Iraq's symbolic return to the skies

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Ever since 2003, when Saddam Hussein's statue was smothered in an American flag, torn to the ground, and set upon by shoe-wielding Baghdadis, symbolism in Iraq has been dominated by strife and degradation.

The image of an Iraqi man, hooded, standing with arms outstretched as he awaits electrocution in Abu Ghraib. The mugshot of a dishevelled, heavily bearded former tyrant still adapting to sunlight after being rooted out of his bunker in Tikrit. The crumbled dome of Samarra's al-Askari mosque, one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam, smouldering from explosives laid by Sunni insurgents.

It is a testament to the power of symbolism that each of these events, imprinted in the minds of millions around the world, simultaneously caused no injuries and yet precipitated waves of bloodletting that killed hundreds.

But no less powerful is the symbolism of unity...

When it comes to the ash cloud and planes, trust the scientists

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There's a brilliant scene in the film Fight Club where Edward Norton's character is unnerving a woman on a plane. In this scene, Norton explains the process by which the company he works for, a carmaker, decides whether or not to issue recalls of faulty lines.

"Take the number of vehicles in the field, A. Multiply by the probable rate of failure, B. Multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C," Norton calmly explains. "A times B times C equals X.

"If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one."

It's macabre to the extreme, but there's an innate rationality to the logic of allowing bad things to happen. After all, car manufacturers, like airlines, are in the business of risk management. It's part and parcel of their existence that they take calculated risks, some of which will affect the sanctity of life for a few, very unlucky individuals...

BA will fly high with Iberia deal

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Just like the bookies, the City has a remarkable knack for getting to the nub of an issue. It seems whenever the serious matter of money is concerned, the invisible hand of the market has an almost transcendental capacity for clairvoyance – far more so than the meanderings of journalists or pundits.

So it was last month, when shares in BA spiked dramatically upon the (one would assume) worrying news that strike talks with Unite had collapsed. And so it will be again today, now that Britain's flag carrier has sealed a crucial merger deal with Spanish airline Iberia.

International Airlines Group, as the new company will be called, is unlikely to win any awards for its name. But the commercial reasoning behind this partnership could not be sturdier, and the synergies it looks set to bring about – estimated to raise a staggering £350m for the airlines every year – should be welcomed with open arms by shareholders, customers and employees. And yes, that includes cabin crew...

BA boss needs to wear a velvet glove

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"I do," came the response, followed by a long pause. The speaker was not a bride or groom giving a matrimonial pledge, but an experienced and affable cabin crew member with British Airways. The question: do you not feel your working conditions are actually, well, quite good?

She added: "But then we've fought for that. We've always tried to stick by that ... tried to keep the standard up."

True enough, and therein lies the inexorable dilemma facing British Airways, an airline that is floundering like no other as a result of the seismic changes that have hit aviation in recent years. Unfortunately for its customers, this internal struggle will now be played out at airports across the country, for cabin crews have voted, once again, to strike. Their grievances, as opposed to the grievances often erroneously attributed to them by union leaders at Unite, centre on reductions to staffing levels, compromises to quality of service, and that old favourite – intimidation by the management at head office...