bomb

the sun does it again. intrepid sun journalists expose lax security at windsor castle. the two journos drove the sun “bomb van” into the grounds of the castle and near where the wedding of charles and camilla will be blessed. the journos had no paperwork, no appointment and a box clearly marked bomb – but they were waved through without a check or being searched.

this isn’t the first time the sun has done this – i suppose we should be thankful to them for showing us how unsafe we are and how useless the security forces are. but i am not.
why pat, why you cry.
well part of it is the fact it is the sun, it’s a paper that is not good enough to wipe my arse on (have used the evening standard though). and the fact that we all know that this isn’t about them doing a public service this is all about selling papers.

the current upshot of it is the two coppers who worked the detail have been relieved of duties.

but i have a number of questions.
1] did the journos really have a box marked bomb? we only have their word for it. and lets be honest it only takes a marker pen to write bomb on a box and you can do it pretty quickly.

2] the security forces must know that this sort of stunt if going to get played so do they let it get through in the hope that in the hue and cry after the event they can get more money (or get rid of the bods in charge – a humane version of the frag grenade in the officers latrine?) or are they so bad they can’t spot the unctuous sun journos?

3] as we never hear about these fake bombs being stopped we can only assume that the sun has a 100% record of success with these sort of things, which makes it an obvious place for bin laden and co to go to get training.

4] if we don’t hear about the failed attempts is that because the security forces have captured, tortured and sent the journos off to guantanamo bay (or gitmo) where they are forced to read good journalism and listen to the reith lectures?

5] given that in some respects this is a prank can the sun and the journos be taken to court for wasting everyone’s time. i believe that if you make a false 999 call you can end up with a potential prison sentence. so surely it’s time someone took the sun to task on this. go on charles, go on camilla take the sun to court on this – but them out of business. do that and i think you justify the monarchy’s existence in the uk for several more years.

6] do the police and security forces when they catch these pranksters give them an extra special kicking for their time. it’s not like the sun can complain – after all it’s the sort of treatment they want to be doled out to potential terrorists.

7] or is it that rebekah wade has photos of everyone doing something rude and lewd so in the end she has a free hand.

on a serious note what the sun has done really doesn’t serve much of a purpose other than to heighten the feelings of anxiety that many people suffer about the country not being a safe place (even though most reports and surveys say the opposite) but that then allows the sun to maintain it’s campaigns against travellers and asylum seekers because they can become the “target” for the unspecified feelings of fear we feel.

it’s a tawdry rag and its influence on the country is too much.
i drink a toast, in advance, to the security force team that catches the next sun bomb van and treats them to a bit of heavy handed policing…..