Plane Madness

‘THE mere mention of the European Court of Human Rights is enough to introduce a state of catatonia in most readers.

‘There’s Barnes below us now…’

Luckily, those reading the Guardian and who live near an airport are awakened from their slumber by the sound of 747s chopping up the air.

And the din of approaching aircraft is set to get worse, since the last word in European justice ruled yesterday that aircraft noise does not violate human rights.

If the aircraft are dropping bombs on your hamlet, the matter is somewhat altered, and this ruling is concerned mainly with commercial aircraft flying at night.

Passengers who search for cheap flights will be happy that night flights have been given the official go ahead; residents who live below the flightpath will be less so.

Take Katie Gent – as the Guardian does. She lives in Barnes, for ages one of the most boring places on God’s earth…but no longer.

‘It’s like Clapham Junction in the sky,’ says she of the overhead traffic, albeit without the mugging potential and the sudden stops in mid-journey.

Someone calling himself Raymond Hounslow from Hounslow says that he can’t sit in his garden when the planes are flying over.

‘I wouldn’t care to eat vegetables grown in my garden because of the aviation fuel,’ says he.

This throws up a few questions. Is it fair that residents are tortured by planes flying overhead? And if Mr Hounslow isn’t eating the vegetables grown in his garden, who is?

Answers on a blackened carrot to the usual address.

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Posted: 9th, July 2003 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink