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All posts for the month February, 2014

The World’s Best Airline for 2013

Posted by George Brown on 21/02/2014

Posted in: Aviation, Media, Travel, Uncategorized, Views. Tagged: aviation, best airline. Leave a comment

For all you travel buffs out there, of course you want to travel on the best possible airline, don’t you? Well now you can. The results for 2013 are in, and here they are:

1. Emirates

2. Qatar Airways

3. Singapore Airlines

4. ANA All Nippon Airways

5. Asiana Airlines

6. Cathay Pacific

7. Etihad Airways

8. Garuda Indonesia

9. Turkish Airlines

10. QANTAS

Compare this with results for 2012 here.

The World Airline Awards are determined by passenger surveys conducted by research firm Skytrax, who surveyed more than 18 million passengers.

As always, it was Middle-Eastern and Asian carriers that dominated the top spots, with no airlines from the US or Europe cracking the top 10.

Last year’s No.1 airline, Qatar Airways, dropped one place to number two, while Singapore Airlines remained in third place for the second year in a row.

Emirates president Tim Clark said the awards were regarded as the industry’s benchmark for excellence.

Emirates recently began an alliance with QANTAS which saw Australia’s national carrier make Dubai its new hub for flights into Europe.

QANTAS was also awarded Best Airline Australia-Pacific and budget offshoot Jetstar Airways won Best Low Cost Airline for our region.

A surprise result was also the continued rise of Garuda Airlines, which moved from number 11 to number 8. The airline, which was banned by the European Union from flying to Europe due to safety concerns until mid-2009, has made great efforts to improve its safety and service levels in recent years.

Turkish Airlines, which recently signalled its intention to become the world’s first airline to fly non-stop between Australia and Europe, also made the top 10. Turkish Airlines is currently the fastest growing carrier in the world.

Human Rights for Dolphins?

Posted by George Brown on 21/02/2014

Posted in: News, Opinion, Politics, Views. Tagged: dolphins, human-rights, Romania. Leave a comment

Romanian politician, Remus Cernea is pushing a cause that he acknowledges his fellow lawmakers care little about: giving dolphins the same rights as humans.

The 39-year-old activist politician introduced a bill in the Romanian parliament last week that would recognise the marine mammals as “non-human persons”, on account of their highly developed intelligence, personalities and behaviour patterns.

The bill, which will be debated in the Romanian upper house in the coming weeks, would make humans and dolphins equal before the law. Dolphin killers would be given the same sentences as murderers of human beings. The bill would also ban the use of dolphins in live entertainment shows.

The aim of the bill is to help protect Romania’s indigenous dolphins in the Black Sea, Cernea said. It would also add the country’s voice to a global movement against dolphin killings.

But gathering domestic support may be tough in a year when Romania goes to the polls twice, first in the European elections in May and later to vote for a new president. Animal rights will have to find space alongside issues such as corruption and raising living standards and public services in the European Union’s second poorest country.

“At this moment, I have no support,” Cernea told Reuters during a visit to the city of Constanta on the Black Sea coast.

“This law asks you to make a huge step, philosophically speaking, to understand and to accept that somehow there is another species which is quite similar as we are,” he added.

They’ve got to be kidding, right! Non-humans with human rights? Surely this is a contradiction in terms? What about whales? Where would this stop? BTW, Romania only has 225km of coastline!

Source: Reuters

Man does a Handstand on a Moving Car

Posted by George Brown on 20/02/2014

Posted in: Crime, Health, News, Police, Safety. Tagged: car stunts, handstands on car, Queensland Police. Leave a comment

Have look at this bizarre movie were a man on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia performed a handstand on the roof of his moving car without a driver!

He probably would have got away with this stunt, but of course he posted his exploits on Youtube for all the world to see. As a result of this action, Queensland Police became aware of his deeds and promptly arrested him. You see, this intellectual giant did not have the nous to remove the front number plate from his vehicle before filming himself! This oversight allowed police to coming knocking on his door. Now he will probably do jail time as a result.

I gotta love people like this! Their stupidity has kept me gainfully employed for years!

CHP Officer Arrests Firefighter at Accident Scene

Posted by George Brown on 06/02/2014

Posted in: Emergency Services, Fire, Legal, News, Police, Safety, Views. Leave a comment

I was first made aware of this bizarre incident on Michael Eburn’s blog Australian Emergency Law.

It appears that a CHP (California Highway Patrol) officer arrested a firefighter in Chula Vista for refusing to move a fire truck, rather deciding to continue to treat an injured casualty in the accident. The firefighter was detained for 30 minutes and placed in a police car, but was later released without charge. The chief of the Chula Vista FD has been in crisis talks with CHP to ensure that this situation will not occur again.

In 36 years of emergency service work I have never seen this happen in NSW. Nor would I expect to! I would expect (and indeed demand) as a senior ranked officer, that patient care take precedence over the moving of an emergency vehicle. The CHP officer should perhaps be out controlling traffic and leaving the paramedic/firefighter to his job. Perhaps the firefighter has grounds for an action of “hindering an emergency worker from carrying out their duty” (or similar) against the CHP officer. In the UK, by virtue of The Emergency Workers (Obstruction) Act 2006, it is an offence to assault, hinder or obstruct an emergency worker (for example, a paramedic, doctor or nurse) while they are carrying out their duties. The penalty can be up to £10,000. The myriad of emergency service officers operating in the USA probably contributes to this situation.

I do remember testy operations between members of the Ambulance and Police Rescue Squads in NSW, who both would be dispatched to the same motor vehicle accident, or entrapment and would be a bit of a race to see who could get to a scene first and commence rescue operations. Rescue services were rationalised with the introduction of the State Emergency and Rescue Management Act in 1989, which in part gave control of reponding rescue resources to the Police Radio Senior Operations Officer (SOO), who ensured that only the nearest (qualified) rescue unit responded. However this sort of thing never happened, but I never did understand why police were involved in rescue operations. These days, Fire & Rescue NSW (FRNSW) carries out most of the rescue responses.

This post is slightly different from that of Michael Eburn’s as it shows some of the follow up actions of the Chula Vista FD with the CHP. Find Michael’s legal view here.

For what it’s worth, I support the firefighter.

This is not the first time a police officer has arrested a fiirefighter in the course of carrying out his duty. Observe this incident:

Bushfire – Wallsend

Posted by George Brown on 02/02/2014

Posted in: Emergency Services, Fire, Workplace. Tagged: bushfire, fire brigade, FRNSW, wallsend. Leave a comment

Continuing the fire brigades theme, here are a number of photos taken at a bush fire in the Gretley Colliery area of Wallsend off Downie Lane. The fire was tucked away in a remote parcel of bushland and it took firecrews a little time to locate the seat of the fire.

Fire running up the hill When the fire was located, it was decided that a backburning operation would take place to minimise fuel available for further bushfire in this area. Backburning It took a number of hours to eventually extinguish the slow burning fire which burnt out approximately 3 hectares of bushland. The ignition was probably arson. Looking over the lake A tanker parked at the side of a small lake. Lights at Night All done! Time to return to station! Camera: Apple iPhone 5 64Gb; Copyright (C) George Brown 2014

Paramedic Assaulted in George St., Sydney

Posted by George Brown on 02/02/2014

Posted in: Crime, Emergency Services, Legal, Paramedic, Workplace. Tagged: alcohol, assault, crime, drugs, paramedic. 1 Comment

A 21-year-old man has been charged after allegedly assaulting a female ambulance paramedic in the Sydney city overnight.

At about 2.20am Sunday, police from Operation Simmer were patrolling George Street, Haymarket, when they came across the man who they said was unresponsive and possibly intoxicated.

Officers called for assistance from NSW Ambulance, whose paramedics attended a short time later. Police allege that as a female paramedic attempted to treat the man, he struck her in the face and pushed her to the ground, before starting to kick her. Police intervened and after a short struggle, the man was arrested.

The paramedic, who has taken time off from work, suffered wrist and back injuries, as well as contusions to her face, a NSW Ambulance spokeswoman said.

The Plumpton man was taken to Sydney City Police Station and charged with common assault. He was granted conditional bail to appear before the Downing Centre Local Court on February 24. Operation Simmer focuses on Sydney’s CBD, Darlinghurst and Kings Cross, is conducted in the city every weekend as part of a summer-long crackdown targeting alcohol-related crime and anti-social behaviour.

This is just another example of a cowardly attack on a female paramedic by an intoxicated lout. NSW Ambulance has indicated that they have a zero tolerance on violence directed toward paramedics, and will pursue offenders vigorously through the courts. I know this paramedic believes the full weight of the law should be applied to the perpetrators of these cowardly acts. Assaulting a paramedic carries the same sentence as assaulting police.