Darmstadt, we have a problem...

For anyone who thought to themselves, "There's no way Atif could ever work in Mission Control - he's too stupid", turns out you were right.

I discovered that whilst I absolutely have the right skillset (a combination of IT & space engineering knowledge that is hard to come by) I would've been competing against not only other graduates from across the UK, but against the very best phD's and chartered engineers from across the whole of Europe. Not only that, but you are subjected to a very rigorous, challenging panel interview by ESOC staff that is designed to challenge and determine how you think under pressure. If at any point they don't think you'd be able to handle the job, they'll stop the interview right there and ask you to leave. According to my contact, it's "brutal". Quite clearly, I'm not superhuman enough to drop my current job offer and risk going through such a tough process. Ce la vie.

On another note, the government continues to flap about like a headless chicken over the fact that our country is facilitating US torture flights by allowing them to land and refuel at our airports. How can they expect us to believe that there's nothing going on when (a) There's overwhelming evidence to the contrary and (b) They have proven themselves to be a bunch of liars on several occasions.