On the 9th, we had Tara Reid or whatever his name is warning us about possible restrictions on our freedoms.

http://news.bbc...ics/5257518.stm

Two days later, and lo, another plot is uncovered!

http://news.bbc.../uk/4782347.stm

Why am I so fucking cynical about this? Is it because me and my friends made up more convincing bullshit in primary school? And how do a bunch of suicide bombers present a threat to the nation, that, according to Tara, is the most severe since WWII?

Surely this is exactly what the terrorists want, for our government to become more repressive and more controlling, and hence piss more people off and add to their numbers? Surely they want the public to be shitting-it paranoid every time they get on a plane? There probably was a plot of some sort, but there's no doubt in my mind all the references to '9/11' (9th of November?) are exaggerated to take media attention away from Iraq, Israel, et al.

I understand Tony Blair is out of the country? Perhaps he'd like to stay there? Cunt.

We've lived under the threat of terrorist attack for decades, thanks to the IRA (something conveniently forgotten by the Yanks), and we did just fine, thank you. We even managed without ID cards. No, really.

This is hardly the first time that our country has been in danger of terrorist attacks by religious extremists. Queen Elizabeth I had an excellent spy network to protect both her her and the country from Catholic plots - the Catholic church was hardly enthusiastic about England's split with catholicism as the Protestants kept denouncing all the scams the church had been getting away with for centuries.

And when Guy Fawkes night comes round, perhaps it would be a good idea to reflect on the reason why the plotters were willing to risk torture and a brutal execution.

It wasn't just terrorism - there was a realisting threat of a Catholic invasion of England, of which the most famous attempt was that of the Spanish Armada. To make the threat worse, Scotland and Catholic sympahisers in England were considered likely to support the invasion of England by a Catholic power such as France or Spain.

What I'm getting at is that we got through it last time, so there is no reason to suppose that we cannot do it again. A good first step would be to remind Muslims that Al Qaeda and its supporters are behaving in a manner that is unIslamic.

after you darlin!

we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars

My confidence in the legislature, if not the government, remains.

December, 2004 - Law lords declare holding suspects without trial is unlawful.
April, 2006 - High Court overturns the first ever 'control order'.
June, 2006 - Six control orders quashed by the High Court, because they contravene European human rights laws.

I LOVE my country!

Ivory; are you suggesting that when it comes to the prospect of being brutally tortured and executed, you will forego the chivalric "ladies first" privilige?

FA; the funny thing is that you can't become a senoir judge unless you are considered to be "sound" and "the right sort of chap" by the inbred, ex-public schoolboy (five years of fagging, a euphamism for who knows what?) senior judges who decide on judicial promotions; the government and the Queen just rubber stamp their reccomendations. Our democratically elected leaders seem to be less in touch with the public than the old aristocratic classes.

That's fine by me. I have nothing against the upper class.

I love the way that the Human Rights Act that Labour brought in keeps getting in the way of their increasingly deranged proposals for removing our personal freedoms (thus ensuring that there are no freedoms left for Al Qaeda to attack) and persecuting immigrants

when you see a lady ...let me know

we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars

?

Are you saying that you deport yourself in a way that is not proper for a lady?

If it's binge drinking, don't worry because that is one of the great traditions that made Britain what it is today. The sailors who defeated Napoleon drank an impressive amount of rum considering how their jobs involved climbing ropes and running around on a ship's masts.

Would you go up there without the rum?

Trust me, I'm a doctor.

maybe the rocking caused by the rum counterbalanced the rocking mad by the water. it is an equation never considered by the navey i reacon! maybe we hould be sending them all up the rigging pissed!

we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars