Winter flights
Dear Sir
Whilst one can well believe that the subject of airline scheduling is one that concerns many of your readers, there should surely be a moratorium on how long one can drag this subject out. Instead of the perpetual moaning, people (including some your own editorial staff) might consider themselves fortunate that Mallorca (a small island in the Mediterranean) is served almost daily by a range of flights to a wide assortment of different places - something that increases exponentially between March and November. The fact that there are, for example, no direct mid-winter flights to Glasgow or Edinburgh, hardly strikes one as the greatest injustice in the world. Maybe instead of dwelling on this overly discussed topic, you should dispatch one of your intrepid reporters to investigate something really important for residents and visitors of this island, such as why we are still paying Repsol over 17 Euros for a butano bottle of gas, when global gas prices are lower than they have been in years ? Duke Higgs
Palma
Dear Sir,
In reply to Jason Moore's Viewpoint article yesterday bemoaning the lack of Flights to Mallorca in the winter, I fully agree with him.
I have long advocated that companies like Easy Jet and Ryan Air should put on flights from rural airports in Britain on a once a week basis. For instance Ryan could fly on a Monday out of Bournemouth, discharge the passengers in Palma and return to Exeter. From Exeter they fly back to Palma and return to Glasgow and so on. After a week the cycle goes full circle and they schedule a flight back from Palma to Bournemouth so that the previous week's passengers can get home to UK.
I suspect that this would entail the airports, including Palma, to give the airlines a break on landing fees to make it viable but I am sure a weekly schedule would be popular enough with both home owners and winter tourists to make it viable for the airlines. It would certainly make it more attractive to have a holiday home in Mallorca. There are also a lot of people in Mallorca who come here, or go to UK on business, so having flights only into London is crazy.
Sincerely
P.J. Wade
Procession Caterpillars
Dear Editor,
Just thought it would be worth mentioning that the I have seen Procession Caterpillars on the move, in Santa Ponca, already. They do not usually appear until March time, I can only assume it is because it has been a mild winter.
These caterpillars are very dangerous to pets and can cause a severe allergic reaction to people if touched. They usually appear on the ground in a long column and so can be very attractive to children who think their cute and pets just because they are moving.
If you think your pet has been anywhere near them, even just sniffing them, they should be taken to a vet immediately as there is very little time to save your pet especially if they have eaten any. I don't want to sound alarmist but I have heard from vets here and in Southern France the nasty reactions pets have.
Regards,
Teresa Cooper
Hugh Ash & the Jews
Sir,
In his Sunday Comment Hugh Ash reminded me of the words of my late father, a Baptist minister, who said societies should be judged on how well or badly they treated their Jewish citizens and that prejudice starts in the home.
My sisters and I were taught to respect all religions, but that the Jews deserved special praise for their wisdom in founding the Abrahamic faith, the font of Christianity and Islam.
Personally, I marvel at how the Jewish people have survived 2,000 years of mainly persecution and yet produced so many incredible individuals.
After reading Mr. Ash’s latest column I did a quick check on the number of Jewish Nobel Prize winners and the total is 153 out of 855 (22%) and that does not include 11 Peace Prize laureates.
Not bad for a people who constitute only 0.2% of the world’s population.
Contrast that with the 1.6 billion-strong Muslim world, which has only mustered 11 Nobel winners and seven of those were nominated for the Peace Prize, including Yasser Arafat.
That is not meant to malign Islam, but only to place some perspective on how much good work the Jews have done to the benefit of mankind.
If anything we owe them a great debt, not a repayment in a rising in anti-Semitism.
Yours sincerely,
Martin Read,
Oxford & Santa Ponsa
Dear Editor,
Great piece (again!) on Sunday by your guy, Hugh Ash.
Can I suggest a sequel and he looks at the vile, vicious tirade of anti-Semitic bullsh*t pulped out daily by the Arab media, which the Holy Joe Lefties of the West conveniently overlook when screaming abuse at the Israelis.
I’m recently back from a study trip to Egypt and couldn’t believe my eyes and ears at what I saw, read and heard on local TV, radio and the papers.
All the age-old anti-Semitic lies are trotted out daily, like Jews killing Arab kids to steal their organs and that debunked Tsarist forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion – the fantasy ‘Jewish plot to take over the world’ – is a best-seller.
This is the kind of online garbage that helps push gullible kids into the clutch of Islamo crazies and if we're going to stop more home-grown terrorism we have to stop this Jew-hate filth first.
Candy Kurtz,
Puerto Andratx
Flights to Scotland
Dear Sir,
I have in the past said about flights to Scotland, and I have just read your online report. EasyJet operate their daily flight from London Gatwick to Palma, and return.
The next route for the aircraft is the flight to Edinburgh. The aircraft lands at Gatwick from Palma at 17.15 and departs to Edinburgh at 1745, daily.
I noticed that yesterday, Friday’s aircraft roster started at Gatwick to Aberdeen at 0715, then back to Gatwick. The flight then did it’s usual trip to Palma, and Edinburgh.
OK, the normal daily roster for the winter aircraft flight only dose Palma and Edinburgh. An idea for a new roster could be, an early morning flight to Edinburgh, then Gatwick, Palma and return.
Perhaps allow passengers booked on the Edinburgh route to stay on the aircraft as they perhaps do on long haul flights, or allow passengers to rejoin the flight queue at Gatwick, airside as they would have already been through security.
Just a thought,
Les Chase
P.S. I purchased my apartment last year, and I am using it for short breaks throughout this winter, and I fly on the Gatwick to Palma route every time.