John Reid Says Merry Christmas

By londonist_nealr Last edited 207 months ago
John Reid Says Merry Christmas
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A government official is interviewed about the villainous terrorist threat. In the background Christmas shoppers rush home with their treasures:

"Deputy Minister, what do you think is behind this recent increase in terrorist bombings?"

"Bad sportsmanship."

Sorry. Got a little off track there. We at Londonist were recently rereading the screenplay for Brazil, one of our favorite movies.

But in other news…

Home Secretary John Reid tells us that it is highly likely the terrorists will attack in Britain before Christmas. In an interview on GMTV's Sunday programme, Reid said, "We know the number of conspiracies of a major type are in the tens – thirty or around that…But I think we just ought to be very grateful for the people in the security services."

Though he repeatedly refered to "the terrorists", Reid did not give any indication as to what the allegiance, ideology, or objectives of these terrorists might be. He did reference the London bombing of July 7, 2005, which are said to have been perpetrated by members of the shadowy al-Qaeda network. The July 7 bombings were the second deadliest terror attack in the UK, after the Pan Am 103 bombing over Lockerbie, backed by Libya.

Mr. Reid emphasized that the battle against terror would continue for longer than a generation. Again no specific enemy in the generations-long struggle was named.

What kind of horrifying evil are we fighting that its very identity cannot be spoken? Could we be facing Sauron himself? Or is it just Robert De Niro come to repair our ducts?

In any case, let us remember this holiday season: "We're all in this together."

Photo by simonrigglesworth at Flickr.

Last Updated 11 December 2006