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British Sky Tours |
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British Sky Tours |
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Click here for our one day Normandy D Day Tour
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WHAT OUR VISITORS SAY...
‘This was my third and most meaningful trip to Normandy. Seeing it by air really put things in perspective for me BEFORE THE GROUND TOUR. You are a great guide and delightful people to spend the day with.’ ...... Visitor from San Antonio, Texas.
NEW FOR NORTH AMERICANS
ANALYSIS OF BRITISH NEWS More...
NEW FOR OUR READERS
ANALYSIS WORLD NEWS More...
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*** WORLD NEWS ***
Pointe du Hoc, Omaha Beach and the Mulberry Harbour are only 2 hours from London with our Normandy D Day Air/Land Tour Photos above link to schedules and virtual D Day tour ***** ' READING THE NEWS '
' Events, dear boy, events.' Prime Minister Harold Macmillan when asked by a journalist to name the greatest obstacle in the path of statesmanship.
When Adrian Hill served as a diplomat one of his most rewarding jobs was Director of British Information Services across Canada. At one stage he gave Britain's messages across the United States as well. Apart from network and local television and radio broadcasts a key part of his job was to brief and often write editorials for the hundreds of newspapers across North America, concentrating on foreign news. Most newspapers in North America view the World from a continent which could get along comfortably without anyone else - and the US/Canadian border is a surprising obstacle. Henry Ginsberg of the New York Times once challenged Adrian to find any Canadian news in his own paper. At that time Henry was their correspondent in Ottawa - he returned to New York City as the Foreign Editor and for a while Canadian news prospered! Adrian's editorial contributions with a British slant proved highly popular right across North America so alongside these touring and history pages we opened a whole new section on the website for editorial pages. Here we try to bring some historical perspective to the latest political and military events around the World. Journalists never truly understand the news they report because they are forever running on the outside track - they have no experience of nor access to the burdens from responsibility and decisions, they are poor at lateral thinking otherwise they'd have a proper job. The recent avalanche via Wikileaks provides a text book lesson how journalists see no further than their own noses even when given the Department of State's secret telegrams with America's senior diplomats. The ideas expressed on these ' editorial ' pages are based on such experience and conversations with sailors, soldiers, airmen of all ranks including their most senior leaders, indeed many others with direct involvement and experience of today's trouble spots. Early years as a paratrooper still come in handy today. Adrian knows Afghanistan, Pakistan and India from his very first overseas posting as a young diplomat serving at the British Deputy High Commission in Lahore and subsequent return visits. His career took him to Cyprus and the Near East, Vietnam, Northern Ireland, Switzerland, Canada, South Korea and Jamaica and most places along the flight path. Apart from witnessing huge armoured and airmobile battles from the Near East to the Far East, Adrian studied campaigns and battlefields on four continents, has written three books and articles for the Royal United Services Institute Journal. Although this website is about our tours we also try to promote the heritage of the Atlantic Charter and the Special Relationship. The United Nations and NATO owe their existence to the Atlantic Charter, unique among treaties in that there were no signatures, just messages to their respective cabinets from Churchill and Roosevelt on board a battleship and a cruiser anchored off Newfoundland - above all mutual trust at a time of great danger for the democracies. *
While the President despairs - Why on my watch - there is good news for Americans.
READING BETWEEN THE WIKI LEAKS Turn back the clock several months. Diplomatic cables deluge from cyberspace. Red faces brighten the winter gloom at Foggy Bottom though nobody's speaking to the Pentagon. America's envoys dash around the World's capitals sweeping up broken china - apologies for that one - while once private, candid words splurge across the front pages of every major newspaper on the planet. Those newspapers licensed to leak - spot the simpler facts - clearly did not understand the material. And yet editors delivered grave sermons on everything from the Bank of England Governor's worries about Cameron and Osborne proving out of their depth over the economy - try foreign policy and defence, Mervyn - to the survival prospects of North Korea's crown prince. These leaked cables show the customary records taken during the vast number of diplomatic conversations every day. Some are classified as secret but most of the material would earn a grading of confidential, some even just restricted under the British system - unless it's changed since I hung up my pith helmet. The leaks caused pink cheeks but no lasting harm. Americans should thank the Lord their diplomats remain diligent, sane people who strive for sensible answers. You still have embassies with real political sections and a standard of reporting second-to-none. Mind you, oh Americans, you really should sack/shoot the spies'/diplomats' lawyers - I've never seen so much written down that better was whispered in a friendly ear. So far the only hole in the London Embassy's network prior to the British general election appears the lack of a mole in BBC Current Affairs. Had the Political Section recruited one - admittedly this would have cost a small fortune in food and wine over several months - they might have spotted the BBC campaign to promote the Liberal-Democrats through the first ever television debates by party leaders. Overnight Nick Clegg was given equal status despite leading a much smaller party. His ratings soared. Since the election real life has resumed and he's the most unpopular party leader. These leaks exposed the schoolboy bombast of the Conservatives as shadow ministers - promising whatever they thought the American headmaster wanted to hear. More troops for Afghanistan; bias towards American equipment, of course; strengthen the special relationship, absolutely, but please don't judge us by our deeds such as the shrinking defence budget. The reality is pull-out regardless by 2015, slashing the order for the JSF by two-thirds, before hurling themselves into bed with France. Thorough diplomats keep such records for ever just to remind their political leaders how much they should trust the word of any political ally. * As one expects - indeed hopes - the tone of American diplomacy is cautious and diligent, respectful of other's sovereignty. How on earth was such a ridiculous security lapse possible? The distribution list ran to three millions which seems absurd. Didn't anyone think of asking why three million people needed to read the State Department's cables? We also see American bureaucracy's tunnel vision at its brain-dead worst. The fundamentally harmless autistic hacker, Gary McKinnon, who passed no information to anyone, remains pursued by the Obama Administration. Had the Pentagon swallowed its pride eight years ago and offered Gary McKinnon a consultancy job, the President might not spend time reading diplomatic cables in the New York Times. As for Britain, what a pathetic nation we have become, sixty million people thrown to the global wolves by nauseating liberal appeasers who run everything from Ten Downing Street to the Foreign Office, the Treasury to the Ministry of Defence, the mass media to the class rooms. Everywhere you look, everything you touch, every festering lump you turn over, there they are - growing like mushrooms overnight. Since the coalition formed a government the list of strategic surrenders tells its own story. British voters no longer have a viable nuclear deterrent, nor any means to protect our global trade, our citizens overseas and our allies, nor any longer the power to lead other NATO members with more than words. We are junior partner to France - which only recently placed modest forces back under NATO command - with less diplomatic clout as a consequence. Politicians may fool themselves, voters face reality. Scuttling the Royal Navy by naive Dave Cameron - blathering nonsense about professional versus amateur decisions when the amateurs are himself and his Cabinet - marks the end of this phase of the long alliance with the United States. This is a dangerous time for the surviving democracies. Not least because of climate change. The special relationship works as a friendship between two nations capable of independent action - not as powerful as each other but none-the-less, when it comes to will power, equals. When the English-speaking democracies advance together, others rally to our side. Other than a few lonely voices the present membership of the House of Commons has not a clue about strategy. The government has produced a ' national security strategy ' which General Rupert Smith rightly dismissed as incoherent nonsense. None of the officials behind drafting the ' plan ' asked obvious, simple questions before setting pen to paper. What is Britain's ambition? What kind of a country are we now and what kind ought we to become? What do the voters want? Do they actually know the consequences of the options before this country. All options have a price. Decline may look cheap but ultimately is the most expensive option. Should Britain steadily decline further - the present default strategy - or should we reinvent ourselves as a great power, certainly the equal of Germany, possibly Japan? There are many options. Not one has been properly researched. Over the next months these questions will be raised on the pages of this website. When is somebody going to enter politics who wants our country respected as a leader and winner? ***
CLICK THE PHOTOS FOR WORLD NEWS PAGES
WORLD NEWS FRONT PAGE
INTELLIGENCE AND DIPLOMACY FUTURE STRATEGY?
NAVAL AIR POWER OCEAN GREYHOUNDS
REFORM OF THE BRITISH ARMY ROUND THE DIPLOMAT'S BAR
' Double the effort and square the error.' Sir Robert Thompson describing the worst form of strategy - debating with Adrian over a Chinese meal in wartime Saigon. *
Sheridan tank delivered by LAPES onto Sicily Drop Zone at Fort Bragg - photo Adrian Hill - with the C 130 already climbing away. AIRBORNE FORCES For some time we have felt the website lacked detail on two topics - airborne forces, and the role of the French Resistance during the Battle of Normandy including the politics among the main resistance groups. We're still working on the latter but hope our readers find three new pages with many photos give an introduction to the story of airborne forces. There is a vast amount of information on the Internet and several good sites are linked to this one. Many excellent books have been written about airborne forces, the best as ever by those who took part in airborne and airmobile combat. The material on our site provides detail on the early airborne operations which are less familiar to our regular readership before offering a few thoughts on future operations - perhaps of more than usual interest given the latest news. Readers will find that we have split this history into three pages with a slant towards current news on the third page. We've also tried to bring alive what it's like to take part in a mass parachute landing.
USS Winston Churchill making an emergency break away from the USS Harry S Truman. She is the only ship in the US Navy permanently assigned a Royal Navy officer - she flies the Stars and Stripes and the White Ensign. Astern of the carrier and her support ship is HMS Manchester. The Special Relationship - nowhere does this work closer than our two navies - save airborne forces! CLICK THE PHOTO FOR PRE-TAKE OFF BRIEFING ON D DAY NORMANDY LANDINGS Updates keep pace with the news.
***** RED CARPET TREATMENT FOR YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS While our air/land tours are not unique - we've seen such claims - we've been operating for ten years and like to think our team are second to none. Once you set foot on these islands, British Sky Tours take care of your family and friends with the same kind of comfort, safety and convenience that years ago everyone took for granted. Nowadays such pleasant touring is possible only through private travel. We specialise in private air travel and tours designed for families, friends, staff, clients and academic institutions. We show you those places off the usual tourist trails, places we know from living in the countries over many years. You can book our services as a part of your holiday or just for a short trip. We can fly you wherever you wish in Europe, meet you in Normandy or Switzerland, whatever suits your plans. The more our visitors know before a tour, the more they get out of the tour. Those taking a tour - and indeed students - will find a great deal of background about the planning and execution of D Day on several briefing pages. We regularly add material. You can find this briefing via our Home and Contact pages. **************
FINDING YOUR WAY AROUND OUR WEBSITE
TOURS, OVERNIGHTS, TOURING Just click the photos for links to pages
Safe Hands Bill Pritchard and Dave Frost are former British Airways jumbo jet training captains, both own pilot's log books showing five years in the sky at the controls of big airliners. You can make enquiries and book all our tours - air, Chunnel/ferry and road - through ourselves in Sedlescombe, East Sussex, UK and through our agent, Barry Hyatt CTC of Air & Marine Travel in Brewster, New York, USA. You are very welcome to email post@britishskytours.com or airmartrav@suscom.net for more information. *** Our USA agent is Barry Hyatt, whose company was established on Manhattan Island in 1932. Barry has many years experience in the travel business and we regard his representation of our tours as a great compliment. Why not treat your family, your colleagues, your clients, indeed yourself.
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FLY BESIDE THE SWISS ALPS ***
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