A Contiki tour with a difference
In Malaysia for the Tsunami. In London for the ‘terror attacks’. What’s next on my itinerary you might ask.
I work in central London opposite Scotland Yard, next to the Tube Headquarters, and a block down from Buckingham Palace. So yesterday although nothing here was hit, there were ambulances, alarms, sirens, police with machine guns yelling orders and cordoning off areas. We were told to stay put, not to make unecessary journeys and just to wait, but wait for what? Many of my colleagues couldn’t make it in to work because the tube system was completely disabled. No one has claimed responsibility for the bombs yet.
It was difficult not to buy into the hysteria and the ideological sound bytes. I can recommend turning off the mass media as a good first step. The propaganda machine is in frenetic overdrive – Bushisms’ gone global – the last thing we need. If I hear one more reference to people wanting to Take Our Freedom, and the Resilient English Workers, and how They Will Not Suceed; I think I’ll begin bombing the multinational media conglomerates myself [note to big brother, this is said in jest, I have not in the past and do not in the future have any plans or capabilities to conduct terrorist attacks on multinational media conglomerates or any other city, building or unit of public infrastructure].
The streets are quiet today, the cafes are empty, the buses have only a handful of passengers during peak hour. People are staying indoors and have been told to stay out of central London. Ironically, I could not get out of central london last night with no tube and no buses in the central zone. So here I am, one of the few people actually at work. The police have cordoned off new and different areas around St James Park Tube, the journalists continue to congregate with their warm coffees and drizzled cold faces outside the rotating Scotland Yard sign. And as long as the TV remains off, its life as usual. I guess that means I’m one those Resilient Workers, doesn’t it.
Tags: England
Jyai