It’s easy (and I admit, totally appropriate) to lay much of the blame for this current sorry mess at the feet of the Fat Man, his silver-locked bumboy, (and let’s not forget the real spider at the centre of the web, the pseudo Yank, who’s still enjoying the millions he stripped from the once healthy AN carcass), as is the bumboy in his waterfront mansion.
But spare much of your opprobrium for the bit players – the upper level underlings, some, I understand, with a keen interest in football now and some still on the increasingly sloping and ever more slippery AN deck – who knew where the Fat Man’s policies were leading the company ten (and especially twelve) years ago, but played along with him for their own short term advancement.
There were those who spoke up – and I saw what happened to them. Their places were filled by yes men eager to tell the overweight king what nice clothes he was wearing. (Which is not a good analogy, because the fat ‘king’ knew exactly what he was doing.)
I have more than a little sympathy for many among the current AN staff and the hard times they have ahead of them. (Dare I say it - ‘Been there, done that, goy the T-shirt’.) However, I’d be a hypocrite to say the same about the many in AN (and not just pilots) who hopped on the gravy train and took the high wages the Fat Man offered for them to look the other way at what Blind Freddie could see he and his ‘Yank’ mate were doing to the assets of the company.