Search results

I agree, but the issue is that the Australian government is treating education as a cash cow right now that they're exploiting as much as they can. Specifically underfunding universities so that they have to rely on income from international students.

I understand, but I'm just simply saying that we should not let this sort of vile anger and vitriol override basic humanity. At the end of the day, you have someone who is sick, let's help him get better. Rather than seeing him as some sort of "walking virus", perhaps see him as a human who...

Suppose that tonight you get a runny nose but are otherwise feeling fine. You decide to go to work tomorrow morning with your runny nose as you have done many times in the past. You go home and you feel worse so you decide to get tested. Next minute, the minister is talking about how...

The health profession are not angry with the minister for saying the doctor should have stayed at home, but rather, for the very unprofessional (and potentially dangerous) way they have conducted themselves. They have basically identified the doctor and reported where his clinic is. If you've...

If you sound the alarm bells of an outbreak and an outbreak occurs, you'll be hailed a hero for predicting a catastrophe. If the outbreak doesn't occur, you'll be hailed a hero for preventing the outbreak. If you try to quell the public's fears and an outbreak occurs, you'll be criticised for...

It already has begun affecting many employees and businesses. I'm an academic at a major university and we're already starting to feel the effects of not having the cash flow in from Chinese students who are currently stuck overseas. Classes have been cut, employees asked to take leave...etc...

Ultimately, I think what's most worrying about this is simply the lack of honest reporting and the lack of common sense from everyone around us (though common sense seems increasingly less common). It might be worth just putting the risks in perspective first of all. Did you know that the flu...

People have short memories. These "flu-like" outbreaks are concerning of course, but not that uncommon. In mid-2009, we had the H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic which lasted for around a year, until mid-2010. The number of confirmed deaths was 18,500, but some estimated the number to be as high as...

When I say "well controlled", I don't mean it figuratively, I mean that the growth rate in active cases is less than exponential. So far, there are only five countries that have exhibited this exponential growth - that is China, Korea, Japan, Italy and Iran. The only other countries where it...

Iran is quite a special case. Without getting into the politics of Iran, they basically refused to shut down major religious sites where people are known to kiss religious monuments. This was reported as a major reason for the explosive outbreak in Iran. The good news to come out of today is...

This claim is a little dubious, though I can understand why it was made. There simply isn't enough data to be able to make any clear predictions right now. Something important to consider is that even today, well over 90% of all cases are from China. The only places to even have more than 100...

Do QF fly the A330 or B737 to DPS from SYD? I know that for the MEL-DPS route, they fly the B737, so J on JQ is actually better than J on QF (at least in my opinion). Might be controversial, but you just can't deny that the B787 is so much better than the B737 already, the seats are similar...

I'd say just book all three legs in J, unless there's no availability. I'm no longer much of a VA flyer, but I do recall that their awards system had a lot of peculiarities that seemed to not make sense.

In one part, yes, but this is what happens when you open something up to the masses, This seems to happen with any niche that gets "opened up". Driving used to be a much more pleasant experience before everyone and their dog had a car. Many sporting events used to be much more pleasant before...

To be completely fair, a lot of this is just fear mongering from the media. Also the incentives are such that you always want to predict doomsday scenarios. Think about it, if you predict a pandemic and one hits, you're a hero for predicting it. If one doesn't hit then "it doesn't hurt to be...

It never hurts to ask, but your chances are slim unless you're Emerald. From the airline's point of view, you're pretty much on the bottom of the list of people to upgrade. Doesn't make financial sense to upgrade you when they could upgrade someone else from Y to J and charge points.

777-300ER on Emirates is angled lie-flat. It's also a 2-3-2 configuration which I don't think is anywhere near as good as the staggered 1-2-1 configuration on the A380. That said, I still think it's a reasonably good seat overall. I've only flown J on the EK A380 though. Also plenty of...

I'd personally go with EK. I've never found any business award availability for Qatar, but EK is really good with availability. Qatar is also more expensive in points because they're not a preferred partner. Based on your route, and given limited points availability, I would go MEL-DXB in...

I'm not quite sure I agree with this. I've always found Qantas' hard products to be quite good. It's a bit unfair to compare an old Qantas B747 with planes from Asian/ME carriers that are literally less than a few years old. Australia is also not a centralised hub like Dubai/Singapore/HK, so...

Exactly the info I was looking for. Cheers! With Virgin, you have to pay, but the food you get is pretty decent. I used to always get the chicken and mayo sandwich which was pretty decent. I think it was $10 from memory (though work paid). Personally I prefer to have the option to at least have...