' Welcome to London '- so the Olympic posters will smile in less than 6 months time, but what are we inviting them to?
With Twitter going crazy about riots and fires blazing in local stores, I drove down to Romford at 10.30 pm last night. Apart from a few listless police officers and some 14 year old hoodies running away - just like on the telly - there was nothing.
A question being asked is: "Is technology aggravating the opportunity for terrorism and anarchy?"
Well, maybe it is helping trouble-makers to group and regroup , but it is also helping to spread panic and rumours. The trouble is, some of the stories are true, so what do we believe? Our own eyes and ears I guess, but we may be putting ourselves at risk in the process.
In the same news bulletin as the "London riots" we see tanks and army troops going in to Syrian cities where they will brook no dissention. We do not realise how free we are here.
I will never forget the fear of living under a curfew in Lima in the 70ies and 80ies. In the darkness with street lighting turned off on purpose, the occassional shot would blast out shattering the night and any illusions we might have had that all was well. During the day, we walked down the street with apprehension as we passed any policeman on duty, gun at the ready - do we really want that atmosphere to pervade here in UK?
Our police are undermanned already and the government is talking of reducing numbers to reduce cost - hopefully, the one good thing that could come out of this nonsense is that they will see how silly the whole question of reduction is. We need real police on our streets - not community volunteers - but well trained experts, thus reducing the fear of accidental shootings as well as mundane and daily muggings.
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