Monday 2 July 2007

An eventful weekend

Typical, I step away from the computer for three days, banking on a quiet weekend, and al-Qa'eda rears its ugly head...

Browsing the papers this morning I'm relieved to see our lads are hot on the terror trail...We can only be thankful that in this instance the bombers were incompetent - but their failure will undoubtably spur on others. The timing is obvious, these attacks, had they caused the predicted carnage, were aimed to cripple the Brown government before it's even learnt to walk. Instead they serve as another, luckily bloodless, reminder - after the Midlands raids and foiled JFK attack - that extremist hatred towards the West is relentless...I wonder what will become of our civil liberties now? Does it matter as long as we're safe?

Oh well, as long as the airport restrictions are lifted before I go away then I'm alright...

But seriously, I hope our intelligence agents and counter terrorism teams are well paid (who knows?). We should all spare a thought to those unsung spooks who run up and down the country on the slightest hunch, monitor global traffic for days on end, or take the ultimate risk in going undercover to protect our way of life. Thanks chaps.

Will there be no end to furore over the smoking ban? It's been estimated that thousands of smokers lit up in pubs yesterday, a fine, stubborn sentiment but it will do you no good. Personally I would like to allow smokers their right to spark up in public, as long as they were seperated from non-smokers (smoking-only pubs for example). I do not agree with the government curtailing people's freedom of choice in particular places but still stocking the evil weed in every corner shop. However I do think that on health grounds the ban is a good thing, it will galvanise some smokers give up and keep 75 per cent of Britain's non smoking adult population happy. Will report back after my local pub quiz later in the week...

It was the final episode of Dr Who on Saturday, how am I going to cope without David Tennant for the next six months? They went out with a corker though, scary stuff...Full marks to John Simm for a performance to rival/compliment the Doctor, charismatic, kooky and downright evil...We'll see him again...

Oh and I watched a bit of the concert in celebration of Princess Di....It was a lovely gesture and though the crowd had all the atmosphere of a dead fish, the acts that I saw weren't too bad at all, especially Elton and Ricky Gervaise at the end. The Princes put on a good show too (shame Charles and Camilla couldn't make it..), mind you there was something mildly uncomfortable about watching the future heir(s) to the throne shaking their booty to Nelly Furtado...

6 comments:

S said...

I have to second your praise for our intelligence services. Almost exactly a month ago I was getting in a huff about all the criticism levelled at them when it was revealed some of the 7/7 bombers had come on to their radars briefly during the fertiliser plot surveillance. (see this post)

As for the smoking ban, I for purely selfish reasons and as a non smoker think it is a great idea. The debate about peoples freedoms etc I haven't and can't be bothered to give it some thought.

Hope you had a good extended weekend.

Em said...

Yes, thank you, you?

S said...

That's good then... yes it was good thanks (how very civilised). Did you get my email on Wednesday?

Em said...

Nope but that's because I'm lazy and don't check stuff...Thank you for letting know, shall pop off and do that now ;)

Jenny! said...

I hope your travel plans aren't all screwed...thanks to all those hard working dudes that do shit we wouldn't want to touch with a ten foot pole! I go into complete TV/COmputer shut down mode on the weekends and didn't hear about the bomb incident till I started checking blogs. Harry can shake that ass like no other!

Em said...

Jenny: I was being sarcastic about the travel plans ;) - but thank you for your kind sentiment (I'd like my travels to go smoothly but I understand if there are restrictions et al...anything to make sure I don't get blown to smithereens if it can be prevented).

You like Prince Harry?