Thatcher - security gone mad!

[5129frederick]

I work right next door to the Tower of London, and my daughter asked me to take a couple of photos of the cannons that were going to be fired off at minute intervals during Thatcher's procession.  Methinks no problem, so I approach one of the Beefeaters to ask him what time the cannons will fire, and am rather surprised to find all gates are shut.

"You won't be able to get access to the waterside until twelve-o-clock until after the cannons have fired and they have been removed."  Disappointed I ask why.

"Security, of course.  We want to avoid all trouble."  St Pauls Cathedral is about two miles away as the crow flies!  I pointed this out, but he was adamant.  By coincidence, an American tourist approached. 

"What time do the boat trips start?"

"Not until twelve-o-clock, for security reasons, after the service."

"What the heck has that got to do with it?"  He asked.  The answer?  This'll really slay you:-D

"In case somebody carries out a mortar bomb attack on the police, using a pleasure craft as a launch pad."  YOU COULDN'T MAKE IT UP!!! :^O:^O:^O This American guy nearly dropped his camera, laughing so much.

[ilove2patch]

After last weekend nothing would surprise me.:-(

[al**bear]

I saw on the News earlier this week, that there were Health & safety concerns (noise volume), over People being too close to the cannons.

After an incident, that had happened at the either the Queen Mothers  100th birthday or funeral.

[lhasa.two]

I don't suppose the people of Boston thought someone would set off two bombs and kill three people and injure about 100 innocent Marathon spectators either...

[tommy.irene]

"What time do the boat trips start?"

"Not until twelve-o-clock, for security reasons, after the service."

"What the heck has that got to do with it?"  He asked.  The answer?  This'll really slay you:-D

"In case somebody carries out a mortar bomb attack on the police, using a pleasure craft as a launch pad."  YOU COULDN'T MAKE IT UP!!! :^O:^O:^O This American guy nearly dropped his camera, laughing so much.

No one laughed when the IRA let of mortar bombs from vans with the roof cut off..so why not someone do the same from a boat..

[tommy.irene]

Burnt out  Mortar bomb car.

[Anonymous]

why use a boat, i am quite sure if an attacker wanted to do damage he/she would find strapping a bomb around their waist and walking into the crowd much more effective.

[5129frederick]

True, I remember the incident, but this is a sightseeing pleasure boat carrying upwards of a hundred-odd people.  A mortar bomb isn't exactly something that can be packed into a holdall.  I might be wrong, but it sits on a tripod on terra firma.   Somebody mentioned about the Health and Safety boys getting in on the act checking the number of decibels it sets off.  I'm surprised they haven't insisted on somebody having to shout a warning that a cannon was about to be detonated in case the shock would give some little old lady a heart attack! :^O  Then of course there are the birds - forced to flee their nests, leaving their fledgeling to perish.  Think about it - you could spend an entire evening working out all the woes that would come about by letting off cannons willy-nilly.:-D  What about the carbon footprint - are the shells ozone friendly, or does each one pollute the atmosphere a little more?

I once knew a fireman who successfully sued the LFB after he suffered hearing loss due to the sirens being tested every day at the fire station which, because it was in an enclosed area, amplified the sound.  Where do you draw the line?

[merehazle]

why use a boat, i am quite sure if an attacker wanted to do damage he/she would find strapping a bomb around their waist and walking into the crowd much more effective.

Well has everybody missed this story just two days ago?!

Why not a remote control car Pete? If it kills as many as these MONSTERS hope for...why not anything?! A judge has given this four 44 years between them. US type sentences should be adopted. And I rather suspect they might have got 44 years or even more each. Letting these killers out at all is nothing short of letting out uncontrollable MONSTERS!!! 

No matter what it costs if it saves one innocent persons life you must pay the bill.

[5129frederick]

The biggest single danger is not a car, but a plane.  Bought legitimately so as not to cause any suspicions, and parked up at Headcorn Airfield, south of Maidstone, a Twin Comanche could be packed with high explosives and make it to the Houses of Parliament in less than twenty minutes.  Coming in fast at 170mph at zero altitude - 100', before any defensive system could be scrambled, it would be all over.  Hit at the right angle - 30 degrees to the main windows, it would bring the roof down, no problem, and with so many political heads wiped out in one go, the entire country could fold where military personnel would be drafted in to take control until such times that another Government would be able to be sworn in.  Such an attack would have to be well planned - it would have to be something major like a vote being taken on Scotland's possible indipendence, for instance.  This country does have an air defence system, but whether it could act quickly enough to stop a kami-kaze style attack is questionable.  I'll not write too much more - you don't know who's reading this!:-D  Overactive imagination?  I surely hope so! :^O

[Anonymous]

hi #9 good point, but again why go to so much expense? all a terrorist cell or singular person has to do is contaminate him/her self with chemicals or biological substances, then just walk through any city street and after a week or so his/her vile actions will prevail. 

[merehazle]

hi #9 good point, but again why go to so much expense? all a terrorist cell or singular person has to do is contaminate him/her self with chemicals or biological substances, then just walk through any city street and after a week or so his/her vile actions will prevail. 

It is not so much how they can come at us is it ? It is how they know that we will come at them if they do that's why I have suggested in my #9 that U.S. type sentences should be adopted NOW! 44 years or more each. If that's to tough don't do it, they have the choice!!!

And I sure #9 you would not want to given them any ideas ...please.

There have been a number of failed attempts since the 2005 7/7 attacks which killed 52 and injured 700 then on the 21st of that same month the failed attack. And the Glasgow airport attack when they crashed a jeep in to it. The shoe bomber and others.

No this sentence will let these killers out again all to soon... and they should not be ever!!!  And would you want them living next door? That crime would carry a ''treason'' sentence had Blair and his lot not changed it X-(  

[upthecreekyetagain]

I'm not sure how any punishment can ever act as a deterrent if they are willing to blow themselves up as well as innocent people.

The only real defence against such acts is intelligence and vigilance.

[5129frederick]

For the record. high treason still carries the death penalty - that is why two gallows still remain fully operational.  Each week they are tested on a twelve stone "man", and are held in readiness for "the real thing".  The charges that carry out the death penalty are blowing up one of Her Majesty's battleships, and a second one is setting fire to a load of corn - arsonists beware :-D.

[upthecreekyetagain]

The death penalty for treason was abolished in 1998 by the Crime and Disorder Act

[5129frederick]

Interesting - I'm only down the road from Chatham dock yard:^O:^O  "Nudge, nudge, wink. wink.  Say no more, say no more!"

[renomarvinm]

Hi level security is something you have to see (or preferably not see) to believe.  When George Bush, Sr. was president, he gave a speech at the Boeing Aircraft Company museum up in Seattle, Washington.  He arrived, gave a short speech, and then departed.  After his speech, they kept the entire staff there for two hours, and nobody was allowed to leave..  Nobody was allowed to see where he went, or how he left.  We arrived shortly thereafter, to tour the museum.  The staff was still shaking.  A senior Boeing vice president, of which there are many, decided at the last minute to attend his speech, but they would not let him in because he was not on the approved list.

Those people are NOT playing around.

[merehazle]

#16 reno, Hello.

No of course they are not playing around?!

Then at 9/11 United States missed 10 opportunities which may have helped prevent the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

We here in UK in recent times have not missed so much. But how long before miss again?!

Make any number of speeches about how liberty and democracy will never die. But unless you refuse to give in to the minds behind terror, all that you will do will be so much waste of life and work. We may be about to find out if what remains of the civilised Weston world is ready to learn this lesson.

If it does not, then in the long run it is finished. The end will not be sudden and it may not be far off. 

[tommy.irene]

For the record. high treason still carries the death penalty - that is why two gallows still remain fully operational.  Each week they are tested on a twelve stone "man", and are held in readiness for "the real thing".  The charges that carry out the death penalty are blowing up one of Her Majesty's battleships, and a second one is setting fire to a load of corn - arsonists beware :-D.

It must be hard to find a 12 stone man in the UK

[upthecreekyetagain]

I weigh 12 stone but I'm not volunteering 😮