Over-reactions and crappy bombers R Us

I've just been informed by the BBC six o'clock new on telly that this image:



"haunts Scotland: terrorism smashing into people's lives" (you can see the report in question here, though I suspect it'll only work in the UK (thanks to the unique way the BBC is funded etc etc))

Does it fuck! It's a car smashing into a window and setting the driver on fire, no need to exaggerate, for god's sake. Mind you, the vaguest hint of "turrrism" and common sense seems to fly out the window. Apparently Scotland has "changed" now, we're all deeply affected by the weekend's events. Well sure, it inconvenienced people at Glasgow Airport, in the street in Houston where the suspects live, and workers and visitors to the Royal Alexandra Hospital where one suspect works and the other is being treated. Everywhere else is very much business as usual.

Another bit of nonsense I've heard repeated on various news reports since is a claim that the vehicle itself shouldn't have been able to get so close to the airport building in the first place. Well, that would be pretty simple actually. Have a look at the photo below. The road closest to the building is supposedly only open to public transport. The road to the front of the picture is the official drop off point. There aren't barriers between the two areas, so anyone with half a mind to get across would merely have to mount the pavement. Not exactly a huge task. Though, after getting that far, the best you could possibly hope for was to get far enough into the building to reach some usually unoccupied airline help desks. That'll bring the infidels to their knees...



It was all a bit pathetic, frankly, as were the London car bombs. Apparently, the suspects were already being watched, so that may have lead them to rush their plans. That would explain the somewhat shoddy nature of the attacks. I almost hope so for their sakes; how embarrassing must it be to set yourself up as a heroic suicide bomber and then fail so spectacularly?

British terrorists really are an unimaginative lot. There are many, many towns in the UK with perfectly acceptable targets, and yet they largely concentrate on London. Spread the fear, dammit! Choose a target the police wouldn't work out you'd be going for! There are plenty of public buildings in our cities that would be easier to attack due the complete lack of any security (I used to walk around Glasgow back in the day, seeing how far I could get into places I shouldn't have been, just for the hell of it. Well, it's something to do...). If you can't think of anything yourselves, take some lessons from the IRA! They did quite well on the bombing things front.

Sheesh...


An unrelated aside: I do rather like the fact that Auntie Beeb has this as one of the top stories on the website. Good to see proper news values aren't completely dead...
(And that Doctor Who post will be along just as soon as I work out whether the last episode was irredeemably shit, or just a little bit shit)