This Pen Farthing guy

[TheGenealogist]

The bloke with the animal shelter in Kabul.

Refusing to leave unless he can take ALL of his 60 odd staff and ALL of his 200+ cats and dogs with him. Expecting the government to make special rules for him and his friends.

Getting people out - understandable. The Taliban aren't going to look kindly on people who have translated for the military, or "collaborated" in other ways. But staff at an animal shelter?

And as for the refusing to leave without the animals and making this all out to be the UK government's fault? For not falling over themselves to arrange transport for a bunch of ownerless animals nobody wants when there are human beings in fear of their lives?

What is this guy playing at?

Yeah it’s odd. I was initially interested in what he had to say, but he seems less and less reasonable as time goes on. I understand he feels a sense of responsibility towards his staff and animals, but he really should have left with his wife. We can all see that things are chaos out there. The Uk government aren’t going to be prioritising shelter workers and animals.

He's playing the media to get an outcome.

He’s got a plane, he’s got the paperwork for the animals, he’s got jobs and visas for the staff
He’s even got spare space for people on that plane.
He just needs to have permission to land the damn thing

www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2021-08-25/pen-farthing-given-go-ahead-to-leave-afghanistan-with-animals

He wasn't asking for space on a plane, he'd arranged that already.

He needed a slot and call sign for the privately chartered plane.

UN evidence is demonstrating that anyone who interacted with foreign troops and other personnel are fair game for Taliban reprisals.

Even former police officers turned TikTok comedians are being executed without trial.

www.businessinsider.com/watch-last-moments-tiktok-comedian-who-poked-fun-taliban-chiefs-2021-8?r=US&IR=T

Private funded flight, 100 spaces for afghans at the airport, loyal to his staff, wants to save his animals who would either be shot or starve to death.

Its not his fault the UK decided to abandon the Afghani's to their fate.

Good on him i say.

Course he is. And playing the "i'm ex military" for everything it's worth.

Sense of responsibility towards staff (or volunteers, that's unclear too) is understandable if they are at more risk of persecution than any other Afghani. But are they? And expecting the UK government (or anyone else to be fair) to be that fussed about a bunch of rescue/cats dogs when people are desperately trying to leave is just utterly selfish.

@EvilPea

He’s got a plane, he’s got the paperwork for the animals, he’s got jobs and visas for the staff He’s even got spare space for people on that plane. He just needs to have permission to land the damn thing

According to the government that's not true, I don't think. Air traffic isn't the issue. It's that getting into the airport is dependent on having the right paperwork for everyone, and I don't think his staff do.

And HOW has he managed, in a week, to arrange jobs for 60 odd asylum seekers with no right to work in the UK until their cases are decided?

I don't really believe a lot of what he's saying, to be honest.

But my understanding is that the animals go in the hold, so they're not taking spaces that could have gone to people. Naturally he wouldn't want to leave the staff he's worked with to an unknown fate so is trying to get them out too?

I think as an ex SAS officer he is disgusted by the way the military have been withdrawn and wants to make as much noise as possible about what is happening over there and the plight of those people and animals he knows and feels responsible for. By staying there and making a fuss rather than slinking away and leaving them to their fate he is doing the best he can for them. I'm sure there are a lot of people who would rather he shut up so that they can start turning a blind eye to what is going on.

@TheGenealogist

Course he is. And playing the "i'm ex military" for everything it's worth.

Sense of responsibility towards staff (or volunteers, that's unclear too) is understandable if they are at more risk of persecution than any other Afghani. But are they? And expecting the UK government (or anyone else to be fair) to be that fussed about a bunch of rescue/cats dogs when people are desperately trying to leave is just utterly selfish.

You are being naïve if you think the Taliban wouldn't kill his staff and the animals are going in the hold of a plane that otherwise wouldn't be there if he hadn't arranged one.

So an extra 100 seats for afghans who would be forced to stay in Kabul were it not for his efforts.

win win!

I’ve also been wondering about this. I don’t think the government was saying you can’t take the animals in the hold (I understand Defra had already given assistance hence the animals are coming here not Norway where his wife went home to last week)
Just that we can’t have a commercial air craft which can potentially take 300 odd people sit on the tarmac whilst you get to the airport with your people and animals when RAF planes with 600 capacity are taking people out. And then what happens when they get to the airport are they expecting to queue jump.
Although I was already wondering about this after first the empty looking plane which he shared last week as a shock photo was a Norwegian plane so misleading at best. Also a few days ago his wife made comments about chaos to the airport and our governments should sit down with the Taliban and ask them to keep Afghans from going to the airport.

It's a privately funded plane.

The animals are in the hold.

I don't think it matters what anyone says, you won't change your mind on this. I'm not sure why you posted in aibu.

He's done all the organising. He's paid for the flight. He clearly cares about the animals otherwise he wouldn't have an animal shelter in the first place.

He doesn't need the UK government to care about the animals. Let's face it, we all know that don't care much for most people. Look at the way they treated the Windrush Generation. He just needs permission for the flight and occupants to get here. It's not a lot to ask in the circumstances.

I think as an ex SAS officer he is disgusted by the way the military have been withdrawn and wants to make as much noise as possible about what is happening over there and the plight of those people and animals he knows and feels responsible for. By staying there and making a fuss rather than slinking away and leaving them to their fate he is doing the best he can for them. I'm sure there are a lot of people who would rather he shut up so that they can start turning a blind eye to what is going on

I think this is spot on.

I understand that it's a private plane etc but who is processing his staff, the animals, moving them through the queue, organising them airside, checking documents, certificates etc? Which men, women and children in the queue at the airport are being bumped in order to free up people to do this.

Even if the plane is paid for, to accommodate it requires air traffic schedule and work by UK and American security staff to get him into the airport. All to the potential detriment of others. I will get flamed for this, but animals are not a priority, people are and working in an animal sanctuary should not give you a ticket out of Kabul ahead of staff who have worked with the British army and who will now be in imminent danger of torture and death.

Your hugely under estimating the power of the vet and animal community to pull together to find places and jobs for those staff.

I donated towards the effort, the government did initially offer to help but then changed their mind. Hence the celeb support and subsequent media interest.

Have you read the stories on the animals? It’s heartbreaking. A lot of that is our doing for having this war in the first place. Completely innocent animals maimed as a result of us.

We are arseholes

I do disagree with you here, he has funded the plane privately and animals being held in the hold will not impact the number of human beings he can take with him. He’s stuck his neck out for others and included living creatures in his efforts to be saved. I can only see this as a good thing?

@TheGenealogist

Course he is. And playing the "i'm ex military" for everything it's worth.

Sense of responsibility towards staff (or volunteers, that's unclear too) is understandable if they are at more risk of persecution than any other Afghani. But are they? And expecting the UK government (or anyone else to be fair) to be that fussed about a bunch of rescue/cats dogs when people are desperately trying to leave is just utterly selfish.

It’s not either or. He’s not throwing people off planes to make room for dogs. He has arranged everything and just needs The UK govt to not obstruct him

I believe some of his staff are women, so especially they must be at risk if they stay. Though I think anyone who worked for any western employer is likely to be a target for "punishment". I also read that there are already people in uk committed to taking the dogs and possibly cats. As others have said, no cost to uk, animals not occupying any space that could be used for humans and he is offering a lot of spare seats to other refugees, so I don't think he is in any way unreasonable.

I'm not arguing that the people shouldn't be helped to leave. But he IS expecting to queue jump, get special treatment for him and his staff and his animals, even if they are to be loaded into the hold that's going to take time and getting 200 animals through the crowds and into the airport and onto planes will take ages - time which could be used to process more people in the queues.

He's basically saying "my animals are more important than some of the people in this queue" and that's fundamentally wrong.

What is this guy playing at?

Hes trying to save as many lives as he can, however he can @TheGenealogist.

It isn’t ahead of other people, it’s an extra plane, it’s created extra places