Over the last few years the word drone has become more acceptable and not just what we used to associate with the military.

The infamous military drone is a weapon used by the armed forces of many countries for taking out the enemy at long distance and in fact, from what I understand, they can be controlled from thousands of miles away.

Only last week it was announced by a Dutch company how a drone can clear land mines 20 times quicker than traditional methods.

The drone is able to detect the mine and then destroy it without endangering human life. With more than 100 million mines still out there this new edition will save many lives I’m sure.

How time moves on and the once feared term has become more acceptable with thousands being sold around the world every week.

With the domestic drone becoming more affordable I think we’ll see them being flown up and down the country. The risk has already been apparent with reported near misses at a number of airports including Heathrow. Last week saw a drone in a near miss with a passenger plane at Newquay.

When Helen and I were away at our friend’s wedding in Norway, we watched in awe as a couple of young men flew their drone up and down the fjord.

One minute it was flying high, the next it was skimming over the surface of the water and obviously controllable from a small remote device.

Certainly not one of the cheaper models available. Only this week another friend put some video coverage of his drone flying over one of Scotland’s favourite lochs on to Facebook. The picture quality was very good and the ability to hover to get those great shots truly remarkable. So needless to say Helen is now well aware of what I want for Christmas.

Turkey and NATO in political games

Turkey is playing political games again with its foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu threatening the country could leave NATO and strengthen its ties with Russia.

The European Union is also accused of its lack of support for Turkey’s government following the recent coup, which many now feel was orchestrated by the government itself and was an ideal way of removing dissidents. Turkey obviously feels it can demand whatever it wants and get it, as it did with the refugee crisis.

The EU and NATO need to tread very carefully.

High fees hit airport’s reputation

Aberdeen International Airport is always looking for positive publicity, but sadly because of its high drop-off charges it’s getting a great deal of negative attention nationally.

A survey by the RAC has been generated much discussion on social media.

It would appear Aberdeen’s airport has been accused of being the fourth worst for ripping off the motorist with it’s £2 fee.

Despite attempts by politicians to convince airport management to revert to their previous charge of £1 the response was as negative as the publicity they’ve now received.