A tough weekend

My youngest son decided that he'd have his "Stag" weekend in London and, as I'd been on my other two son's weekends, I had to join in.

What an industry its become. I guess at least 50% of marriages in the UK have "Stag" and "Hen" weekends, plus probably 80% have honeymoons. In the UK alone, I guess that there's about 200,000 marriages a year say 20 stags and hens per marriage (50%) - 1million reveller/travellers potential and 320,000 honeymooners. Big business. Its made some resorts - Prague, Vilnius, Talinn particularily.

I wonder about tourism to USA. 10 years ago, in the good old days, I used to sell weekends to New York - we took thousands of people a year and I loved it. Now you couldn't give them away. I know internet tourism is holding up but those American bureaucrats sure know how kick tourism in its mouth.

Foreign policy including Iraq. Anti terrorism including visas. Fights with the EU about the disclosure of airline passenger lists. And now the Nat West 3, who put up a fabulous PR campaign, got extradited to the USA under a one-sided bill which even the American government won't agree to for their own citizens, and next appeared chained up outside a USA penitentiary.

It can't do their tourism any good. Plus, when they're held to task they say "You don't need to come if you don't want to."

Here's a good idea. Go somewhere you ARE wanted and needed.

Personally, I don't understand it. The USA should be our home, I don't know of any two documents as powerful as the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. Or a piece of music as stirring as "Fanfare to the Common Man". I don't know of a people as generous, warm and brave. But our Earth is blown up by terrorists burnt down by global warming and desecrated by Aids and poverty while the Americans are taking a bull nosed approach to the first, a head in the sand attitude to the second and a prissy "Are they as democratic as us" attitude to the third.

Where are we if the Yanks aren't on our side?