Railways in good security shocker

Yesterday, according to the BBC, two Daily Mirror journalists were arrested trying to put a fake bomb on a train. They argued that they were just doing it in the interests of investigative journalism - after all, a number of other tabloid stories have been run over the years about lax security. People have smuggled fake bombs on to planes (including one full of marzipan, which apparently smells like semtex), got jobs at Buckingham Palace, that sort of thing.

All well and good, but doesn't the fact that they were arrested suggest that the security worked this time? Which is fantastic news. Therefore, shouldn't the Mirror have stuck to its principles and run the story on its front page today?

Railways in GOOD SECURITY shocker

Britain was in a state of non-SHOCK yesterday as its railways resisted an ATTACK by tabloid journalists with a fake bomb. Security procedures on the railways were found to be TOTALLY EFFECTIVE when the two unnamed terrorists were spotted, and promptly ARRESTED before they could put the non-device on the train.

I might send them the story.

Cheers for that

The latest announcement from Al Qaeda about how doomed we all are in the UK came at the same time as the sentencing of the wannabe tube bombers. This sort of stuff is all over the news at the moment, with the Metro letters page taken up by a debate between muslims and non-muslims about whether the muslim community should be more vocal in its protests and denunciations of the terrorism that is done in its name. And of course the knighthood for Salman Rushdie, which AQ states as being the driver for its latest threat. So, as ever, I thought that I would share my thoughts on the subject.

Aside of my opinion of him, I fail to see why it was so urgent to knight Salman Rushdie, and the timing of it just adds it to the list of available material for people who believe that there is a western conspiracy against muslims. It is not as if his latest novel took the country by storm or anything. Why knight him if you weren't trying to piss anyone off? I am not arguing that we should have a politically-driven honours system, but surely we should have one that reflects (and is sensitive to) the country that we are in today?

On the other hand, Al Qaeda's use of that as the basis of a threat smacks of playground bickering. Does the fact that they are now scrutinising the Queen's honours list for potential offences mean that they have now forgiven their previous bugbears - the invasion of Iraq (twice) and Afghanistan, and the Israel-Palestine situation? Perhaps they should at least have mentioned that they were still angry about that lot too. Perhaps their next threat will be because not enough supermarkets stock halal food - the ultimate in consumer activism. Rather than picking the causes that most matter to them, Al Qaeda is still picking the most topical issue of the day, without regard to the importance of that issue, simply to get the greatest opinion (and presumably the most recruits). As he has now finished his diary, perhaps Alastair Campbell is now their minister without portfolio?