An Honest Irishman

It’s happening in another country, so our press hasn’t focused on it yet – despite the potential fallout – but on October 2nd, Ireland is re-running its referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Guarantees on contentious issues like Irish neutrality and abortion law have been given, and the Yes campaign is making a big push.

And in the vanguard of the Yes campaigners is one Michael O’Leary. Yes, that Michael O’Leary: the Ryanair CEO is backing his stance with half a million Euros and the power of Ryanair’s press and PR nous. So why would he do that?

The press release, placing O’Leary firmly in the Yes camp, tells of “low fares” throughout the EU, but then all Ryanair PR bangs on about that. It is, however, plainly honest about the most obvious reason for supporting Lisbon: the EU was at the heart of air travel deregulation all those years ago. Without it, we wouldn’t have the carriers that use the SouthWest Airlines’ business model: EasyJet, Jet2, BMIBaby, and most relevant to Ireland, Ryanair.

O’Leary is being honest: the EU made his company possible. He owes them.

That’ll Cost You, Sport – 6

The discussion and debate over Murdoch Junior’s Beeb bashing continues: former Guardian editor Peter Preston today plays devil’s advocate in suggesting that Junior was right, and that it’s hard to have an online presence when the BBC puts news out there for free (well, for no additional charge). However, Preston doesn’t tackle Junior’s demand for less regulation, and the associated spectre of Fox News Channel (fair and balanced my arse). Nor does he dwell on the thought that BSkyB, the UK broadcaster with the largest income, is effectively urging the hobbling of its most significant competitor.

Rather, the argument is being made that the BBC is somehow responsible for the running down and closure of local and regional newspapers, which does not stand serious analysis: this is happening across the USA, the land where the level of regulation is more to the Murdochs’ tastes – and the Beeb is nowhere in sight. This isn’t about encouraging plurality, bringing new market entrants and encouraging competition: Junior and Dad don’t give a stuff about them. It’s about News International getting more and more powerful.

Consider this: what forced BSB to cave in to Sky? It wasn’t the BBC. What finished Setanta? Nope, BBC not present there either. Who made a share grab for ITV to prevent competitors getting their hands on the broadcaster? In all of those cases, the cause was the Murdoch empire. This is the “chilling” prospect, the source of the “land grab” and the reality of the kind of “competition” favoured by Rupe and Junior. And the provision of news for free is not deterring new entrants to the market, as the Independent has noted today.

Yes, Microsoft has decided it wants to join the news provision party. After all, it already attracts a substantial audience to its MSN portal – more, apparently, than any of the newspaper sites – so a move into more serious news journalism seems logical. But what about the pay to view idea? Anyone trying to promote this as the way forward would do well to study this unequivocal line from the Indy piece:

“There is no likelihood that MSN will seek to charge users for its content”

which would seem to contradict Rupe and Junior. So that’ll be another source of news available without charge, and without the Murdochs.

Maybe the future won’t be so bad after all.

The First Chat Show

Who hosted the first programme on UK television in the genre that we now call the “chat show”? Way back, before Ross, before Wogan, before even Parky, we would watch in our millions – 18 million at its peak – as an announcer called out “It’s Siiimon Dee!”

Dee, whose death has been announced today, was one of those Swinging Sixties personalities that would have been difficult to picture in any other era (Liz Hurley has said he was the inspiration for Austin Powers). His career was short, partly because he got ahead of himself as to how much he was worth, and how good he was at it. But he left us with that template of what, in the late 60s, was thought cool and aspirational, especially at the end of each show when he was seen driving away in an E-type Jaguar.

The occasionally fickle nature of TV fame, though, intervened after Dee had fallen out with the Beeb and ITV. At the time, there wasn’t anywhere else to go: he found himself at one stage reduced to driving a bus to make ends meet. My own favourite memory of Simon Dee? A bit part in The Italian Job, as a mincing tailor’s assistant. Charlie Croker (Michael Caine) explains to Dee, who is looking down his nose at Croker’s collection of shirts, “When I went inside, they were all the rage”.

Dee pouts and replies “What did you do, life? I mean, you could take all of these, and put them ... in a museum”.

A small part of all our lives, perhaps, but a fun one.

That’ll Cost You, Sport – 5

No sooner had Murdoch Junior made his BBC-bashing speech on Friday evening, than he was at it again in a Q&A session yesterday. He once again questioned the Corporation’s acquisition of the Lonely Planet guides: this, he asserted, showed that the Beeb was not merely sticking to its core business, while not considering that something that makes money and is in the same kind of genre as the decades old Holiday programme might not be such a bad thing.

Also, Junior vigorously maintained that the Beeb was “state sponsored”, and it’s worth studying the form of words used. What do we otherwise associate with the phrase “state sponsored”? Broadcasting? Media? Television? Or, more often, words like “Terrorism”: this was a premeditated and nasty attempt to establish a thoroughly negative image. It demonstrates the urgency – or perhaps that should be desperation – of the Murdoch case. And it has generated less than total approval.

Also delivering a lecture in Edinburgh this weekend has been the much characterised but very knowledgeable BBC Business Editor Robert Peston. At the centre of his address was the argument that deregulation of the banking sector – both in the UK and the USA – had helped bring about the recent financial crisis, and the question asking if similar deregulation of the news media would be such a good thing.

Peston’s question comes back to the point I made yesterday: in the USA, with the level of media regulation favoured chez Murdoch, we get Fox News (fair and balanced my arse), with moderate and unbiased hosts like Ollie North, and allegedly impartial pundits such as “Wiggy” Bolton. In the UK, we get BBC News and the choice of more than credible alternatives from ITV, and of course Channel 4. We get hosts who give politicians of all stripes a serious examination: The Inquisition of Pax Jeremiah yields to no party diktat. Jon Snow likewise.

So, when Peston and Junior found themselves on the same table at dinner following the latter’s speech, it should come as no surprise to find that there was a full and frank exchange of views, with no meeting of minds. Peston, by all accounts, stood his ground in forthright style.

Bullies like the Murdochs won’t like that. Tough.

Parish (Council) Notice

The latest reorganisation of Local Government has left Crewe without a local council – the area is now part of Cheshire East, along with Macclesfield and Congleton. So there has been a move to establish a Town Council, not unlike that in neighbouring Nantwich. The petition in support of this move gained more than enough signatures for the issue to be put to a vote.

So everyone in the Crewe area should by now have received a “Voting Paper for Electors”, along with a reply paid envelope (alternatively, the envelope can be delivered direct to Municipal Buildings or Delamere House, if preferred). I’d advise anyone in possession of a Voting Paper to cast a vote, whatever their opinion or preference.

A positive vote for a single Town Council would, apparently, involve an X next to Question 1, choice 1 (I want a parish council for my area), and also an X next to Question 2, choice A (A single town council for the whole of the unparished area of Crewe).

But, ultimately, interpretation and choice are down to the individual voter. I do hope that as many as possible take part in the process.

That’ll Cost You, Sport – 4

Previously, I’d wondered whether Rupe’s decision to charge for online content was a bluff, or the first sign of desperation. The answer has not been long coming: last night’s MacTaggart Lecture at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, given by Rupe’s son and apparent heir James Murdoch twenty years after Dad gave it, was described as “hard hitting”, but in reality was mean spirited name calling, delivered in the name of “competition” and against “regulation”.

And the target of much of the name calling was, as ever, the BBC. Little Jimmy says that the Beeb is “state sponsored”, which is meant to infer that it is a Government mouthpiece, when, as Alastair Campbell will be all too ready to confirm, it is an independent corporation – that status having the force of law behind it. Young Murdoch is spouting pejorative drivel, and anyone doubting that need go no further than his assessment of the Beeb’s ambition: “chilling”.

Well, to entertain, educate and inform is certainly “chilling” to a major multinational media organisation used to inflicting screamingly reactionary tat such as Fox News (fair and balanced my arse) on its target audience. But otherwise, this is straightforward playground behaviour: take a term that accurately describes your own organisation and ambition, and attempt to dump it on an opponent: “No, that’s you”.

Little Jimmy is also peeved about the amount of regulation faced by Rupe’s empire in the UK. No doubt he’d like that scaled back, just as he wants to see the BBC treated, but even those prepared to either cheerlead for News International (or, equally bad, keep quiet) know that deregulation of the broadcast media will allow the Murdochs to inflict the values of Fox News – or the lack of them – on the UK public. After all, Rupe’s gone on record as saying that the Fox style of presentation would be much more commercially rewarding than that of Sky News.

And if that dumbs everything down into right-wing bigotry, misinformation and direct use of dishonesty, Rupe and Junior won’t be too fussed. They’ll have their money.

In the meantime, expect politicians and editors to think long and hard about whether they really want to go down the Murdoch road, or whether this reaction to the current financial climate might be misplaced.

The Mail and Mr Beck

The Daily Mail’s legendarily foul mouthed editor, Paul Dacre, has gone on record stating that his paper is not racist. He’s convinced himself of that, but others are not so easily taken in: this week, in a routine and well presented skewering, the Tabloid Watch blog has shown that on the Mail’s website, supposedly moderated comment on stories is all too often littered with race hate.

So Paul Dacre can maintain that his paper is not racist, while letting in a little hatred in a sort of non attributable way. Keeps the staff nice and clean. After all, we don’t do that sort of thing in the UK, do we? Additionally, the broadcast media isn’t even able to be partisan – by law.

But over in the USA, they play by different rules, and what the Daily Mail has to keep at arms’ length gets unconditionally embraced by broadcasters such as Rupe’s Fox News Channel (fair and balanced my arse), and especially by the less savoury of its commentators, like Glenn Beck.

As I observed a while ago, there was a case of “reverse accusation of racism” over the nomination of Susan Sotomayor for the Supreme Court: commentators like the deeply unpleasant Rush Limbaugh had used this smear against her. Now it’s becoming clear that this was not an isolated example, but a new tool in the right’s box of nastier tricks: Beck has now accused the Prez himself of being racist, and having “a deep seated hatred for white people”.

Let’s think that one through: Barack Obama, whose mother was white, hates white people? It’s an assertion that does not stand serious analysis. Beck can’t stand up his assertion – it’s just gratuitous abuse. And 33 advertisers who buy time on Fox News Channel have also found adversely upon Beck’s rant: they have directed that their ads not air on the Beck show.

But at least Young Dave and his chaps, although having a nominal relationship with the Republicans, can keep out of this one, can’t they? Ah well. When Dan, Dan the Oratory Man went on Fox News to unconditionally denounce the NHS, he favoured two of its “hosts” with his presence. One was Sean Hannity, and the other? Step forward Glenn Beck. Hannan, as ever, shoots his mouth off with some style, but displays routinely abysmal judgment.

A future Prime Minister Cameron wouldn’t want anything to get in the way of a cordial and productive relationship with the Prez. Would he?

A Look at the Mainland

Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning were both summery and mild in northern France: it was only after arriving back in Crewe that the weather turned routinely miserable. A trip over to mainland Europe can be instructive for other reasons.

France was an early adopter of the Euro: supermarket receipts still give the conversion into Francs – the rate is an awkward 6.55957 – but the new currency is still the norm, and the French have not lost their identity or become soulless Euro-citizens. Nor has the sky fallen in. The ECB is based in Frankfurt am Main, yet the French have not taken up German as their first language, and there is no visible sign of any campaign to repatriate power over monetary policy to Paris.

Yet this loss of identity, together with the spectre of being subsumed into an alleged superstate, with currency reserves ceded to the Germans, or to the much demonised “Brussels”, is much of what drives the anti-Euro tendency here. That, and the idea that the UK should have the European market available to it, while conveniently reserving the right to the odd competitive devaluation.

The latest Europe hate campaign is about our budget contribution: the rhetoric is as if the UK is the only EU member state making a contribution, with everyone else – all those dastardly foreigners – living the life of Riley at our expense. It’s drivel, as is the oft wheeled out nonsense about EU directives only being observed by the UK, with the rotten French pleasing themselves.

To have a debate about Europe would be a good thing. To have a properly informed one, free of misinformation and routine dishonesty, would be better.

The Last Kennedy

With the death of Senator Edward Kennedy earlier this week has gone the generation of his family that influenced postwar liberal politics in the USA. Ultimately he became an influential and widely admired senior member of the Senate, but his reputation was shredded in the late 60s when he drove his car off the road at Chappaquiddick Bridge and left his young woman passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, to her fate.

What was it with the Kennedys and women? Ah well. As with the drive to succeed, and the competitive nature, it came back to old Joe. Kennedy senior treated his wife dreadfully – his extra marital meanderings took in former silent screen legend Gloria Swanson – and his sons took their cue from that. JFK was known as “Jack the Zipper”, and on the night of his inauguration had sex with three women, none of whom was his wife. He and Robert both had affairs with Marilyn Monroe – as if the rendition of “Happy Birthday Mr President” left anything to chance.

Ted merely followed the established pattern: on one occasion in later life, he was observed boating with a younger, brunette woman, and having a maximum amount of fun doing it. A fellow member of Congress noted that the Senior Senator from Massachusetts had changed his position on offshore drilling.

A Quiet Period

Apart from the ritual mudslinging over the al-Megrahi release, and the post Ashes celebrations, things have gone a little quieter on the news front.

Also, I have another journey to make, with some seriously organised shopping at the other end. So Zelo Street will be a little quieter for a couple of days.

Back Wednesday afternoon. Perhaps ...

Is That The Ashes? Yes, England Have Won The Ashes!

So spoke Brian Johnston, in black and white, over half a century ago. And yes, England have won back the Ashes from Australia, by an ultimately convincing 197 run margin. Even though this Australian team didn’t have the greatness of the line up that included Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Brett Lee back in 2005, it still matters when we put one over on them. Because the Aussies compete.

When you play the Aussies at any sport, there are no easy wins, no gimmies. Games like cricket are played in a fair but fiercely competitive spirit: they want to win, and if you want to beat them, you not only have to be good enough, but tough enough to want it. Today, Andrew Strauss and his team really did want it.

I’m cooking a celebratory curry right now. As Mrs T once said, just rejoice at that news.

Chopper Cropper – 5

It’s always good to see Rupe’s troops keeping up with the news. Today’s Sunday Times has, apparently, got hold of Bernard Gray’s report into the MoD. Better late than never: the Beeb’s Laura Kuenssberg had the PowerPoint slides weeks ago, as I observed at the time.

Gray’s report is scathing on the inability of the MoD to procure weaponry, vehicles, aircraft and even ships within a credible timescale and within budget. He reckons that procurement has got itself over 35 billion over target and five years behind schedule. The Sunday Times, for whatever reason, says that “Labour is failing [our] troops”, while not acknowledging that the timescale under consideration is the past 20 years, which takes us back to the latter days of Margaret Thatcher (not connected to the Labour Party last time I looked).

And this is hugely important: the failings of the MoD are not a partisan thing. The procurement problems have occurred regardless of the stripe of those in power, and unless action is taken, will continue to occur thus. This is not the remit of the Murdoch press: it merely wants to shift copy. It is, however, incumbent on whoever prevails after the next General Election to act on Gray’s findings. I am sure that Young Dave would like to do something, but have little faith in Liam Fox to be the man to carry it through.

After all, not even the Tory cheerleading part of the blogosphere has much confidence in him.

Eye Told You So – 2

The fallout from the release of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi continues: the latest grenade cast into this particular room has come from FBI head Robert Mueller, who has sent a blunt and scathing letter of disapproval to Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill. However, the Mueller condemnation has not been echoed from within the Obama administration.

In the UK, accusations are being made that the Westminster Government was involved in the release, either directly or indirectly: the silence of Pa Broon is merely adding to the suggestion of prior involvement. Well, as I’ve already discussed, the scenario as enacted was predicted by Private Eye earlier this year: the Eye reminded its readers of this in its latest issue. What does that tell us?

The conclusion is all too straightforward: Libya is a country where the UK wants to do business, not least because of its oil reserves. Colonel Gaddafi wants his country to come into the mainstream. The USA is still a world power, but its influence over time over the UK is in decline: more and more of our trade, for instance, is with the rest of the EU, and with emerging economies such as China. Despite all the cabinet level denials, the release of al-Megrahi will lubricate the wheels of commerce: ultimately, this whole business is about, er, business.

Meanwhile, there is an internal Scottish dispute brewing on the sidelines: former First Minister Jack McConnell has roundly condemned the release, but then, he would, wouldn’t he? Labour have the small matter of an upcoming by-election, with former Speaker Martin’s seat up for grabs, and the SNP the main opposition.

Routine business, routine politics: nothing much changes.

Opening a Window on Diplomacy

The release of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, only man convicted for the Lockerbie bombing of December 1988, continues to generate column inches. Young Dave has been pressing Pa Broon on the latter’s silence, and the presence in the background of Baron Mandelson of Indeterminate Guacamole has generated the usual speculation around the potential of interference.

The latest bizarre happening is that Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi has now thanked Pa Broon for his assistance, despite the decision being made by the Justice Secretary of the Scottish Government – not the UK one. There have been routine rejections of any suggestion that the whole business is intended to further trade between the UK and Libya, and anyone uttering the word “oil” is being looked on with severe disapproval.

The Libyan regime, however, has at least taken on board the message from Brown, delivered earlier this week, advising against celebration, with the scenes witnessed following al-Megrahi’s arrival not being repeated. Gaddafi has, though, met the freed man, with the two shown at the top of this BBC report. The window in the background has been left open.

Any suggestion that this is connected to Gaddafi’s legendary flatulence will be shown the same short shrift as further utterance of the “O” word.

Music From The Big Man

The BBC will never be a thing of perfection, and will never satisfy all its critics all of the time, but it brings its viewers and listeners some truly great events. One of these, every Summer without fail, is the Proms. And yesterday evening was the turn of a quite miraculous orchestra, the West-Eastern Divan, the creation of Daniel Barenboim and the late Edward Said.

This orchestra brings together young musicians from across the Middle East: Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian, Lebanese, Jordanian, and, yes, Iranian. The players do not shy away from expressing their views: discussions are passionate, yet civilised. The whole idea of the project is to promote understanding. And along the way, there is some excellent music making: yesterday’s performance of Hector Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique was brilliantly executed and rapturously received.

Among the subjects that are often considered “difficult” in the Middle East – especially for followers of Judaism – is that of Richard Wagner, a hugely influential composer and noted Anti-Semite, loved by the Nazis. Wagner was effectively barred from Israel; attempts to introduce his music were routinely met with audiences walking out of auditoria. Barenboim has put Wagner firmly in the repertoire of the West-Eastern Divan: his music opened yesterday’s concert.

Tonight the orchestra are again on stage at the Royal Albert Hall: they are giving a performance of Beethoven’s only opera Fidelio. I’m not a great opera lover, but will be looking in, as will many others. This orchestra is something to be applauded and encouraged, and its continued presence and success is down to the one founder still standing: Daniel Barenboim, a great musician, a great conductor, and a great humanitarian.

A big man.

It’s Just Not Cricket, Sport

Who’d be a cricket pundit? England slated for “only” getting 332 all out, then Australia fold their tent for a lowly 160. Phil Tufnell, who knows a thing or two about turning sides over at The Oval, reckoned his Gran could get it to turn on that pitch. And the Aussies haven’t got a recognised spinner in their side.

Trouble is, most folks won’t be seeing the action, unless they’re at the match, or paying Rupe’s troops for the dubious privilege of letting Sky into their houses. Why so?

All too straightforward: Lord Tesco flogged the rights to the bidder with the most amply stuffed wallet, and that bidder was Rupe. So cricket is now on a sound financial footing, but few are watching. And the football season has already started, so youngsters have something else to distract them.

Not something to inspire a new generation of players, then.

Return of the Frost Report?

For many years, Walter Cronkite was the “most trusted newscaster” in the USA. Now, with the advent of less than totally impartial media outlets like Rupe’s Fox News Channel (fair and balanced my arse), can anyone even approach the goal of being the “most trusted”? Well, Time magazine has run a poll, and they say that the “most trusted newscaster” in the USA is Jon Stewart.

Er, hang on a minute. Would that be the same Jon Stewart who fronts Comedy Central’s Daily Show? Well, yes it would. And Rupe’s shock troops over at Fox News don’t like it at all: their man Bill O’Reilly has been laying in to Stewart with characteristic unpleasantness. Why? Stewart’s been making fun of Fox News, and why not? Hell, it’s a target so big and tempting, it’s hard to resist, and impossible to miss.

As Steve Young from the Philadelphia Enquirer has pointed out, Stewart is playing it for laughs, but is also a superb practitioner in the art of satire. And in this he is only doing in modern day USA what David Frost did in 1960s UK: programmes like TW3 and the Frost Report combined cutting edge humour with occasional deadly insight, typified by the exposure of crooked businessman Emil Savundra.

Frost went on to be trusted enough to gain access to the by then disgraced Richard Nixon, and became a more “serious” journalist. He is still at work, and still trusted and respected both by the political class and their constituents. Will this be the future for Jon Stewart? Who knows. Is he good enough?

I reckon he is.

That’ll Cost You, Sport – 3

News International has for a while now been competing in the London free sheet market: its product, The London Paper, has recently enjoyed a circulation of around half a million. But it’s also been recently enjoying a 12.9 million annual loss as well.

So Rupe and his troops are looking to ditch the title. Another sign of financially challenging times for the newspaper industry, and the Murdoch empire in particular: no wriggle room in this straitjacket, no chance of tiding the title over until things pick up.

Because they might not be picking up: this may be the first of many closures, as folks get their content online, and from sources that don’t cost them. Never mind that the free sheet also doesn’t cost you – it’s still an inconvenience to cart around.

And if Rupe really is going to charge for online content? Look briefly across to the USA: if his Fox News site starts charging, will more liberal leaning sites like the Huffington Post do likewise (doubtful)? Dare he do that, and lose power and influence, which Fox undoubtedly wields in its own crude way?

Will Sky News online charge and hand what little presence it has to the BBC? Will the Super Soaraway Currant Bun do likewise?

The more I look at Murdoch’s rationale, the less sense it makes. Closing The London Paper, which probably has little influence, is rational. At a time when more of us get our content online, charging for content and thereby handing the market to the quality providers who are doing it for free is irrational – if you want to keep your level of influence.

It could be a bluff, or first signs of desperation. I’ll keep monitoring ...

Eye Told You So

The latest issue of Private Eye (number 1243) leads its “In The Back” section (page 28) with an article titled “Libyan Takeaway”. It points out that the Eye predicted earlier this year that the only man convicted in connection with the bombing of PanAm flight 103 over Lockerbie in December 1988, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, would abandon his appeal and then be freed to return to Libya to die with his family.

Although the Scottish Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill, was not to make his decision on the al-Megrahi case until 1300 hours BST today, the Libyan Government appears to have endorsed the Eye’s prediction: they have reportedly sent an aircraft to Glasgow to enable their man to be flown back to Tripoli. They have good reason to hurry: al-Megrahi’s prostate cancer is now well advanced, and his family would like him to at least be there for the start of Ramadan, which this year starts tomorrow.

The decision to release al-Megrahi, against the wishes of the Obama administration, was confirmed only a few minutes ago. With the closing of this particular chapter, the whole business of whether the trial was fair, and the lingering thought that Libya was fingered for the bombing out of political expediency (the original suspect was Abu Jibril’s gang, an ultra radical Palestinian group) can be put to bed.

It’s all very convenient – perhaps a little too convenient.

How Tired is your Pilot? – 5

August 2009, and Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary is at Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA) to announce that the location will become the carrier’s 34th base in early 2010. Two aircraft will be based there, and many jobs will be created. The airport’s management might have been pleased, well, until the following week brought the sudden withdrawal of Ryanair from Manchester.

LBA, originally named Yeadon after the nearest town, was originally an RAF base, but they didn’t want to keep it, so it became a civil airport. The highest airport in England, it suffers with weather events, and its main runway cannot be extended any further, due to nearby hills. The prospect of linking to the motorway network is remote, and a rail link is out of the question. Punters who live south of a line drawn between the city centres of Leeds and Bradford are more conveniently served by Manchester Airport, which is linked to both motorway and rail networks.

LBA was relatively late getting its main runway lengthened sufficiently to accommodate most modern jet airliners, so much of the charter traffic went to Manchester. Scheduled services to London were hit badly by the coming of the 125 mph railway to Leeds and York. Other nearby airports, like Humberside, offer a regular KLM shuttle to Schiphol, which opens up a huge range of connections. And then the RAF pulled out of Finningley.

Finningley, situated to the east of Doncaster, has a long runway – so the largest and longest haul jets can come and go – and is close to the M18 motorway. A rail station could be reopened relatively inexpensively, and combined with a shuttle bus, would give the kind of service enjoyed by Luton Airport. Now renamed Robin Hood Airport, it is owned by Peel Holdings, who also own Liverpool Airport. Had this been an option in the early 60s, LBA would probably never have developed beyond an air taxi and flying club airfield.

So the bringing of Ryanair to LBA may not be a show of strength, but of weakness and even desperation. So much traffic – particularly charters – has gravitated to Manchester over the years, that any significant expansion at Finningley could draw LBA’s own charter flights away and leave very little residual activity. And when Ryanair come back later to ask for more – as they inevitably do – the management at LBA will have little choice. After all, having Ryanair expand at LBA will mean players like Jet2 getting squeezed and moving flights elsewhere.

It looks as if someone has bet the house – with potentially fatal results.