This is all very sinister.
Here’s a theory. Perhaps these “incidents” have been concocted by the fat cats on the top floor. If we believe that they have averted a crisis before it happened, then we’ll all be nice and pliable and adoring.
The BBC are really struggling.
“Generic reporter, what can you see?”
“Lots of police cars!”
July 21, 2005
What On Earth Is Going On In London?
Reuters seems to have more facts or speculation – not sure which – than the Beeb. They report a nail bomb at Warren Street and a report of a shooting.
Grim indeed. Hope everyone is safe. Maybe we should all head to China?
I’d be happier if it was the cats.
I’m getting a “server too busy” error message from Reuters.
There’s a similar story but with more seeming-eyewitness quotes, over at CNN.
Reuters worked for me – hit refresh.
They now seem to be backing away from the nail bomb idea and all the news sources are talking about explosions involving "detonator only" – which sounds really odd to me and smacks of some stupid Sun-style "exposé".
Some top quality reporting from Sky
“He told me he had seen a man carrying a rucksack which suddenly exploded. It was a minor explosion but enough to blow open his rucksack. Everyone rushed from the carriage. People evacuated very quickly. There was no panic. “The man who was holding the rucksack looked extremely dismayed.”
The current Private Eye has a very good article on how conspiracies and utterly false rumours spread like wildfire across the sillier news networks during the bombings on 7th July.
Today things don’t seem to be much better.
Are you calling me silly? Watch it, I’ll tell people where you live.
I think he was calling you a network.
Now, of course, none of what happened today is remotely amusing, but since we’re British we do have to look at this situation with a hearty dose of black humour.
Take, for instance, this eyewitness report from someone who was on the train between Oval and Stockwell:
“I just saw all these people coming towards my carriage and there was a strong smell. I just thought it was a person, just with the smell, and that people wanted to run away from him.”
I’d say that was a bit of an over-reaction if it had really been nothing more than a sweaty commuter.
And then, of course, there was that faintly bizarre moment this afternoon when BBC News 24 was telling me that University College Hospital had been closed off because they were looking for a man with wires sticking out from underneath his shirt.
Today, I thought I’d entered a parallel universe. Sadly, I haven’t – it’s still London.
I’d be dismayed if my rucksack suddenly blew open, too.
My favourite eyewitness quote was a “survivor” telling how she had seen the man running towards her, and heard people shouting stop him! – “so I stepped back.”
Pete, I was not referring to you, it was a reference to Sky and its ilk.
Mind you, in retrospect…
Tee hee.