DS Forums

 
 

Britain on high alert..


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 21-12-2016, 11:02
testcard
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Middle England
Posts: 991
Well exactly. The last significant terrorist attack in the UK was the London bombings on 7 July 2005, over 11 years ago! The "Security Services" have been claiming the terror threat is severe for ages now when in reality the threat varies between "miniscule" and "non-existent".

But as you say, exaggerating the terror threat sells newspapers and helps governments to pass laws restricting our freedom.
Absolutely right, And since then, not a single terror attack has been foiled, and no-one had been convicted of terrorist offences. Or not.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...urity-services
testcard is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 21-12-2016, 11:07
TerraCanis
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: The Mysterious East
Posts: 5,825
We have been on high alert for decades.
The problem there is that if you've been on the maximum level of alert for years-decades, what do you do if you need to increase the alert level?
TerraCanis is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-12-2016, 11:10
Les Corker
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 740
The problem there is that if you've been on the maximum level of alert for years-decades, what do you do if you need to increase the alert level?
The chances of being caught up in a terrorist attack are slim
Les Corker is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-12-2016, 11:12
testcard
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Middle England
Posts: 991
The problem there is that if you've been on the maximum level of alert for years-decades, what do you do if you need to increase the alert level?
We're currently at SEVERE. The next level is CRITICAL.
"CRITICAL means an attack is expected imminently"
testcard is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-12-2016, 11:17
GusGus
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 626
There's a photo on the front of one of the tabloids today of the Nativity display outside Canterbury Cathedral, fronted by police officers with machine guns
GusGus is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-12-2016, 11:20
BasilRathbon
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 323
Absolutely right, And since then, not a single terror attack has been foiled, and no-one had been convicted of terrorist offences. Or not.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...urity-services
Do you really believe that propaganda? If, as the security services claim, they've foiled at least 10 attacks in the past two years, perhaps they could tell us more? As in who was going to carry out the attacks, where they were going to take place, how they would have happened? Anyone can quote an arbitrary figure, only the gullible would believe it without evidence.
BasilRathbon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-12-2016, 11:22
TerraCanis
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: The Mysterious East
Posts: 5,825
We're currently at SEVERE. The next level is CRITICAL.
"CRITICAL means an attack is expected imminently"
Quite. SEVERE is the highest level short of definite information that an attack (or actions leading to an attack) is in progress. What do you do when you've been at SEVERE for ages, and then you become more concerned about the possibility of an attack but without any definite information to confirm it?

You could go to CRITICAL... but then what happens if you then go on to get specific information?

The chances of being caught up in a terrorist attack are slim
No argument from me on that. There's a big difference between "a terrorist attack occurring" and "being personally caught up" in one, although the chances of being affected by the resulting disruption are rather greater.

Even if all the terrorist attacks that have been foiled (or it's been claimed have been foiled, for those who prefer that terminology), I'd estimate that it's far more likely that if someone kiils or injures another person, it'll be someone who didn't mean to do it. And even if they did mean it, it's more likely to be personal.
TerraCanis is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-12-2016, 11:27
testcard
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Middle England
Posts: 991
Quite. SEVERE is the highest level short of definite information that an attack (or actions leading to an attack) is in progress. What do you do when you've been at SEVERE for ages, and then you become more concerned about the possibility of an attack but without any definite information to confirm it?

You could go to CRITICAL... but then what happens if you then go on to get specific information?
You wouldn't go to CRITICAL unless there was specific intelligence that an attack was imminent.
testcard is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-12-2016, 11:27
Ben_Copland
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Work, probably..
Posts: 3,837
Quite. SEVERE is the highest level short of definite information that an attack (or actions leading to an attack) is in progress. What do you do when you've been at SEVERE for ages, and then you become more concerned about the possibility of an attack but without any definite information to confirm it?

You could go to CRITICAL... but then what happens if you then go on to get specific information?
I think that's just war..
Ben_Copland is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-12-2016, 11:28
TerraCanis
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: The Mysterious East
Posts: 5,825
You wouldn't go to CRITICAL unless there was specific intelligence that an attack was imminent.
Kind of my point...
TerraCanis is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-12-2016, 11:35
Gordon g
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Posts: 449
Well exactly. The last significant terrorist attack in the UK was the London bombings on 7 July 2005, over 11 years ago! The "Security Services" have been claiming the terror threat is severe for ages now when in reality the threat varies between "miniscule" and "non-existent".

But as you say, exaggerating the terror threat sells newspapers and helps governments to pass laws restricting our freedom.

Lee Rigby was butchered in broad daylight ony a few years ago. Does that not constitute a major incident?
Gordon g is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-12-2016, 11:38
St Dabeoc
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 2,878
well I've heeded the Security services message to avoid large crowds
I've started supporting West Bromwich Albion
St Dabeoc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-12-2016, 11:40
anne_666
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 30,190
Kind of my point...
What point? The level would go up to critical. Did you think severe was the highest level? Are you saying the the likelihood of an attack isn't and hasn't been severe?
anne_666 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-12-2016, 11:41
BasilRathbon
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 323
Lee Rigby was butchered in broad daylight ony a few years ago. Does that not constitute a major incident?
Apologies, I appear to have been sucked into having the same argument on two separate threads. Here's my response to that question on the other thread.

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showp...&postcount=805
BasilRathbon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-12-2016, 11:44
mrsgrumpy49
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 6,369
The chances of being caught up in a terrorist attack are slim
Indeed. Frankly it doesn't bother me at all. There is far more chance of me being taken out by some wally while out for a drive.
mrsgrumpy49 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-12-2016, 11:46
Deep Purple
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Deep Within The Chain Of Evil
Posts: 51,280
Do you really believe that propaganda? If, as the security services claim, they've foiled at least 10 attacks in the past two years, perhaps they could tell us more? As in who was going to carry out the attacks, where they were going to take place, how they would have happened? Anyone can quote an arbitrary figure, only the gullible would believe it without evidence.
From that article.
The counter-terrorism network and security services have successfully foiled at least 10 attacks in the last two years, with 294 convictions for terror-related offences.
That is a fact.
Deep Purple is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-12-2016, 11:58
Glawster2002
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Nailsworth, Gloucestershire
Posts: 10,402
Indeed. Frankly it doesn't bother me at all. There is far more chance of me being taken out by some wally while out for a drive.
That is exactly how I look at it as well.
Glawster2002 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-12-2016, 11:58
NeverEnough
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 1,864
Do you really believe that propaganda? If, as the security services claim, they've foiled at least 10 attacks in the past two years, perhaps they could tell us more? As in who was going to carry out the attacks, where they were going to take place, how they would have happened? Anyone can quote an arbitrary figure, only the gullible would believe it without evidence.
So in effect you are claiming that the security services are lying and the following persons have been wrongfully convicted (amongst others)

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...-a6948311.html

http://www.wsj.com/articles/british-...don-1451419649

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...office-figures

Those are quite extraordinary claims and such extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Why have the security services been lying to us? To what end?
NeverEnough is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-12-2016, 12:10
mb@2day
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 8,710


I thought I nearly had that this morning when I sneezed and farted at the same time fortunately only my tissues were required so no disaster !!
mb@2day is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-12-2016, 12:20
sarahj1986
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Warwickshire
Posts: 8,093
We've been at severe threat level for a good couple of years now? It doesn't stop me living my life. My husband and I were in Birmingham German market Friday evening, packed out and full of people. We had fun and had the attack happened in Berlin before we went we'd have still gone. If anything the only thing on my mind while there was pick pockets as opposed to terrorism
sarahj1986 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-12-2016, 12:36
TerraCanis
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: The Mysterious East
Posts: 5,825
What point? The level would go up to critical. Did you think severe was the highest level? Are you saying the the likelihood of an attack isn't and hasn't been severe?
It's a five point scale. Think of them as Levels 1 -5 in ascending order of threat. If you bear in mind that Level 5 corresponds to specific intelligence that an attack is imminent, then although Level 5 is the highest defined level of threat, it becomes the de facto highest level for the rest of the time. If you overuse that level, then it's likely to breed complacency as people come to accept it as the "normal" state of affairs.
TerraCanis is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-12-2016, 12:58
Kat1966
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: The Hawthorns
Posts: 2,502
well I've heeded the Security services message to avoid large crowds
I've started supporting West Bromwich Albion
Oh, very funny
Kat1966 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-12-2016, 13:05
Caxton
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
Posts: 24,059
Unfortunately an attack takes very little organising, a gun and a lorry is all that is needed, the lorries are there for the picking in laybys and lorry parks. It appears from what has been disclosed that the latest Berlin incident was done in a similar way.

The huge carnage that can be committed not just by picking a market but any busy high street or even a busy motorway. The markets and fairs can be protected to some degree but other places are far more difficult or even impossible to protect in any significant way.

Sad to say, anyone determined to inflict carnage in a big way really would not find it too difficult to do so.
Caxton is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-12-2016, 13:11
malpasc
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 6,350
I was born in 1978 and have always lived in the UK. During that time there have been terrorist strikes by the IRA, in fact I was witness to one on my very early days of living in London at Ealing Broadway station.

I was on the Piccadilly Line on 7th July 2005 when the London bombings occurred followed by a mad dash through other affected and cordoned off parts of London. I'm still alive to tell the tale.

I'm used to it, and I'm sure as hell not going to let the threat of terrorism make me afraid or change my life in order to avoid it. Its of course tragic when innocent civillians are killed or injured in these attacks but we need to show these people we aren't going to cower into a corner over this.
malpasc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-12-2016, 13:12
Maxatoria
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 10,733
Unfortunately an attack takes very little organising, a gun and a lorry is all that is needed, the lorries are there for the picking in laybys and lorry parks. It appears from what has been disclosed that the latest Berlin incident was done in a similar way.

The huge carnage that can be committed not just by picking a market but any busy high street or even a busy motorway. The markets and fairs can be protected to some degree but other places are far more difficult or even impossible to protect in any significant way.

Sad to say, anyone determined to inflict carnage in a big way really would not find it too difficult to do so.
You can as easily cause trouble without any real effort, all you need is a clock, some curly wire and something you can write the word bomb on and stick it somewhere visible and guess what you will probably have shut down everything within a mile or two for probably less than 50p for many hours.
Maxatoria is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply




 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 03:34.