What Can We Do?

Afternoon Mugs,

It's difficult to know what we can do to stop acts of sheer evil such as seen in Manchester on Monday night. If the work was that of a lone wolf then it seems impossible. If a team of group coordinated it then surely they'd give something away that the intelligence services would pick up on?

Events such as this often invoke knee jerk reactions from people, especially across social media. Social media gives people a platform we never had in the 70s and 80s when the IRA were often involved in indiscriminate bombing of innocent people. The views expressed by me then were along the lines of why are we accepting this? Why do we say we'll just carry on regardless? Back then I was in favour of  'shoot to kill' for terrorists, or for interment with nothing other than suspicion being the criteria. I was young and hot-headed back then and those arguments are easily pulled down by anyone with a brain who can use 'reducto ad absurdum' to do so. 

I also understand the disenfranchisement people feel when these horrific incidents occur and the seemingly slow course that justice takes. Back then , intelligence was via leaks, tip offs, via infiltration of the organisations, tapping phone calls or intercepting letters. Nowadays we live is a technology driven world where it's nigh on impossible to live, let alone transact and plan a terrorist incident without something being spotted or tracked or recorded.

As a champagne leftie I would be uneasy about Draconian methods of stopping such incidents BUT would accept interment based on intelligence showing intent, a plan to intend to do something, and yes.....public radical statements and actions would fall into it. When these fanatics, Muslim extremists and Far Right nutters, walk our streets under the banner for free speech we can see the 'intent'. Their statements should be treated in the same way as someone making a joke about a bomb when going through security at an airport or port. We should recruit the illicit hacking groups with huge sums to spend their days getting into suspects computers, smartphones and tablets. 

If and when sufficient evidence comes to light via this snooping, then arrest, inter and deport as appropriate. 

Will that cure society of such horror? No, but it's a deterrent and added to stricter checks at borders for anyone returning from the middle east it might just minimise the chances of someone getting away with it. 

Later Mugs, GJ

Dear India......

Afternoon Mugs

Dear India,

I quite like the idea that you're a tiger economy. I think Indian culture has an awful lot to offer the world. I think your people have massively contributed and influenced the UK in terms of many things, not least of all food, art, fashion and music amongst many things. 

I grew up in the 60s and 70s when many, including myself through ignorance treated many of your people as second class citizens and were frankly racist to you. As I said, it was ignorance and institutionalised and inherited views that made me that way until I was about 12 or 13.  Education opened my eyes to the folly of discrimination and racism. it let me smash urban myths and downright lies amongst my equally misguided friends and colleagues, who like me knew little better. Of course some remained vehemently anti anything 'not British', but fuck 'em, they're proper wankstains.

However, please, please do something about the scourge on yours and our society of exploiting people to work in call centres, and tasking them to cold call people in the UK with lies about the performance of their PC (when like me they don't have one). Add that the other rubbish about surveys or other products we don't need or want and it all becomes a bit pernicious, especially to vulnerable people who might be lonely or old or have mental health issues. 

In other words, stop this shit now. Until then, a plague on all your houses.

Later Mugs, GJ