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Thursday, November 15, 2007

Fortress Britain: Another neo-con 'achievement'

"Train passengers face routine airline-style bag checks and body searches as part of a new counter-terror crackdown announced by Gordon Brown.
More than 250 busy railway stations, airports and seaports as well as 100"sensitive" installations like power stations and electricity substations will be given extra security.
This could include screening luggage at major stations like London King's Cross or Manchester Piccadilly using mobile checking devices that can be moved around the country"
reports The Daily Telegraph.

Two questions need to be asked:

1. Why are all these steps necessary now, when they weren't deemed necessary during the height of the IRA's campaign of bombing on the British mainland in the 1970s and 80s?

2. Why is Britain the only country in Europe that is taking such steps? Other countries in Europe have large Islamic populations: Belgium, France and Germany, for example. Yet none of them feel the need to screen luggage at major railway stations or turn their countries into fortresses. It couldn't just be that Britain's aggressive, neo-conservative foreign policy has made us more of a target, could it?

UPDATE: Railway expert Christian Wolmar has written a great response to the government's ludicrous over-reaction to the terror threat here.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

the thing is that the neocons don't travel on the trains like the rest of us. Theirs is the world of chauffeur driven limos and private jets. Ever seen Andrew Roberts or Richard Perle on the 7.52? No me, neither.