Friday, February 20, 2009
Defending the freedom of flight
Human flight is one of the most beautiful ways we can defy the limits of nature. It’s also a mark of social progress, of course, but simply sticking two fingers up at gravity by harnessing the laws of physics and the benefits of the industrial revolution is a pure and lovely act of human defiance.
Which is why I was in Parliament Square on Thursday night as part of the Modern Movement’s demonstration in favour of expanding Heathrow Airport.
It’s great that millions are able to use affordable air travel to stretch their horizons around the whole world, instead of spending their lives within the circle they could reach on foot or horseback, like most of our forebears. Even my primary school teacher had never been farther than the nearest town when she joined the WRAF in World War 2 and was posted to India, an experience that still shone for her over 50 years later. But we have a long way to go before the citizens of India, Africa and South America can hop on a plane just as easily for a return visit, and that’s why the development of air travel is a cause worth defending.
Faster travel shrinks space and expands time. One hour on a plane from London to Edinburgh instead of five hours on a train means at least four hours extra to spend in the city itself. I have to go to Birmingham next week by train. It will take me as long as my fella’s flight to Oslo. Except that he’ll have to spend an hour or more clearing security checks and baggage handling at either end. So I’m glad to see the Modern Movement demanding better transport as well as faster and cheaper.
Freedom of movement is a political aim, but without planes, trains and automobiles it’s pretty abstract.
Which is why I was in Parliament Square on Thursday night as part of the Modern Movement’s demonstration in favour of expanding Heathrow Airport.
It’s great that millions are able to use affordable air travel to stretch their horizons around the whole world, instead of spending their lives within the circle they could reach on foot or horseback, like most of our forebears. Even my primary school teacher had never been farther than the nearest town when she joined the WRAF in World War 2 and was posted to India, an experience that still shone for her over 50 years later. But we have a long way to go before the citizens of India, Africa and South America can hop on a plane just as easily for a return visit, and that’s why the development of air travel is a cause worth defending.
Faster travel shrinks space and expands time. One hour on a plane from London to Edinburgh instead of five hours on a train means at least four hours extra to spend in the city itself. I have to go to Birmingham next week by train. It will take me as long as my fella’s flight to Oslo. Except that he’ll have to spend an hour or more clearing security checks and baggage handling at either end. So I’m glad to see the Modern Movement demanding better transport as well as faster and cheaper.
Freedom of movement is a political aim, but without planes, trains and automobiles it’s pretty abstract.
Labels: flight demonstration
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