RANT CORNER

[Derek27]

Absolutely amazing this ex-Royal Marine zookeeper. Getting 100 animals out of Kabul airport without jumping any queues.

The flight's been sponsored (I think that means paid for) by the UK government. Who's running the country, Boris or Carrie?

[greenmark]

Absolutely amazing this ex-Royal Marine zookeeper. Getting 100 animals out of Kabul airport without jumping any queues.

The flight's been sponsored (I think that means paid for) by the UK government. Who's running the country, Boris or Carrie?

Perhaps his name was Doolittle and the animals are bilingual.

[Derek27]

Makes you wonder how they got them all past that crowd. They couldn't have used another entrance to the airport if they didn't jump any queues!

[firlandsfarm]

Absolutely amazing this ex-Royal Marine zookeeper. Getting 100 animals out of Kabul airport without jumping any queues.

The flight's been sponsored (I think that means paid for) by the UK government. Who's running the country, Boris or Carrie?

My understanding is that the cost of the flight was met by crowd funding not the Government "Mr Farthing raised £365,000 so he could charter a plane to rescue hundreds of animals and 69 staff. It is understood that the plane belongs to a US businessman." (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... Kabul.html

[Derek27]

Absolutely amazing this ex-Royal Marine zookeeper. Getting 100 animals out of Kabul airport without jumping any queues.

The flight's been sponsored (I think that means paid for) by the UK government. Who's running the country, Boris or Carrie?

My understanding is that the cost of the flight was met by crowd funding not the Government "Mr Farthing raised £365,000 so he could charter a plane to rescue hundreds of animals and 69 staff. It is understood that the plane belongs to a US businessman." (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... Kabul.html

Makes me feel lucky I'm not stuck in Afghanistian, with my cat!

[Derek27]

Absolutely amazing this ex-Royal Marine zookeeper. Getting 100 animals out of Kabul airport without jumping any queues.

The flight's been sponsored (I think that means paid for) by the UK government. Who's running the country, Boris or Carrie?

My understanding is that the cost of the flight was met by crowd funding not the Government "Mr Farthing raised £365,000 so he could charter a plane to rescue hundreds of animals and 69 staff. It is understood that the plane belongs to a US businessman." (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... Kabul.html

I've just heard the local news. He's reported to have arrived safely with 140 animals but had to leave his staff behind!

[firlandsfarm]

Absolutely amazing this ex-Royal Marine zookeeper. Getting 100 animals out of Kabul airport without jumping any queues.

The flight's been sponsored (I think that means paid for) by the UK government. Who's running the country, Boris or Carrie?

My understanding is that the cost of the flight was met by crowd funding not the Government "Mr Farthing raised £365,000 so he could charter a plane to rescue hundreds of animals and 69 staff. It is understood that the plane belongs to a US businessman." (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... Kabul.html

I've just heard the local news. He's reported to have arrived safely with 140 animals but had to leave his staff behind!

If he "had to leave his staff behind" does that suggest they were stopped from joining him ... maybe not his fault!

[Derek27]

My understanding is that the cost of the flight was met by crowd funding not the Government "Mr Farthing raised £365,000 so he could charter a plane to rescue hundreds of animals and 69 staff. It is understood that the plane belongs to a US businessman." (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... Kabul.html

I've just heard the local news. He's reported to have arrived safely with 140 animals but had to leave his staff behind!

If he "had to leave his staff behind" does that suggest they were stopped from joining him ... maybe not his fault!

No idea why, that's all I heard. It does suggest that the lives of dogs are more important than the brave Afghan interpreters who supported the British and US armies.

[firlandsfarm]

No idea why, that's all I heard. It does suggest that the lives of dogs are more important than the brave Afghan interpreters who supported the British and US armies.

I understand what you are saying but possibly not Afghan Interpreters, the plane was a private charter so never allocated for Interpreters. The Interpreters are the responsibility of their employers.

I don't understand why they stopped the flights 3 days early?

Edit: according to The Mirror (https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/b ... VDIrKJqhWM) "he was "devastated" after his Afghan workers were barred from evacuating" so not his fault! If they were "barred" they were barred and to take the animals off would not have 'unbarred' them. Also if there was room for his staff then when they became barred why not use the space for others ... lots of unanswered questions.

[Trader Pat]

He was ready to go a week ago with his animals, staff and Afghans that work for him. Plane was chartered and at the airport then somebody (Ben Wallace I think) pulled the plug at the last minute. Then on the day the explosions happened he was in the airport perimeter only to be turned backed when the Visa rules were changed.

The whole saga is a fine example of Bullshit Twitter in full flow, misinformation all over the place. The animals were to be placed in the cargo hold so the were never going to take the place of any human. Such a shame the flight wasn't allowed to take off when it was originally scheduled to, they would have got everyone out if it had.

[Derek27]

No idea why, that's all I heard. It does suggest that the lives of dogs are more important than the brave Afghan interpreters who supported the British and US armies.

I understand what you are saying but possibly not Afghan Interpreters, the plane was a private charter so never allocated for Interpreters. The Interpreters are the responsibility of their employers.

I don't understand why they stopped the flights 3 days early?

Edit: according to The Mirror (https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/b ... VDIrKJqhWM) "he was "devastated" after his Afghan workers were barred from evacuating" so not his fault! If they were "barred" they were barred and to take the animals off would not have 'unbarred' them. Also if there was room for his staff then when they became barred why not use the space for others ... lots of unanswered questions.

I don't think the issue was space, flights but the time involved in processing the people and paperwork.

UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the effort to rescue Pen and his animals had "taken up too much time" of his senior commanders "when they should be focused on dealing with the humanitarian crisis".

I'm pretty sure more people could have been evacuated with the extra time they would have to allocate.

[Derek27]

I finally got some bleach but it's gonna take several applications. I never did get round to using the dreaded toilet brush.

[firlandsfarm]

UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the effort to rescue Pen and his animals had "taken up too much time" of his senior commanders "when they should be focused on dealing with the humanitarian crisis".

I'm pretty sure more people could have been evacuated with the extra time they would have to allocate.

Seems to me the excuse changes with each source! Pen is one person, did his animals need passports and visa's processed! Or did Mr Wallace mean "staff" when he said "animals"?!

I notice Biden is now wanting to blame the UK for the loss of life with the explosion and claiming the shambles was all Trump's fault. The withdrawal was not organised, they should have held their defensive positions until they were on top of the problem. They claim the speed of the Taliban takeover could not have been predicted, in war (and project management) you plan for the unexpected.

[Derek27]

UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the effort to rescue Pen and his animals had "taken up too much time" of his senior commanders "when they should be focused on dealing with the humanitarian crisis".

I'm pretty sure more people could have been evacuated with the extra time they would have to allocate.

Seems to me the excuse changes with each source! Pen is one person, did his animals need passports and visa's processed! Or did Mr Wallace mean "staff" when he said "animals"?!

I notice Biden is now wanting to blame the UK for the loss of life with the explosion and claiming the shambles was all Trump's fault. The withdrawal was not organised, they should have held their defensive positions until they were on top of the problem. They claim the speed of the Taliban takeover could not have been predicted, in war (and project management) you plan for the unexpected.

It would have taken time and resources to fill the aircraft delayed the next flight. It's hard to understand how they could leave a slot to evacuate animals while people outside are going to be left behind and also exposed to suicide bombers.

[firlandsfarm]

It's hard to understand how they could leave a slot to evacuate animals while people outside are going to be left behind and also exposed to suicide bombers.

Well it turned out to be "a slot to evacuate animals while people outside are going to be left behind" because those in charge didn't put those people in the empty seats! That's not Pen's fault nor the animals'.