So he got the dogs out and left the people behind?!

[Sillysuzie]

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/30/britain-dogs-afghan-people-pen-farthing

@GoodbyePorpoiseSpit the plane was a private chartered plane that had been funded by supporters. It's a plane that would otherwise not have been there. PF's intention totally was to fill it to capacity with human beings - his staff, and as many other innocent Afghans as possible. Even after his staff were denied access to the airport, and as he was boarding, he offered it to be used by other people. He wanted it to be used for that purpose. He was told that it wasn't needed, and that they had enough space on the military planes there. He really did try his best to save people. It's just very sad for those left behind that it didn't work out, which is one point we can hopefully all agree on. It's just desperately sad for all those innocent souls left behind

@WanderingFruitWonderer

Thank you for posting that link. It would be wonderful if everyone on this thread would take a minute to listen to what Jan Leeming says instead of spouting nonsense and vitriol about someone who has tried a thousand times harder to help people and animals than the sanctimonious keyboard warriors on here.

OP, your name really suits you.

admire anyone with fire in their belly to get things done

Well, that includes the Taliban. Not sure fire in the belly can be divorced from morality like that. And as for the poster who said humans can advocate for themselves, no, children can't. Vulnerable people can't.

Thank you @PinkSparklyPussyCat. Yes, it's always been about both people and animals for me.
Thank you @Medievalist, yes Jan Leeming expresses the truth much more eloquently and succinctly than I ever could. I hope people take the small amount of time needed to listen to her, as you say.

I wonder why people weren't donating for private flights to get more refugees out?

Mn seems to be obsessed with this guy.
So many threads about him.
There was an awful story on the news last night.
A mother got separated from her children and one is seriously ill in hospital and didn't get on the plane, think they got caught up in the blast, she is here and he is there. Yet mn still talking about some attention seeker.

@KeflavikAirport

I wonder why people weren't donating for private flights to get more refugees out?

I donated to Nowzad to get people and animals out, however I don't recall seeing too many appeals for planes for refugees. Did you donate to one?

Well, I listened to Jan Leaning on Twitter. A lot of rehashed unsubstantiated claims, failing to address many of the criticisms.

Well, it would appear the Americans left service animals behind.

Wonder how that makes you feel OP.

@KeflavikAirport

I wonder why people weren't donating for private flights to get more refugees out?

Because it’s not just about planes it’s about landing slots . You can’t have hundreds of planes all flying about randomly , there’s only so much air space and Kabul airport is not exactly high tech , the main road to it is a gravelled track

[quote Doodlebug71]**@TheAntiGardener: I’m afraid I believe he was evacuated with animals because resource could not be diverted elsewhere so may as well be used. Because the alternative (the government can’t stand up to animal lovers and comedians on Twitter) is terrifying.

That first bit is closer to the truth. "So how many people can come on this plane with me?" "None." "Why?" "There's not enough people processed to fill the planes we have."

The UK govt didn't process people. Left them outside and shut the airport access to all those left outside. This is the same govt whose housing minister just said, "we're going to help people get on the (property) ladder either as owners or renters". I shit you not.[/quote]
I broadly agree with what you’ve been posting on these threads, Doodle.

And if it IS the second part of my post that is true version of events, anger should be directed squarely at the government. It would be ridiculous to lay the blame at an individual’s feet instead of the UK government responsible for these evacuations - and who very particularly owe a great debt to the Afghans who worked with the Allies.

That’s the processing/resources angle.

Quite apart from that aspect, I have no time for the view that saving animals in and of itself looks bad. The only reason this has drawn nearly as much attention as it has is because this debate has sprung up around ‘Operation Ark’. If the media and government are so appalled at people’s priorities, they could easily have opted to give both the evacuation and ensuing debate less exposure.

@KeflavikAirport

I wonder why people weren't donating for private flights to get more refugees out?

Because they didn’t need more planes, they needed time. They didn’t need to be distracted mucking about sorting out cats & dogs

I wonder why people weren't donating for private flights to get more refugees out?

This shows how completely uninformed you are.

I think the blame just needs to land squarely on the governments who knew the Taliban would seize control as soon as they withdrew and didn't appear to plan for any of what then happened. If they didn't know then the intelligence was massively lacking

Because they didn’t need more planes, they needed time. They didn’t need to be distracted mucking about sorting out cats & dogs

Time was indeed one of the issues... cos they left it too late to really start evacuating people.

Really? Do explain VeganVeg. I see Dominic Dyer has returned to the burning issue of Geronimo the alpaca, surely the top of the nation's priorities.

@KeflavikAirport

Really? Do explain VeganVeg. I see Dominic Dyer has returned to the burning issue of Geronimo the alpaca, surely the top of the nation's priorities.

Someone's put on twitter that she's literally the bravest women ever, I mean, really?

@GoodbyePorpoiseSpit the plane was a private chartered plane that had been funded by supporters

It could have been a passenger plane then? With the right public or private pressure and intervention.
I agree with you all though - it's all just terribly sad.

@User871032

FFS again. The people could not get the right clearances from the UK government and when they could it was too late. He could not have done more to get the humans out, but the UK government would not cooperate and had already decided to set him up like this as a fall guy to cover their shambolic handling of it all and for daring to suggest that a car was not an appropriate use of space on a plane earmarked for the rescue of humans. He most definitely did not choose animals over humans. The UK government made that choice.

^this. The animals went in crates, they didn’t take up seats.

Planes were taking off empty, long before Pen rocked up!

KeflavikAirport The government have said over and over that planes were not the issue. So people donating for flights for people wasn’t required. Many people have donated money, clothing, toys etc to charities to help the people in other ways. The government didn’t get more people out due to not starting early enough in big enough numbers and Bidens rule change. If they’d have started sooner and Biden didn’t change the rules, more people would have got out.

There were photos of empty planes during the whole evacuation time.

You choose to focus on the one with the animals. How about the hundreds of empty seats before that?

I see Dominic Dyer has returned to the burning issue of Geronimo the alpaca, surely the top of the nation's priorities.

Why wouldn’t be, he’s an animal welfare campaigner, has been helping with the Geronimo case and there’s been a major development in the case today. Would you expect him to ignore it?

Other things in life still go on even when other horrific things are happening In the world. We all want the world to stop at times, but it doesn’t.

*Why wouldn’t he

@PinkSparklyPussyCat

I don't know about you, but I don't make threats to people when my emotions get the better of me. Do you?

I don't tend to make threats but I have been known to lose my temper now and then. I'm not going to apologise for not being perfect though.

To be honest if I was in the same desperate situation as Pen Farthing, his staff and animals I wouldn't be too polite to some jumped up pillock blocking everything I was trying to do.

Jumped up pollock

You know the background and service records of the people working in FCO and MOD?