she screams at leaves..............who in the name of god screams at leaves??!!

Mad deluded people do! My fave kind of reality show contestant.

I guess it gets covered by the press in their own countries. I'd love to know who paid the ransom though.

Surely not! She never does that eva!!!!

You can't trust leaves - especially in the autumn when they hurl themselves off trees

kamikaze leaves............

soopes...........

I agree Supes but surely we can question it?  We can sympathise with the outcome without agreeing with the original decision.

well i'm off to beddy byes.leaving those who want to debate about the chandlers to debate about the chandlers...............and those who want to debate about suicidal terrifying leaves to do just that...........nighty nights xxx..........

To set your minds and rest PP and Videostar. No ransom money was paid by our government. I thought you would have known that, but anyway. 1/3 (approx) was given by the Chandler`s family and friends. 2/3 (approx) was a combination of the Somali community in Britain and the Somali government.
No expense to our country. Sleep easy now. The Chandler`s haven`t for a long time.

Absolutely Cags...  and we all make errors of judgement....sometimes we're lucky to get away with it and sometimes we seriously suffer the consequences....I think it's called being human

On the whole sympathy topic. One of my tutees (13 years old) turned up for registration this morning having walked to school in temperatures no higher than 4 degrees in a short sleeved shirt because his blazer was covered in paint after his brother pushed him against a freshly painted wall on the weekend. His mum has many kids by many different dads and not much of a grip on looking after any of them.

He arrived late literally blue with cold and tears streaming down his face. Now some could argue that it's his mum's fault for having so many kids she can't look after in the first place, some could argue that it's his own fault, at 13 he should be able to look after his clothes.

Me, I just wanted to give him a hug. Sympathy I guess is about ignoring the whys and wherefores and just feeling what it's like to be that other person, regardless of how they got there in the first place.

P.S. Don't worry Sponge it ended well before you threaten to drive up here and adopt him! We found a jumper in lost property for him to wear and I've spent half the night rubbing turps on his blazer. I've just got it out of the washing machine and not a paint drop left so all sorted.

Not what some in the Somalian diplomatic service are saying tbf.

Night mate. xxxx I'm off too, was just waiting on the washing machine.

Still giving hugs out to all and sundry as I go.

God - poor little soul and thank god for people like you.,.

  

What are some saying?

While many will say the pirates/kidnappers should not have been paid I doubt there would be anyone on here who would refuse to pay/raise cash to release a relative of theirs.

In part I agree Skive but another part of me despairs of people who don't think of the consequences. I know the situation you had with the kid was serious but in some cases it can be life threatening and yet they carry on regardless.

That a wedge of our aid budget was diverted to go towards the ransom.

There are rumours that suggest otherwise.


But it doesn't change the fact that they were a pair of idiots to go out there in the first place.

LOL, yes and my planned holiday to Iraq was ruined back in 2003 by the war over there kicking off.

  This is the kind of personal testimony and tragedy that is missing from so many 'official' accounts of that wretched war.  Terrible stuff. 

All I can say is read my post on the matter of British Governemnt paying any money towards the ransom.

Yes we do take risks every single day of our lives however we take calculated risks.  For example when crossing the rod you look and check there is nothing coming and then you cross - you wouldn't wait till a vehicle comes and then run out.  The risk the Chandlers took was very high and yes they have paid a terrible price for that however IMO they were wrong to take that risk - they rather stupidly put themself in a ridiculously risky situation and for that reason I am unable to be sympathetic towards them.

I just read back..my apologies PP.

Did you read my post to you saying that they were 700 miles away from Somali waters?

I don't think we can really compare the two situations though - this was a child and yes I would have sympathy for him - he hasn't done anything wrong his mother has a responsibility to clothe him etc and she has failed in that duty but that isn't the childs fault.

I did and tbf in nautical terms that isn't a massive distance - it was well documented about the equipment and capabilities these pirates had and their ability to cover huge areas.

You never replied but anyway...700 miles in nautical miles is 608.238 miles. ( google is my friend)
A huge area and a two country difference from Somalia. The Chandlers are intelligent seafaring people. They had invesigated before they set off...never knowing that the pirates would travel so far from the areas they`d pirated before. They were in the Seychelles..a safe area. Yes, the pirates have an ability to cover huge areas but they went much further than they had before. How were the Chandlers supposed to know they would do that? They wouldn`t endanger their lives on purpose for the sake of a jolly jaunt. They are the victims here. The victims of thugs.Thugs who kept an elderly couple in horrendous conditions for money. That money was paid to free them and I don`t give a damn where it came from! They`re free.

Welcome home Chandlers. Merry Xmas x

For that I apologise though easy to miss the odd post when most people in a thread are having a go.

You say the Chandlers are "intelligent" people - I'm sorry but I would have to question this - for me if they were that intelligent they would never have ventured out there and would have realised that yes they may be some distance from the last priate attack however their proximity was still incredibly close when you conside the capabilities these groups possessed. 

Yes they are victims however they still put themselves in danger and for that they have to take some responsibility.  That money could have been used for far more useful things rather than for lining the pockets of criminals - due to their wreckless behaviour it was imo wasted.

All those people, getting on the tube every day.


Bloody risk takers!

I drove to work in the fog this morning...

God I am bad

 Shocking!!!

Tell me, what would be good punishment for them in your opinion?
Would you like them to go on to TV and publicly apologise for being so reckless? Would you perhaps like Jeremy Kyle or some other "voice of the people" to publicly castigate them?
Would that help? Would you like them to admit full responsibility for their actions in front of the world's press?

Do you not think that perhaps a year in captivity may have channelled their thoughts into the "what if's?" Do you not think that there was not a single day when they did not berate themselves? Do you not think they have a lifetime of regret because his elderly father died and he did not have the chance to say goodbye?

Are you really so unaware that you cannot see that once the euphoria of being out has passed, they will  probably be full of regret for worrying their families?

I would like you to tell me what you think would be a good result here and what would make YOU think they had been suitably punished.

PP I could debate this with you until the cows come home but it won`t make any difference. As we say in Scotland "chaps" Picture two thumbs up - as in - I give up, no point in continuing.

She is ignoring me

It'd be my own damn fault if I got blown up!

Guess that's where the difference lays here PP....others will feel sympathy despite the risk taken....the sympathy is not conditional

That's like saying a person (be it a child or adult)  took a risk crossing the road, and they got ran over, and we have no sympathy for them lying injured in hospital or in the morgue. No sympathy for them or their family.