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Drones piloted by climate-change activists target Heathrow

economist.com

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Re: Drones piloted by climate-change activists target Heathrow

#11

Post by farisjarrah »

perfunctory wrote: post #3

Off topic. I am getting a cognitive dissonance from the statements like "The airport is part of our national infrastructure...". Heathrow is owned by Heathrow Airport Holdings, private company.

You aren't wrong to be getting that cognitive dissonance. The more you think about it the worse it gets. The British Government spends loads of money on security and maintenance on the airport as well. If you talk about American Airports it gets even weirder. We have like private security companies that work with the TSA and Airports. So we have the public funding a private airport, which is a part of the national infrastructure, which hires private companies to run the things, which are defended and secured by public tax payer dollars.

Re: Drones piloted by climate-change activists target Heathrow

#12

Post by inflatableDodo »

>"Protesters plan a return to the airport—and there is very little the authorities can do"

This line is curious.

When was the first one? I mean there was the shenanigans where nobody was sure if there was even a drone, but there was in that case, as far as I am aware, no evidence for any activism beyond people saying that it might be activists.

I am dubious about this reporting. If someone can show me something from people representing the organisation, that is one thing, but so far I have seen this in the Evening Standard and The Economist, who are both quite capable of pushing a load of utter bullshit dressed up as news.

Re: Drones piloted by climate-change activists target Heathrow

#13

Post by roywiggins »

perfunctory wrote: post #3

Off topic. I am getting a cognitive dissonance from the statements like "The airport is part of our national infrastructure...". Heathrow is owned by Heathrow Airport Holdings, private company.

National infrastructure and nationalized infrastructure are not the same thing. Just because the airport was privatized in the 80s doesn't mean that it's not still part of the national infrastructure.

Re: Drones piloted by climate-change activists target Heathrow

#17

Post by roywiggins »

zmmmmm wrote: post #10
savant_penguin wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about risking bringing down a plane with 200+ people inside

It's hyperbole to suggest that risk exists when the protestors are telling everyone the exact date, time and location they will fly the drones. If the airport still chooses to fly airplanes during that time and people still choose to get on them, then I think you can't say the risk was introduced by the protestors. Which is not to say I agree or disagree with the protestors, but please don't dilute the meaning of ter…

The Provisional IRA did the same thing with bombings, and they were definitely terrorists.

Not that I think these people are terrorists, but "telling everyone ahead of time" isn't an inoculation.

Re: Drones piloted by climate-change activists target Heathrow

#18

Post by peteretep »

farisjarrah wrote: post #11
perfunctory wrote: post #3

Off topic. I am getting a cognitive dissonance from the statements like "The airport is part of our national infrastructure...". Heathrow is owned by Heathrow Airport Holdings, private company.

You aren't wrong to be getting that cognitive dissonance. The more you think about it the worse it gets. The British Government spends loads of money on security and maintenance on the airport as well. If you talk about American Airports it gets even weirder. We have like private security companies that work with the TSA and Airports. So we have the public funding a private airport, which is a part of the national in…

> So we have the public funding a private airport, which is a part of the national infrastructure, which hires private companies to run the things, which are defended and secured by public tax payer dollars.

In an ideal world, this is because the Government decided it would be cheaper to subsidise a private company doing it, rather than doing it itself. Whether or not this is true -- or indeed was entered into in good faith -- is a case-by-case sorta thing.

Re: Drones piloted by climate-change activists target Heathrow

#19

Post by gok »

perfunctory wrote: post #3

Off topic. I am getting a cognitive dissonance from the statements like "The airport is part of our national infrastructure...". Heathrow is owned by Heathrow Airport Holdings, private company.

So are power plants and water treatment plants. Would you not agree those are part of national infrastructure?

Re: Drones piloted by climate-change activists target Heathrow

#20

Post by frereubu »

gok wrote: post #15

If the goal is simply to disrupt air travel, why not just call in a bomb threat?

That would likely lead to a much more serious criminal charge because it's more closely related to terrorism. People who are arrested for making jokes about having a bomb in their suitcase when going through customs at an airport find out very quickly how seriously those kinds of things are taken, particularly in a country with a relatively recent history of terrorist bombings and a high state of alert for terrorist activity.
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