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UK Politics: Trumpy Cat Trumpy Cat Where Have You Been?


mormont

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1 hour ago, Fragile Bird said:

Am watching this with great anxiety for all of you in London. The damn announcers keep talking about the tactic of diversions before the main event and the anniversary of the Brussels attack. 

I've been watching the BBC and Channel 4 all day, and have heard not a whisper of this kind of scaremongering. Pathetic.

11 minutes ago, James Arryn said:

Also, in that we apparently can't stop reacting exactly as the terrorists want us to react, the fact that French schoolgirls were among the victims might have significant effects on Le Pin's campaign. 

How are we reacting that is exactly as the terrorists want? Everyone here seems completely calm and stoical.

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Just now, Hereward said:

I've been watching the BBC and Channel 4 all day, and have heard not a whisper of this kind of scaremongering. Pathetic.

How are we reacting that is exactly as the terrorists want? Everyone here seems completely calm and stoical.

I meant more with regards to overall upscaling of reactionary/nativist political directions, not less stiffened upper lips. Popular behaviour right after attacks almost always seem to be stoic, empathetic and/or defiant, I agree, but political choices made thereafter trend towards xenophobia or islamiphobia. In particular here I meant that the FN might see a surge in the polls; I guess we'll see. 

 

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7 minutes ago, Hereward said:

I've been watching the BBC and Channel 4 all day, and have heard not a whisper of this kind of scaremongering. Pathetic.

Really. That's why I said damn announcers.

Americans always seem to ask, is this person alone or are there others doing things elsewhere. We may be being unfair, though. Maybe it comes from their years of coverage in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Israel too, where there regularly have been multiple incidents at once. Typically a bomb going off, and then when rescuers rush in, another goes off. Iirc, the IRA did that a few times as well.

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Yes, but this is the most secure place in Britain. The only way any damage could be done was by an act of surprise. Once the police, security agencies and military in the area are mobilised and on the streets, any subsequent attack would be suicide.

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20 minutes ago, Hereward said:

Yes, I was just about to post that now it has been confirmed that this was someone well-known and previously convicted, people will be angry. 

On the other hand, and this is a take based on not much information I know, but if this attack was carried out by a guy that normally works as a fundraiser/recruiter, does that suggest he couldn't find a willing volunteer?

ETA:

 

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9 minutes ago, mormont said:

On the other hand, and this is a take based on not much information I know, but if this attack was carried out by a guy that normally works as a fundraiser/recruiter, does that suggest he couldn't find a willing volunteer

Of course, but people can be angry that a known Islamist extremist could be at liberty to do this, without considering that he wasn't able to organise a major conspiracy. 

Plus, there now seems to be some doubt that the suspect was correctly identified, in which case a known terrorist fundraiser just got rich. That'll go down well.

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22 minutes ago, Hereward said:

Plus, there now seems to be some doubt that the suspect was correctly identified, in which case a known terrorist fundraiser just got rich.

I suspect a judge would correctly say that if you're in jail for promoting terrorism, you can't be defamed by someone claiming that you committed an act of terrorism.

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2 minutes ago, Hereward said:

Well, of course you can. You can't accuse a criminal of any crime you feel like on general principles. If you accuse someone of murder when they are demonstrably innocent, you're going to lose.

I'm no lawyer, but I understand that even if you lose the damages are based on the plaintiff establishing serious harm to their reputation?

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Yes, but this is the most secure place in Britain

It's almost as secure as it can be, and the speed of the reaction was reasonable, but it's really not the most secure place in Britain. It's a tourist attraction and a functioning office building as well as the seat of government, and it's very hard to keep all of those things in play at once without sacrificing something. Almost all of the ministries are harder to gain access to and Downing Street, GCHQ and military installations far more so.

A lot of the commentary today has been on the fact that it's been twelve years since the last major terrorist attack in London, when the feeling after 7/7 was very much that we'd see a lot more similar attacks. The police and intelligence services have done an outstanding job of stopping attacks before they happen. How the hell they'd be able to protect against attacks like this is less clear. Bollards and vehicle traps at the end of the pavements on the bridges?

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Literally the only way to stop this sort of thing is to stop vehicular access to pavements or pedestrianized areas. We've seen that done in most areas round shopping centers and airports etc after Glasgow airport got attacked but you cannot realistically fence off every pavement.

Just look a Oxford Street, how the hell would you stop this happening there given the length of the street?

Cars are everywhere and access to them is easy. Access to build up areas with lots of soft targets is even easier. Not easy to stop this sort of thing.

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