I was somewhat bemused to hear that the police unit responding to my minor burglary call had been diverted to deal with a stabbing. After all, it was 3am on Monday morning. The police later apologised and explained that they have very few resources and cannot deal with any peaks whatsoever.
While the current cycle of teenage knife crime seems to be climbing frighteningly beyond the statistical curve, one remembers that certain security departments are very well funded indeed.
Yes, the "war on terror" may have faded into the background somewhat - but it is still swallowing a large amount of police time. For our safety, the forces of law and order follow a handful of dodgy bearded brown people on the pretext that what happened in London 3 years ago in July was the continuation of the world wide Muslim conspiracy. As time passes however, we are left with the images of a few lonely men with elevated passions and rucksacks full of death, but no guidance from any shadowy Svengali of terror.
A blog mate pointed out a post by the usually hilarious Charlie Brooker. In it, he suggests that anyone doubting the official version of the events around September 11th 2001 is a conspiraloon. With over 1700 comments, a record for this forum, it is clear that the public do not wholly agree with Mr Brooker. Scepticism regarding the behaviour of the Coalition of the Willing is broadening beyond those whose only interest is demolition explosives.
The sharp end of this is that the number of people willing to see street violence spiral out of control in order to support the enthusiastic hassling of extreme elements is probably shrinking. "Nothings happened, so we must be doing the right thing" is not an argument you can use forever.
Conflating the bobby on the beat and internal security may be unfair, but it won't be too long before a few reckless politicians realise they can grab the zeitgeist by telling us what we already suspect. Especially as the elected leaders that forged the whole terror business, and kept it going, are declining in number.
2 comments:
I recall that twice as many people are killed each year through domestic violence, as were killed on 7/7. I wonder what the comparable statistics are for street weapons?
Maybe the sacking of Ian Blair by Mayor Boris is an indication of the process starting.
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