Everything SKO...

Goodbye France

A fantastic piece by the BBC's departing French correspondent Caroline Wyatt...

Russell Brand

As you might know, if you know me, or link to what I'm listening to, I like the stupid humour of Jonathan Ross. There's a link over on the right-hand side down the page a bit.

Russell Brand is also a funny bloke who makes me laugh. He recently started pod-casting his Saturday night radio shows. Try one out. You can get it here.

Detox time

It's January and it's detox time! It's bloody horrible. No wine just me whining. Every January I stop drinking for 28 days. It makes me feel better about the massive amounts of alcohol I drink the rest of the year ;-)

I highly recommend it but try not to be too religious about it or you'll never get started. I use these tablets but anything you find at your local over-priced health food store will do. Drink lots of water.

On the packet it says "Discontinue if adverse effects occur". You tell me if the whole experience isn't adverse!

Why would anyone actually fly Business Class?

It just shows the power of status-focused marketing. Now like anyone I like a bit of luxury but some things just don't make sense.

Let's take an example. Imagine a Business Class flight from Vancouver, Canada (where I live) to London at the end of March 2007. You have to go for a 5 day trip. Current prices posted on British Airways (www.ba.com) show that a flight in the luxurious cabin up front with the six foot flat bed, access to the happy lounge and decent food and grog will set you back CDN $4,925.78. British Airways is a great airline and this is a great product but however you look at it, that's a lot of money for a 20 hour experience (remember the return bit).

Now imagine this. You opt to sit down the back for the actual flight so you're going to opt out of the six foot flat bed, access to the happy lounge but you do get decent food (I always go for the asian vegetarian) and the wine isn't too bad. The cost: CDN $998.87.

The difference is CDN $3,926.91.

London is an expensive city but this difference gives you CDN $785.38 a day for your trip. For that you can book yourself into a great hotel (for example a lovely Queen room at the Waldorf Hilton for CDN $522 a night, they have 7 foot beds and no big fat guys snoring next to you and no turbulence!). Once you've paid for your hotel you've still got CDN $253 a day to have a great dinner and some really nice wine. Even in London you should be able to manage this.

So why do people do it? Why do companies do it?

The answer has to be the status thing. On the flight everyone sees you up there... you've made it. You've arrived! (in a literal sense too, you arrive a few minutes before everyone else).

Suffice it to say, I'm flying down the back. The only thing missing is the Waldorf and the slap up dinner for me but if you're thinking about flying Business Class and you're paying for it then... think about it!