trigger behind the raid
Catching up, I see that Bruce Schneier has announced the winner in his movie plot threat contest.
Which is a shame, because this would have made a great late entry:
A man with lower-than-average intelligence is believed to have prompted the anti-terror raid in London's Forest Gate, during which one man was shot, it was claimed last night.In what could prove to be highly embarrassing for the police and security services, the 22-year-old man, who has an IQ of just 69, was the trigger behind the dawn raid this month, according to the Sunday Mirror.
The IQ was low, but the concept was high, and that's what counts. All it took to make a full dress near lethal farce out of the thing was the golden touch of the Zero Mostel of national security, Sir Ian Blair.
![](http://<a href="http://www.no2id.net/"><img src="http://www.no2id.net/images/buttons/square_1.gif" alt="NO2ID - Stop ID cards and the database state" style="width:120px;height:90px;border:0"/></a>){kind=link}
Keep digging, Jamie, and you'll note that the Met passed the tip-off up to the Cabinet Office to get their nod before OK'ing the raid. In other words, they smelt a rat and wanted some other bugger's arse on the line when it went pear-shaped.
By the way, do you subscibe to the South China Morning Post? They've got a story on the topic -- "London's top cop in firing line". This might quote me but I'm too tight to pay merely to check if they've got me down right.
Posted by: Chris Williams | June 18, 2006 at 08:04 PM
As that Scottish metal band put it, "I've got a TRIGGER INSIDE!"
Hold on, that was none other than Therapy? Very appropriate.
Posted by: Alex | June 18, 2006 at 08:30 PM
I think I would take issue with both the adjectives "metal" and "Scottish" as applied to Therapy?. IIRC they were Northern Irish. And they couldn't have been Metal because I have two of their albums and I am too cool to like Metal. Therefore they must have been "Indie", with a touch of "hard rock". No way were they Metal. I am not in denial. In related news, Skid Row were not Metal and nor were Iron Maiden, not really.
Posted by: dsquared | June 18, 2006 at 08:50 PM
"...they smelt a rat and wanted some other bugger's arse on the line when it went pear-shaped."
Or maybe they were collaborating in the sense that financiers come together to produce a movie, hire writers, directors and so on. A "threat" is something with appealing event management potential.
I don;t subscribe to the SCMP, but I'll do a quick run down the Chinese blogs, where it's often cited.
Posted by: jamie | June 19, 2006 at 01:45 PM
Not that I am in anyway wanting to defend the police or anything, but I can't see myself why because the source was a guy with a low IQ made his info any less reliable than anyone else (plus the usefulness of IQ as a concept is pretty contentious to say the least anyway).
Surely the central issue is that the police used the evidence of a single source (whoever it was) as an excuse to go and harass and shoot a couple of 'Hajis'?
Oh nice blog by the way. It's my first visit!
Posted by: redaspie | June 19, 2006 at 10:46 PM
"the Zero Mostel of national security, Sir Ian Blair" - nice one.
Posted by: dearieme | June 21, 2006 at 05:05 PM
The SCMP story on Blair is available online at the reporter's website, here:
http://www.chan-man.com/pdfs/scmp2006/SCMP-18June2006-IanBlair
Posted by: Chris Williams | June 22, 2006 at 03:16 PM