Diplomatic Immunity?

[wirral_cyclist]

I can't understand why they don't just close that wretched airbase. What purpose does it serve? Or at the very least, send all the guys from across the pond, back home across the pond?

It was a gal that did the killing.

[Bonefishblues]

I can't understand why they don't just close that wretched airbase. What purpose does it serve? Or at the very least, send all the guys from across the pond, back home across the pond?

That's not going to happen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Croughton

[mercalia]

I can't understand why they don't just close that wretched airbase. What purpose does it serve? Or at the very least, send all the guys from across the pond, back home across the pond?

That's not going to happen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Croughton

well look like a great deal of leverage? give us the woman or else

[Bonefishblues]

I can't understand why they don't just close that wretched airbase. What purpose does it serve? Or at the very least, send all the guys from across the pond, back home across the pond?

That's not going to happen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Croughton

well look like a great deal of leverage? give us the woman or else

Meanwhile, in the real world...

[661-Pete]

I can't understand why they don't just close that wretched airbase. What purpose does it serve? Or at the very least, send all the guys from across the pond, back home across the pond?

It was a gal that did the killing.

Yes, but - in US-speak at any rate - the word "guys" (in the plural) is not gender-specific. One might readily say "hello guys" when greeting a group of people of both sexes. Better than to say "hello chaps"....

[661-Pete]

I can't understand why they don't just close that wretched airbase. What purpose does it serve? Or at the very least, send all the guys from across the pond, back home across the pond?

That's not going to happen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Croughton

All right then. Revoke all the International Driving Permits of all non-British personnel at that base. Let them engage chauffeurs (at their own expense) to do all the driving for them. Chauffeurs who must, of course, be holders of a full British Driving Licence...

Or alternatively - require all the personnel there to take the extended Driving Test (the one they make people convicted of Dangerous Driving, re-take).

[mercalia]

That's not going to happen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Croughton

well look like a great deal of leverage? give us the woman or else

Meanwhile, in the real world...

this stopped being the real world since Trump and Boris came to power

[Bonefishblues]

I can't understand why they don't just close that wretched airbase. What purpose does it serve? Or at the very least, send all the guys from across the pond, back home across the pond?

That's not going to happen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Croughton

All right then. Revoke all the International Driving Permits of all non-British personnel at that base. Let them engage chauffeurs (at their own expense) to do all the driving for them. Chauffeurs who must, of course, be holders of a full British Driving Licence...

Or alternatively - require all the personnel there to take the extended Driving Test (the one they make people convicted of Dangerous Driving, re-take).

In all seriousness, I don't think that would make any difference. Signage/flashers/lookouts etc at Base Exit - now that would.

[661-Pete]

In all seriousness, I don't think that would make any difference. Signage/flashers/lookouts etc at Base Exit - now that would.

Or there's that sort of barrier, consisting of a set of hinged metal spikes or plates mounted at an angle, which can only be driven over in one direction: if you go the wrong way it punctures your tyres. Sometimes found at the entrance to car parks, to stop drivers from leaving without paying. Is there a name for them? Anyway a series of such barriers could be laid at intervals in the roadway surrounding the airbase entrance.

Or would that pose a problem for emergency vehicles wanting to get past in a hurry?

This solution also springs to mind...

[Carlton green]

As I understand it the root of the problem is that driving within the base is done on the wrong side of the road and that driving outside of it is done with vehicles that have their steering wheel on the wrong side.

People make mistakes, sometimes very serious ones. The amongst best ways to avoid future mistakes is to learn from the past. Drive on the left in the base and drive with cars that have the steering wheel on the rhs,

[661-Pete]

As I understand it the root of the problem is that driving within the base is done on the wrong side of the road and that driving outside of it is done with vehicles that have their steering wheel on the wrong side.

I wasn't aware of that. Absolutely ridiculous situation! How on earth do even the americans get away with that? Is there anywhere else in the world (apart from Hong Kong - which has a long tradition as a British colony), an enclave with a different rule of the road than the surrounding country? Even Gibraltar - a British Overseas Territory - drives on the right, like its neighbour Spain.

People make mistakes, sometimes very serious ones.

True.

The amongst best ways to avoid future mistakes is to learn from the past. Drive on the left in the base and drive with cars that have the steering wheel on the rhs,

Indeed. Either confiscate every single one of their LHD cars now, or else confine them to barracks. One life lost is one too many - and there may be more...

[merseymouth]

Hi again, As I've previously posted in a number of European countries the Posties drive RHD vehicles on the wrong side of the road. So I wonder if off duty they continue to drive wrong side, or maybe they just concentrate better?
As for the bases here? "The Carrier across the Atlantic" is how they view such bases, so useful for carrying out rendition!
So much for the "Special Relationship"! Bit like storing stolen goods in a friends house without telling them. Rathr bad form. MM

[RickH]

well look like a great deal of leverage? give us the woman or else

Meanwhile, in the real world...

this stopped being the real world since Trump and Boris came to power

There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.

There is another theory which states that this has already happened.

Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #2)

[thirdcrank]

Harry Dunn's parents lose High Court immunity review

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-n ... e-55057671

I'm no expert on diplomatic immunity and the case reported seems to centre on the activities of the Foreign Office but AIUI, diplomatic immunity isn't only about leaving the country; on the contrary, once diplomatic immunity is established it's a complete bar to prosecution. Also AIUI, it's normal for most countries to waive diplomatic immunity for alleged serious offences not connected with their diplomatic status.

I'm going from memory but IIRC the US govt has taken the line that the the careless driving was totally unintentional and its consequences were aggravating this out of proportion.

Perhaps a different US administration will take a different line, but that seems unlikely.

[Jdsk]

The judgment:
https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/R-Dunn-v-SOS-for-Foreign-and-Commonwealth-Affairs.pdf

Jonathan