that issue as well: in the case of someone bullying somebody less fortunate than themselves, I think we all know who the disabled one really is – very seriously disabled at that.

Nice quotation

“Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.”

W.B. Yeats

Political position

We are often asked our political persuasion. I can no more define myself as “liberal” or “conservative” than I can define myself as liking rock or classical music. I am an aesthetic and moral realist and I like what is best. This forms a complex and politically eclectic web of values, liberal in some respects, conservative in others. Most people think likewise, and this helps explain the crisis of identity in political parties today.

A visit to the hatter

When I was 18 years old I bought a bowler hat. As is my way, I researched carefully before buying, and finally located a shop called Bertie Wooster in Chelsea. The hat I bought was actually a riding bowler, with a hard shell. I wore it with pride around Durham, no doubt much to the mirth of imbeciles.

I have retained an interest in hats and lament the passing of the age of chivalry, when both gentleman and ladies wore hats and courtesy was regarded as a strength and not a weakness. To this effect, I today visited two hatters in the Piccadilly/St James area of London. One is called Bates, on Jermyn Street, and the other Lock & Co. The staff of Bates are not particularly friendly, perhaps too fed up of tourists, and they are usually to be found reading books.

Lock & Co. is a little further out of the way – one needs to know of it to find it – and the staff are extremely friendly and unpretentious. I spent some considerable time in this shop and ended up buying a waxed cotton explorer hat and an ivory cotton Monaco trilby. I shall wear the latter during my forthcoming trip to Florida.

Some very romantic quotations

I’m male. I’m straight. I’m rational. But these would surely move anybody.

“I have crossed oceans of time to find you.”
Gary Oldman (Count Dracula) – Dracula

“I’ll only say this once. I’ve… I’ve never said it before. This kind of certainty comes but just once in a lifetime.”
Clint Eastwood (Robert Kincaid) – The Bridges of Madison County

“Shut up… just shut up. You had me at hello. You had me at hello.”
Renée Zellweger (Dorothy) – Jerry Maguire

“You survive. You stay alive, no matter what occurs. I will find you. No matter how long it takes, no matter how far. I will find you.”
Daniel Day-Lewis (Hawkeye) – The Last of the Mohicans

“Flaming June” by Lord Frederick Leighton (1830-1896)

Patriotism

I don’t need to say much about patriotism when it has been said so well already, and by such esteemed figures:

“Patriotism is a kind of religion; it is the egg from which wars are hatched.”

Guy de Maupassant

“Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.”

Bertrand Russell

“Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism – how passionately I hate them!”

“Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.”

Albert Einstein

“Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.”

“You’ll never have a quiet world till you knock the patriotism out of the human race.”

George Bernard Shaw

Blind patriotism is as senseless as religion and people must always be treated as individuals.  However, this is not to say all cultures are equal.

The problem with gambling

The British government has taken many steps to encourage gambling, from introducing a National Lottery, to planning for “supercasinos”. The Internet is saturated with gambling sites and the TV full of gambling programmes, quiz shows which sometimes involve no element of skill whatsoever and are entirely a celebration of chance (yet still people applaud). Many people in the United Kingdom are addicted to gambling and consumer debt is reaching record levels.

This situation is something of a crisis and such a celebration of gambling is distasteful, dangerous and wrong for many reasons:

1. It encourages a “something for nothing” mentality, telling people that they do not need to work for their rewards, and indeed suggesting it is a good thing not to have to work for rewards. This is in fact wrong. We usually do have to work for our rewards, and a reward worked for is much more appreciated than a reward received without any effort.
2. It encourages people to think of rewards in purely financial terms, when there is more to life than money. It encourages avarice.
3. It takes advantage of the hopes of the vulnerable who do not have much, or much control over their lives, suggesting that the way out for them is to depend on chance, when this is more far more likely to lead them into a worse condition.
4. It is addictive, and can lead to a serious downward spiral.
5. It allows unscrupulous people to exploit this downward spiral and make their living from the forlorn hopes of others.

“It’s just a bit of fun”, you might say. Indeed it can be in the hands of responsible people, but many people are not responsible. Gambling should be controlled, not banned, but certainly not celebrated and over-rated, as it currently is.

“But what about entrepreneurs?” A considered and necessary risk is one thing, as it plays its part in a structure of effort. Calculated risks are often worth taking, but the current celebration of gambling, like all of the “something for nothing” culture, is wrong.

I urge you to cut out gambling now. Ignore the advertisers’ appeals to your greed (they occur only because of their own unscrupulous greed), and consider instead how much you will effectively win on the National Lottery every day… by never playing it at all.

Some exam answers to avoid

Passed on to me by my great brother Chris:

Why we should be atheist

Two nice quotations

“‘Tis the loud laugh bespeaks the vacant mind.”

James Joyce

“Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.”

Plato

Chapterhouse: Pearl

What an absolute classic…

E-mail to Lauren Green of Fox News

Dear Ms. Green,

I just read your article “The Inaccuracy of Kathy Griffin’s Remarks on Jesus“.

I am a humanist, which means I believe in compassion and reason. Many humanists like myself are very concerned regarding religious people’s confusion of religion with morality. The two are very different things.

Fans of the bible tend to cherry-pick the parts they like, and try to ignore or “explain away” the more savage and disturbing parts. I recently wrote an article on Jesus, which might help give you a more balanced view of the man (if he existed at all) and help you understand why Kathy Griffin said what she said.

Regarding the things you wrote, the American constitution is in fact explicitly secular, and a good job too. Like John Lennon sang, the world would be a better place if there was no religion at all, and people were good just for the sake of being good. I hope you will enjoy reading my site, which contains many articles on the dangers of religion.

Best regards,

Gavin Orland
London