Comedy of Terrors
Pretty much the only sensible reporting I’ve seen on the recent terror attacks
in London and Glasgow has come from The Register: firstly, secondly. That second link is an article by a bomb-disposal technician, who, having pointed out precisely why this last weekend’s attempted car-bombings were hilariously rubbish, goes on to note that the UK survived tons of explosives raining down on it every night for six years
during World War II.
Our parents and grandparents stood that kind of punishment, not to mention four times as many military dead, and got on with life. Sad though it is to confirm the oldsters’ world view, by comparison our generation - our generation’s journalists, anyway - seem a bit lacking in backbone.
Well, quite. Massive press overreaction aside, the only really scary thing about this whole episode is that some of the suspects were working as NHS doctors. If they are the culprits, that means that people who can’t successfully burn out a car full of petrol, a basic skill of the lowliest twoccer, are getting jobs as neurosurgeons. Now that is terrifying.