That Was The Week That Was 18-22 October
Life imitating Comedy
The original (and the best) That Was The Week That Was, the forerunner of all other television satire programmes, once released an LP record – oh yes, a vinyl thing of beauty – which was my introduction to its humour, ensconced as I was in rural Australia at the time. One of the jokes I thought then to be very funny, and ironically one of the jokes that remains both funny and blood-curdling current was a news headline: ‘Someone broke into the Kremlin last night and stole next year’s election results.’
But now, in a form of life imitating comedy, consider this press release from the UNWTO. It is a joint release from the UNWTO but also the World Tourism Market – a commercial conference event – and the WTTC, an NGO. It tells us now what has happened in mid-November. The UNWTO, various tourism ministers and industry has committed (a sentence that only makes sense in the future past tense) to invest in tourism’s future.
As a general comment, it is a good rule of thumb that statements only make sense if the reverse of it also makes sense. The reverse of this sentence, that the entire tourism industry is not going to invest in tourism, is one such example. It would make no sense at all for that to be true. Or, if it was to be true (also, note here the use of the future past tense) it would be news. Otherwise, not so much…
This press release, on the other hand, from IATA is also comment-worthy, this time for what it did not say, but merely passive-aggressively implied. After a two week – two week! – virtual gab-fest, of no apparent value, the ICAO Council has finalised its recommendations for the recovery of aviation post pandemic. It is a 14 point plan. Is there a heart that does not beat quicker at the thought of a 14 point plan? IATA is making a very simple point: talk is cheap (although for anyone that had to suffer through nine days of this virtual conference it must have come at a high price); put up or shut up. Industry is watching. Fair play to IATA for saying that, even if all they did was imply it.