Gatwick Drone

[brexitsmexit]

So is anyone else watching the chaos from this drone & the airport being closed unfold wondering how the fuck we are going to deal with a ' No deal' Brexit?

@billysboy

Its not just about a holiday to Lapland though is it? its our international standing in the world and ability to deal with the unexpected

FFS we couldn't even introduce a train time table without a collapse in the network.

Drones were identified as a threat to UK air space years ago and we did nothing, other countries did and have counter measures in place, so the UK becomes a soft target.

It took over 24 hours to call in the Military, that's just incompetence.

I hope this horrible stuff in Gatwick shows people how vulnerable we are and there is only so much planning you can do for a self inflicted shitstorm that No Deal would be.

its our international standing in the world

I seriously don't think anyone not directly affected gives a toss. If there were a meltdown at eg Frankfurt airport and I wasn't there, I'd think"that sounds rubbish for the people involved esp just before Christmas", shrug my shoulders and forget about it.

Foreigners don't spend all or even a tiny but of their time thinking about British people and affairs! Most don't give a toss about Brexit, either, unless it affects them eg they live here, have British friends/family or trade with British consumers/companies.

The Uk isn't the centre of the universe. If we got away from that idea maybe the whole Brexit thing wouldn't have happened.

The rail companies are incompetent though.

I landed at Gatwick a couple of hours before this all kicked off.
If they do it again in March, tens of thousands of people might end up on the wrong side of international borders.
THat would get messy.

Satsuma, that is a good point about other countries not being as interested in us as we think they are. I often check the online newspapers of the countries whose languages I can speak/read (no point checking the English sites they put out as the content is directed at Brits).

It's very often a struggle to find info about Brexit or Britain on their front pages, and quite often it's buried in the 'foreign politics' or 'foreign finance' sections. We have this idea that the whole citizenship of the EU is discussing Brexit as much as we are, either in a good or bad light. But they really aren't. They are just as narcissistic as we are, and most content is about internal politics or Trump.

Government stunt perhaps? I still think TM is hoping for a new referendum despite her protestations to the contrary. Definitely making people in Britain think about the what ifs of Brexit. And sorry but yes the rest of the world is laughing at you.

I'm old. I'm well travelled. The internal politics of other countries are really boring to anyone who doesn't live there. I know plenty of politics nerds around the world (am related to some of them). Even they are bored with us. They have their own stuff.
We are the occasional snippet on news programmes and comedy shows.
It's like having a drunk depressed relative that you feel a bit obliged to help but there is only so much you can do, you have your own life and they have plenty of options that they are ignoring.

Satsumaeater

Its not about the general population, its what business leaders, politicians, scientists, engineers etc think.

The general prep being made for brexit : troops, freezers, plane and ship hire, M ways turned into lorry parks, returning eu migrants..... tell the worlds leaders that the UK is a bit of a basket case at the moment.
Does their opinions matter? who knows! but long gone are the days when the UK was thought of as pragmatic and level headed.

They have arrested two people in connection with the drones. Lisbon airport in Portugal had problems because of drones flying in their air space last summer so it's not just the UK.