Following the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak - News and Discussion

PPUG · Post by **PPUG** » Fri Mar 27, 2020 10:49 am

Apologies if already posted, but this is an extraordinary story

UK did nothing for stranded tourists, so guy organises his own flight!

Private individual organises charter flight from Cambodia to get stranded UK tourists home

A UK citizen in Cambodia has intervened to organise a private charter flight to take 103 stranded UK tourists home, after claims that the UK Embassy and UK government “could not have done less to help”.

https://www.khmertimeskh.com/706336/pri ... sts-home/

Anchor Moy · Post by **Anchor Moy** » Fri Mar 27, 2020 11:13 am

^Ok, I guess it's connected to this post about two Brits stranded at PIA: general-chatter/german-tour-group-peopl ... ml#p408020

Wow, amazing initiative. And the UK Embassy sucks big time.

PPUG · Post by **PPUG** » Fri Mar 27, 2020 11:31 am

Yes, shocking behaviour by the British embassy

As one member of the group said “Some of us went to the UK Embassy today to see if we could get some help or advice. We were met by guards who refused to let us in, no one would come out to speak to us, we were given a piece of paper with details of flights to get home- most of which no longer exist or are available for thousands of pounds. We have organised our own charter flight back to the UK. Tina Redshaw Ambassador could not have done less to help us.”

Khmer_Risotto · Post by **Khmer_Risotto** » Fri Mar 27, 2020 12:21 pm

PPUG wrote: ↑Fri Mar 27, 2020 10:49 am Apologies if already posted, but this is an extraordinary story

UK did nothing for stranded tourists, so guy organises his own flight!

Private individual organises charter flight from Cambodia to get stranded UK tourists home

A UK citizen in Cambodia has intervened to organise a private charter flight to take 103 stranded UK tourists home, after claims that the UK Embassy and UK government “could not have done less to help”.

https://www.khmertimeskh.com/706336/pri ... sts-home/

Obviously a bit different circumstances, but this reminds me of how Richard Branson started Virgin Airlines.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/30/richard ... ights.html

Khmer_Risotto · Post by **Khmer_Risotto** » Fri Mar 27, 2020 12:24 pm

"Quarantine in the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital"

https://southeastasiaglobe.com/cambodia ... uarantine/

xandreu · Post by **xandreu** » Fri Mar 27, 2020 12:42 pm

Last night at 8pm, the entirety of the UK came out of their houses and stood on their doorsteps, balconies and in their gardens to give a round of applause to the people currently working in the NHS, the state-run, free health service which means virtually no-one in the UK has the need for private health care, and which is now the front line in the battle against the corona virus.

There are some amazing aspects of the UK, but there are also some incredibly shameful ones. What is the job of an embassy if not to help it's citizens in times of global crisis? Seriously. What function of an embassy can be more important than giving help and reassurance to it's citizens trapped in a country due to a global pandemic? What are these ambassadors being paid for exactly?

It is any governments first and top priority to keep its citizens safe. In a foreign country, the embassy assumes that role on behalf of the government.

To say that the British Embassy in Cambodia is an utter failure and not fit for purpose is putting it mildly. As I mentioned in another post a couple of days ago, wouldn't it not be a good idea for them to set up a voluntary online register of who's here along with contact details of those back home? Perhaps ask people on the register if they're here by consent or if they wish to return home should the opportunity arise?

Simple things like that which at least gives the impression that they give a damn go a long way in times like this.

Doc67 · Post by **Doc67** » Fri Mar 27, 2020 2:56 pm

Anchor Moy wrote: ↑Fri Mar 27, 2020 11:13 am ^Ok, I guess it's connected to this post about two Brits stranded at PIA: general-chatter/german-tour-group-peopl ... ml#p408020

Wow, amazing initiative. And the UK Embassy sucks big time.

To be fair to the UK Embassy, they have managed to maintain their reputation during these difficult times as being uniformly and consistently utterly fucking useless and unhelpful to the citizens to whom they are charged to assist.

The most useless UK Citizen in Cambodia

Tina Redshaw - UK Ambassador to Cambodia

Anchor Moy · Post by **Anchor Moy** » Fri Mar 27, 2020 3:14 pm

Doc67 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 27, 2020 2:56 pm
Anchor Moy wrote: ↑Fri Mar 27, 2020 11:13 am ^Ok, I guess it's connected to this post about two Brits stranded at PIA: general-chatter/german-tour-group-peopl ... ml#p408020

Wow, amazing initiative. And the UK Embassy sucks big time.
To be fair to the UK Embassy, they have managed to maintain their reputation during these difficult times as being uniformly and consistently utterly fucking useless and unhelpful to the citizens to whom they are charged to assist.

The most useless UK Citizen in Cambodia

Tina Redshaw - UK Ambassador to Cambodia

Yeah, this was announced 3 days ago: UK FCO Advise All UK Citizens Abroad to Return Home
newsworthy/fco-advise-all-citizens-abro ... 36953.html

Didn't they notice that airlines and airports are shutting down worldwide, and that many people will not be able to get back to the UK on commercial flights because most of them are cancelled ?
And a special shout out to the UK Ambassador in Phnom Penh who closed the gates of the UK Consul services on her compatriots asking for help. She really does deserve a special mention. ^ See above, lol.

Doc67 · Post by **Doc67** » Fri Mar 27, 2020 3:21 pm

xandreu wrote: ↑Fri Mar 27, 2020 12:42 pm Last night at 8pm, the entirety of the UK came out of their houses and stood on their doorsteps, balconies and in their gardens to give a round of applause to the people currently working in the NHS, the state-run, free health service which means virtually no-one in the UK has the need for private health care, and which is now the front line in the battle against the corona virus.

There are some amazing aspects of the UK, but there are also some incredibly shameful ones. What is the job of an embassy if not to help it's citizens in times of global crisis? Seriously. What function of an embassy can be more important than giving help and reassurance to it's citizens trapped in a country due to a global pandemic? What are these ambassadors being paid for exactly?

It is any governments first and top priority to keep its citizens safe. In a foreign country, the embassy assumes that role on behalf of the government.

To say that the British Embassy in Cambodia is an utter failure and not fit for purpose is putting it mildly. As I mentioned in another post a couple of days ago, wouldn't it not be a good idea for them to set up a voluntary online register of who's here along with contact details of those back home? Perhaps ask people on the register if they're here by consent or if they wish to return home should the opportunity arise?

Simple things like that which at least gives the impression that they give a damn go a long way in times like this.

"the NHS, the state-run, free health service"

It's not free. It costs £133 Billion per year (and rising) which is about 20% of ALL tax receipts annually. It will be a far higher % when the tax receipts collapse this year. It's about as far away from free as you can get. It is also suffering from 30-50% absenteeism at the moment which is very high, even for them, at their time of need.

The NHS has one of the highest sick rates on the country, at about 14 days per person per year. When was the last time anyone reading this routinely had 3 weeks off a year, every year, due to illness?

Politicians know it is a sacred cow of politics and everyone must be seen and heard to say effusive complimentary things about the NHS. I'm not. It's a grossly expensive and inefficient 3rd rate health system run by self serving bureaucrats, an awful lot of lazy journeymen hanging out for the pension and milked dry by PSI companies and other private service providers. All of which is overseen by spineless cowards promoted to Secretary of State for Health who's sole raison d'etre is to leave that department with their political reputation relatively undamaged.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/nhs- ... -c2b0m0vt3

Captain Bonez · Post by **Captain Bonez** » Fri Mar 27, 2020 3:39 pm

You're welcome

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