Please excuse a Pom intruding here, but I'm slightly confused as to why some flight crew seem to think that the ability to clear someone for a visual approach from 100 miles away, or clear someone to land from 30 miles away, makes them 'good' ATC.
Reddo, unfortunately the SIDS (and yes, all of us in ATC know they could be far more efficient too) aren't going to change, as they're all following minimum noise routes. Also, the STARS aren't going to move either, unless the whole of the London TMA route structure is changed, as is rumoured to happen when we get a third runway. So until then, we're forced to turn you left and right and left again to fit you in the airspace.
