Terror Plot Puts Uk On Full Alert

[T Reznor]

All seems a bit funny if you ask me.. who have they charged and why? and I bet British intelligence has been talking with the yanks.. nothing like a good scare to get the US voting for Bush just before the mid-term elections in a few months!

[access55]

All Manchester flights now cancelled!

[lfc84]

Why not? Neither airports are in the UK.

 

Edit to add: Apparently it does apply because for the purpose of air travel the IOM is considered part of the UK. So says the man at the airport...

absolutely correct

[lfc84]

EuroManx check-in times have been extended to 90mins prior to departure for Isle of Man to UK flights and 2hours before for UK to Isle of Man flights.

 

a bit of over reaction......?

 

is any other airline increasing the mandotary check in time. i think others are issuing general advice "check in early"......which is rather differnet to euromanx's policy.

 

bear in mind you may face penalty if you miss check in deadline.......

[Tempus Fugit]

just wondering if this lot cause a status of 'critical' what would the next higher status be if someone started something more serious like chucking atomic weapons about, is there anything above 'critical' or are they over-reacting in their wording ?

 

(I doubt there will be any yanks flying for a while after this !)

[mollag]

i loved the Home Secretary'2 comment " we aqre facing our greatest security threat since the war" Hmmm, that 30 year IRA thing, what was that? chopped liver!

[The Old Git]

i loved the Home Secretary'2 comment " we aqre facing our greatest security threat since the war" Hmmm, that 30 year IRA thing, what was that? chopped liver!

 

The Cold War, with its 4 minute warning for all before the nuclear explosions wiped us all out, wonder if he's forgotten about that?

[ans]

i loved the Home Secretary'2 comment " we aqre facing our greatest security threat since the war" Hmmm, that 30 year IRA thing, what was that? chopped liver!

 

To be honest, without wishing to trivialise the deaths of countless people over those 30 years at the hands of the IRA and the various factions, I believe him.

 

The IRA, in general, were more about the threat of terror. They more often than not gave adequate warnings to bomb locations to enable very minimal civilian casualties. They were more the Jim Bowen of terrorism; "Here's what we could have killed.."

 

These nutters offer no such warning, want maximum casualties and are not only prepared to die for their cause, but fully expect to and in some cases desire it. Their terror operations are on a grander scale, intended to kill thousands in one action and without mercy.

 

And the cold war? Please.

 

He's damn right this is the greatest security threat these Isles have faced since the war.

[Chinahand]

i loved the Home Secretary'2 comment " we aqre facing our greatest security threat since the war" Hmmm, that 30 year IRA thing, what was that? chopped liver!

 

Far more than that; the idea that Al Qaeda and there ilk provide anything like the threat to national security the massed armies and nuclear weapons of the Soviet block provided is just so much political double think.

 

Get real Dr Reid.

 

Al Qaeda aspires to nuclear and biological capability. Well the USSR had them, had budgets Bin Laden's dad could only dream of, and had the scientists and researches willing to develop the weapons.

 

The idea that there were not very real and present security threats to the UK during the cold war on a scale and magnitude that make this little side show look like a tea party is frankly ridiculous. Dr Reid needs to understand the difference between National Security and the Security of Nationals.

 

Yes the UK and all of the west faces a ruthless and dangerous enemy, one who aspires to unleash biological or dirty nuclear weapons, but they lack the resources, expertise and facilities to dedicate themselves to this in a manner that a state can. People can make and grow horrible things in kitchens, but not of a scale to stop a state functioning. They use our fear of them to make us disrupt ourselves, ie Heathrow today, they can't stop us by our own actions.

[The Old Git]

And the cold war? Please.

 

He's damn right this is the greatest security threat these Isles have faced since the war.

 

Don't agree. The Cold War could have wiped out the whole British Isles at the press of a button. Didn't really matter where you were or what you were doing.

 

Threats like the current one might affect those flying, especially in London, but sitting here at work in the IOM? I don't feel threatened at all

[ans]

Don't agree. The Cold War could have wiped out the whole British Isles at the press of a button. Didn't really matter where you were or what you were doing.

 

But nobody ever wanted to actually fire first because they knew it meant their own demise shorty after.

 

The Russians knew that, the Americans knew that. The thing that scares me is that this current lot know it too but don't care.

[Lonan3]

I agree OG, having lived through the tense moments of the cold war. However, the present enemies - such as Al Quaeda - present a very different kind of threat. Nation states such as USSR & USA each had a vested interest in maintaining peace - these people haven't! If they manage to get hold of any weapons of mass destruction they will have no hesitation in using them so that, in effect, we do face the greatest threat to our own homelands since WWII.

[The Old Git]

I've no doubt that these current fanatics would love to pull of a "spectacular"

 

The cold war could have wiped us all out at the press of a button, everything as in place ready to destroy most of the world.

 

The current threat is great if you live in London or travel by air, or, being cynical, if you're a politician trying to get ID cards through "for our security" How much of a threat is felt by people living in Liverpool, or Scotland, etc? At the moment I don't think that the whole country feels under an equal threat

 

For what it's worth, I do feel the threat will grow in time to affect more of us

[ans]

The current threat is great if you live in London or travel by air, or, being cynical, if you're a politician trying to get ID cards through "for our security" How much of a threat is felt by people living in Liverpool, or Scotland, etc? At the moment I don't think that the whole country feels under an equal threat

 

I do take your point, but even as a Manx idiot living on an offshore Island I feel affected. I'm supposed to be travelling to somewhere outside London which isn't a direct flight from here in a couple of months. So I'll have to connect in Liverpool or London to get there.

 

Now I'm just going to throw myself to the mercy of the Steam Packet and just boat and car it.

[The Old Git]

I'm supposed to be travelling to somewhere outside London which isn't a direct flight from here in a couple of months. So I'll have to connect in Liverpool or London to get there.

 

Now I'm just going to throw myself to the mercy of the Steam Packet and just boat and car it.

 

I'm due to be travelling around parts of Europe next month, including 5 days in London. No doubt I'll feel more threatened then, while I'm there, that I do 99% of the time living here in/on the IOM.

 

The terrorist threat is more of a varaible threat, depending on where you are and what you're doing, than the more persisitent threat of atomic destruction.

 

I've just come back from a trip to the UK by Steam Packet and car. I find that I now enjoy trips on the Packet compared to flying. Flying, for me, isn't what it once was. It's all queues, searches, waiting in lounges and then being packed into planes. At least I get time to relax on the boat.