Nosemonkey's EUtopia

Terrorism: It’s the sodding Welsh! That’s what I read into this at any rate – and it’s not as if the Welshers haven’t got a history of acts of terrorism: anyone else remember the Plaid Cymru attack on the Pen y Berth Bombing Range in 1936? No?

ID Cards – commencing propaganda phase two. “Hey, look guys – y’know, I understand entirely – you reckon these things are all about giving things to us! You don’t, like, see the benefits to you! Well, guys, here’s how it’ll b gr8!!! (And worth three hundred odd quid)”

Compassion and understanding. And more. And more. And more. And more. And more. And more.

I’ve never read this Steven Vincent guy. Know nothing about him. But it’s nice to see that if I get blown to fuck going to work tomorrow my parents can look forward to reading a bunch of rabid maniacs going “ha ha – served you right because you disagreed with me about terrorism”.

The internet is full of fuckwits.

In my considered legal opinion*, this silly bint should have had the book thrown at her.

* What? I was accepted for a law conversion course once. Just because I turned it down and have only the most basic of grasps of the legal system doesn’t make me any less qualified to express an opinion. Just look at Charles “studied economics and maths” Clarke, currently overruling centuries of tradition and the opinions of m’learned friends daily.

MPs to return from recess to discuss bombings. In five weeks.

Good on ’em, I say – leading from the front, not letting the terrorists alter their way of life and all that. The lazy fucks.

Yesterday I reported a minor scare on a bus near King’s Cross with the headline “Again?” – a tad premature as it turned out to be little more than a small fire (which happen all the time on London’s rather crappy busses), but I at least had the excuse that no news organisation had, at the time I put up the post, got any information about it. Within half an hour, the all clear had been given – as I reported – and everyone got back to going about their business as the two roads which had been closed as a precaution were re-opened.

So, how do we get from “Small fire on bus causes minor concern for half an hour” into The Mirror’s alarmist headline PASSENGERS FLEE IN TERROR FROM ‘BOMB BUS’? Or, indeed, the London Evening standard’s (print only) NEW TERROR ALERT SEALS OFF LONDON?

What’s wrong with, erm… you know – not spreading fear and panic further than necessary? Why not – perhaps – report what actually happened without exaggeration? Especially considering that you had plenty of time to find out what the real story was before going to press? Perhaps you’d like to take a leaf out of The LA Times’ book, with their infinitely more accurate headline London Blames Engine Fire for Smoke on Bus?

I’ll tell you why they don’t curb their alarmism – because fear sells. Terror sells.

My daily readership figures have doubled since I liveblogged the 7th and 21st July terror attacks. It’s likely that newspaper circulation has gone up significantly as well. Add to that the fact that parliament’s in recess, we’ve got tit all to write about other than terrorism.

And to continue to attract the readers, headlines need to lure them in. Had I titled this post “A thought about something that happened yesterday” it’s likely fewer people would be lured in than have been by the use of the wonderful word “knobfloggers” (I’m rather proud of that one – came up with it before any coffee or alcohol as well…). Likewise, the press need to shock, scare, and intrigue to con us into forking out fifty pence for their poorly-produced rags. (At least you can read my turgid shite for free…)

The impact of all this? Terror lingers. Fear is revived. We continue to worry about more attacks (helped by the constant demands that we shit ourselves daily coming from the head of the Metropolitan Police). We fail to get back to our normal lives. And the terrorists have achieved another small victory.

We’ve already had this debate, but I fear that in the wake of London’s latest scrape with homicidal idiots it’s going to run and run. (Personally I’m more scared of being stabbed by some idiot while out with the missus than I am of terrorists, but maybe that’s just me and the readers of the Daily Mail…)

A Times opinion piece more suited to a particularly idiotic blog is taken apart by a not particularly idiotic blog (which is in turn then attacked by one of the most idiotic blogs going* – and you’ll probably have to refresh that link as they don’t like people linking direct to posts…)

I, meanwhile, will merely point out that the Times piece, by Anthony Browne, was already worthy of contempt merely for breaking Godwin’s Law by the first sentence of the second paragraph. Note to idiots: Nazism was an ideology based on hatred, and the majority of true Nazis were nutters; Islam is an ideology based on religious devotion, and the majority of true Muslims are no more nutty than anyone else who believes in an all-powerful, omnipotent, omnipresent deity. Direct comparisons are doomed to make you look even more foolish than usual.

Oh, and a rather nice fisking by Talk Politics on this as well.

* I should probably point out that the response itself gives a good impression of being sane, and that David T is usually one of the less barking posters there, even if the response would tend to suggest that the blog on which it appears has a rather bad case of double-standards when it comes to people it disagrees with versus people it adores…

Hearing reports of “smoke pouring out of a bus on the Gray’s Inn Road” – which runs up to King’s Cross, for those who don’t know. Also helicopters over Camden to the north.

Will try and find out more, as per.

15:25 – BBC tickertape reports police investigating an “incident” and that the roads have been closed. No confirmation for about 15 minutes though, and the usually sensationalist Sky have nothing, and nor do ITV News, despite having offices on that street. Could merely be a knackered engine. Dunno…

15:32 – Sky page with a traffic camera picture which shows precisely nothing of any use.

15:36 – BBC page up – calling it a “smoking bus”, which summons up images of a double-decker slouched against a wall, the collar of its leather jacket up, eyeing people suspiciously James Dean style while sucking on a roll-up. That could just be me though…

15:42 – A London Fire Brigade spokesman said: “There was a small fire on a bus and it seems there was a bag found as well. Nobody was injured.”

A Transport for London spokesman said: “The incident involved a 205 bus close to King’s Cross. Buses in the area have been delayed.”
Sky reporting Fire Brigade called out to a “small fire” on the bus, police called in when a suspect package found. Either way, sounds minor.

15:48 – All over. Police have declared it’s a false alarm.

Italian police agree with my assessment of the 21st July bombers. (Perhaps it’s time to reassess…)

Bananas cause the EU grief once more – not about straightness this time, though, which is a bit of a relief, at least…

Der Spiegel – American Capitalism vs. European Social Markets, a fairly interesting, easily-accessible piece by Jeremy Rifkind, author of EU/US comparative study “The European Dream”, following on from last week’s pieces Europe’s Commitment Anxiety and Why the European Dream Is Worth Saving. Worth a look, although as it seems to be aimed at Americans the level of assumed knowledge about both European and global politics is insanely low… Which may be a good thing or not, I dunno.

Now I’m not a fan of targetted searches based on skin colour, even though I can see the logic behind them. They stir up all kinds of racial tension and resentment, plus help create an “us” vs. “them” feeling which is never helpful. So it’s quite heartening to see first Peter “useless twat” Hain and then Hazel “dozy nonentity” Blears speak out against them.

But it must be said, Hain’s assertions that racially-tagetted searches would help terrorist recruitment, coming as they do so soon after the Dear Leader’s dismissal of any suggestion that anything other than their EVIL nature helps terrorists recruit, seems a tad odd. (“Nope, this guy didn’t blow himself up because he’d witnessed two years’ worth of images of people being killed in Iraq and repeatedly saw Blair and co ignore the public and the opinion polls over the war, it was because some policeman held him up for five minutes to rummage through his sandwiches… Oh yes, and because he’s EEEEEVVVVIIIILLLL”)

It also seems a tad odd that no one has yet explained why searching random people with bags is less likely to cause suicide bombers to detonate than a bunch of plain clothes policemen rushing at them with automatic guns, ready to shoot them in the head. Krishnan Guru-Murphy tried to get an answer on that very question on Channel 4 News last night, and it was not so skilfully avoided.

But this does start to show the next line of argument for ID cards. Much as with the right to lock us all up without trial, they’re going to start off targeting small groups (then it was foreigners, this time it’s ethnic minorities) but then say “hey guys, it’s unfair and prejudiced to target small groups – we’ll target EVERYBODY! Just for the sake of fairness, you understand?”

ID cards will, for some reason which they’ll no doubt have worked out by the time they launch this, enable us merely to flash the things at the rozzers and go about our business unmolested. (Because it’s not as if the 7th July bombers were – just like the rest of us – British citizens with no previous history of terrorism, is it? Oh… Erm…)

And, of course, the fact that our Ethiopian chappie currently held in Rome used a false identity will also heighten the government’s assertions that we should all have official ID. The likes of the Sun and the Mail will doubtless jump in straight behind it due to their ongoing hatred of all things asylum-seeker.

But the major question the government needs to answer – if our dear terrorist chum managed to convince the Home Office that he was a different nationality, had a different name and sucessfully applied for asylum under false pretences without anyone knowing – is how exactly they’re going to make sure that this doesn’t happen during the process of issuing us all with ID cards in the first place?

Nice to see Tony Blair’s got his cunting priorities right, the star-struck tosser.

For fuck’s sake. There are many infinitely better uses for your time, Mr Blair.

Five arrested at the protest ban protest, which was joined by Cherie Blair’s sister. Looks like the family are beginning to be a bit of a pain in the arse for old Tony – only a matter of time before he passes a law to ban ’em…

Assuming they haven’t been locked up (or shot in the head), expect reports from the Parliament Protest Blog and Bloggerheads at some point soon.

Update: Kitty Killer’s initial post and photos.

It’ll be interesting to see how people on the ground reckoned it went – from the BBC London news it must be said that it looked to go how I feared it would: most acting sensibly, but a few twats acting like dickheads and making it look like something other than what it was intended to be. The Stop the War Coalition’s stupid “Troops Out” banners likewise warped the message – it should have been kept purely to being about freedom of speech. Bring other politics in, you ruin it and lose support. Nice one, Stop the War lot. You’ve blown it.