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24 Nov 2003
p. I was amazed by the number of Police still hanging around on Friday morning. As the coach came past Buckingham Palace, there was a military helicopter flying low over the grounds and a Police officer about every 10m. It was a proper 'ring of steel'--or rather a 'ring of fluorescent yellow' as it was raining and the coppers all had their waterproofs on.
p. I'm no monarchist, but I can imagine the Queen thinking that it was all a lot of fuss over nothing. After all, she lives there all year without the huge Police presence, and still manages not to get herself blown up. She must have rolled her eyes and tried to refrain from saying to Bush, "We stayed here during the Blitz, you know, when doodlebugs were dropping all around. If you can't deal with a little risk, you're welcome to turn around and go right home."
p. I'm of the opinion that security measures tend to invite people to try and break them. People with burglar alarms get burgled because thieves think that they must have something worth stealing. A 'hard limousine' is just begging for someone to try firing on it to see just how bullet-proof it is. Judging by the recent fake footman debacle, the Queen is obviously of the same opinion.
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I don't doubt that he might have been in danger -- what surprised me was the huge increase in security, and what that seemed to say about the relative vulnerability of Blair, Bush and the Queen. I would have thought that Blair and the Queen would be equally vulnerable.
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Not that I think it was all necessary but if I had and entire region of the world hating me (middle east) I might be a little paranoid about security.----- I think without the security Bush would have been killed, as would Blair and a large number of others. The terrorists didn't attack because they knew it would be too difficult. 9/11 only happened becasue of surprise, it'd be hard to do it again.
I don't think security systems encourage house breakins or terrorism, although they do encourage juvenile hackers on the 'net.
A house will be burgled if it looks tempting enough (size, location etc), relative to the probability of being caught (alarms, neighbourhood watch, police presence etc) and the liklihood and severity of punishment (how good the police are, how severe the punishment likely).
by dave m @ 25/11/2003 2:11 pm • Permalink •