Sharm el Sheikh

My daughter was a manager of a dive school there until two years ago when she decided to return to UK. She had many friends amongst the locals. We have had fantastic holidays in Sharm and the rest of Egypt in the past. It was a wonderful country, the people were kind and generous and safety was of paramount concern following the massacre at the Valley of the Kings years ago. However since the rise of the militants this is obviously inadequate now. It is depressing that the actions of the few can cause so much devastation to the many. I feel for the ordinary hard working Egyptians who will be the ones taking the brunt of the drop in tourism. Tourists can choose to go else where, they are left to cope.

Yes, but as tourists are the targets, they are the ones potentially in danger.

I think it's a ridiculous article by Katie Hopkins. There's hardly a place in the world that hasn't suffered some sort of terrorist attack or isn't dangerous in some other way. She says "the Foreign Office has been warning against anything but essential travel to the area" but that statement is misleading because further down the article she drops in "Admittedly the Foreign Office suggested the tourist areas inside the Sharm el-Sheikh boundary were [supposed to be] safe. No, they didn't say they were "supposed" to be safe; they said the were safe (though there are now suggestions that there had been some previous concern about possible lax airport security).

Were the British tourists in Tunisia or the people caught up in the Bali night club bombing being naïve and irresponsible for holidaying there? Given the massive bomb in Ankara (and in past years there have been bombings in Istanbul) is it stupid to go to Turkey? What about Thailand or Kenya - would you expect people to stop holidaying there?

Britain too has had its share of terrorist attacks and yet we urged people to keep visiting - saying "don't let the terrorists win".

Whilst I agree that stranded tourist have no right to take out their frustration local hotel staff and should have a little more appreciation of the fact that measures are being take to ensure their safety, I don't think there is any justification for referring to them en masse as "20,000 numpties".

Quite frankly these tourists should be extremely grateful that they have a government that actually cares enough to get them home in one piece. So they have to be without their luggage for a few days!!! Perhaps just a moment's thought about those Russian holidaymakers in particular that 10month old toddler, sucked out of that plane to her death might concentrate the mind. Selfish and thoughtless doesn't even begin to cover these moaning minnies.

Indeed- they can take anything 'precious' with them and who cares about t-shirts and shorts, and toiletries!!! grrrr.

Surely your life and those of your fellow travellers is the most important thing to bring home, who on earth cares about a few trinkets, if your luggage goes awol, insurance will cover it, so what's their problem? unbelievable really!!!

Eloethan you surely have to admit that that neck of the woods is more prone to terrorist activity than elsewhere? They were unbelievably silly going there, and taking their children.

Indeed, all that will be in their luggage is dirty t shirts and laundry surely which they certainly will not need here when they get back. Compared to the dead Russian tourists I think people are being tactless and thoughtless if they are complaining and boorish to the extreme if they take it out on the poor Egyptians who will now be without their major source of income. We had always intended to go to Egypt to Cairo, Valley of Kings etc., but that is now completely out of the question; I do understand that by doing so I am letting the terrorists win, (if that is what happened), but no week in the sun is worth losing one's life.

I guess the Russians have been targeted because of Putin rushing in to help Assad.

They are saying that if it is terrorists then it is the worse since 9/11

Why??

I just read that the UK government reckon a bomb was planted in the hold by a luggage handler. I entirely agree with the poster above who said the 20000 tourists stuck out there are extremely lucky that the UK government is trying to get them out. I've also just heard that the early Easyjet flights going from the UK to Sharm have been refused permission (by the Egyptian authorities) to land. It all seems to be blowing up (sorry) into a major row. Putin is berating Cameron for not sharing intelligence, which is a joke as when did Putin share intelligence?

Yes, as Eloethan says, another ridiculous article by Katie Hopkins. She just sets out to shock doesn't she, very unpleasant individual, whose article adds nothing of value to the debate about what's happening in Egypt.
I haven't seen the tv news but did hear the radio 4 coverage earlier this evening. I heard one aggressive woman shouting at the man from the British Embassy who'd gone to try and offer some support to British tourists.
It's the usual story isn't it, of a minority of people who expect their own individual needs to be met instantly and seem unable to see the wider picture. I agree, we're fortunate in having a government that cares and takes responsibility for us in circumstances like this.
I don't agree with Jingle that people who chose to take their children to Sharm for the half term break were 'unbelievably silly'. It has never been my choice of holiday but some people love it and have enjoyed holidays there for years. Sadly, I suspect Sharm/Egypt generally will go the way on Tunisia and have no tourist industry in a short time.

Oh, dear, things have just got worse. Russia has also cancelled all flights to and from Sharm, so now there are an extra 45000 tourists needing to be rescued.

' Putin is berating Cameron for not sharing intelligence'....we get the blame for everything ...

For the first time ever, I find myself agreeing in part with Katie Hopkins. Granted the moaning minnies are, I hope, in the minority, but I find it embarrassing to watch adults behaving like spoilt brats, shrieking and carping at people trying to help them and claiming that their lives have been devastated because their government is trying to ensure their safety. And the usual whine of nobody is telling them anything when they are a finger click away from all the information they could possibly need.

If Cameron knew, he should have shared the intelligence with Russia. After all, they are all supposed to be fighting Isis, aren't they?
What would Britain say if the reverse had happened?

I heard on the radio yesterday about a couple who had had their holiday to Sharm cancelled, so they went back home and rebooked to Turkey!
Turkey's safer than Egypt, isn't it?

Putin is berating Cameron for not sharing intelligence'....we get the blame for everything sad

And DJ never misses a chance to berate DC.
Twas ever thus

I know Alea, it does get ever so slightly tedious!! What I can't understand dj is why you have never stood for Parliament? as you seem better informed than all of us put together, it seems a great waste of talent.

I don't know what Putin is complaining about. Surely our security people had no information before the plane was bombed. And after it happened, well, it should have been obvious that the Russians should have stopped their flights.

For heavens sake, stop being so petty.

David Cameron is supposed to be our head of state. He is supposed to want us to fight in Syria along with the Russians.
Giving Putin the information would, in my opinion, have actually shown a bit of statesmanship. After all, the cold war is supposed to be over, isn't it?
Doubtless you will all disagree because it was me who thought of it.

Jingl, I think he's complaining about the fact that Uk intercepted messages from Isis collaborators in Sinai about the plane.
There are over 200,000 Russians holidaying in Egypt at the moment.

There's an article in today's Guardian to say that the UK and Us intelligence did not even share what they knew with the Egyptians. Egypt found out about it from the media. That can't be acceptable.

So, Alea and Niggly, what would you say if the reverse had happened?
If a British plane had been blown up by a bomb, and Putin knew about it but did not tell us?

As far as I am aware British intelligence did not know about the bomb before the event. They picked up "chatter" about it after which is when the government stopped all flights.

Yes, that's what I have read, sunseeker, but for Putin and whoever in Egypt to find out about it the same way we have is not very diplomatic.
Egypt is still not accepting it was a bomb, despite GCHQ's and the USA's intelligence, and probably because they still want loads of holiday makers.

Maybe the British government is hesitant about sharing intelligence, that wouldn't have prevented the bomb anyway, with a country that was responsible for the downing of a plane over Ukraine last year that had nine Britons on board.