Britain is at “critical” risk of a terrorist attack, according to the government after police linked an attack on Glasgow airport to two failed car bombings in London.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s top terrorism adviser says the foiled car-bomb plot shows al Qaeda has imported the tactics of Iraqi and Indonesian militants to Britain. “Make no mistake, this weekend’s bomb attacks signal a major escalation in the war being waged on us by Islamic terrorists,” John Stevens, the former commissioner of the London police, wrote in a newspaper article.
For news,analysis, video and pictures have a look at our special coverage page about the security threat.
How safe do you feel in Britain? What do you think should be done to make Britain safer? Send us your comments.
Trackback
16 comments so far
By and large, Britain is a safe environment. I am slightly concerned, it must be said by the fact that some airports still have drive-by, drop off lanes next door to the airport. The major problems Britain has is when major events occur / breaches of security, when the response mechanisms in place are simply not adequate enough.
My flight from Glasgow to Stansted was cancelled, understandably yesterday, but Easyjet were insisting right up until 7 o’clock last night I was going to fly by 9. The BBC were proclaiming a reopening of the airport by 9 o’clock. Meanwhile BAA (incidentally the only group to give CLEAR AND CATEGORICAL INFORMATION) were telling me not to bother travelling to Glasgow.
With incidents like this it would be prudent to have a national helpline (0845 number), which integrates both the BAA and the airline providers. E.G.
You need to check the status of flights at Glasgow Int., call the number, you will then be handled by BAA. They will say ‘Yea’ or ‘Nay’ before passing you on to the relevant flight operator, e.g. Easyjet. With whom you can then either change your flight, alter your route, etc. Instead of which the present arrangement results in one having to call a premium rate line to Easyjet (since their 10p per minute line leaves you listening to a rendition of Jamelia - Thank You for a sustained period of time. BAA struggle against the sheer volume of calls, while the BBC, Sky, et al, bound about rumours of no real consequence which then gets reported as news. One word - DISGRACE!
Centralised authority control would provide for a better integrated security and transport policy.
The job of prevention is the responsibility of the security services. Cleary the events of the last few days weren’t expected, but this is where more investment, time and money is required to provide the intelligence agencies with the things they require to carry out their jobs effectively so as to prevent, Mohammed Al-Be-Blowing-You-Up-Today, from committing his act.
- Posted by James HorraxAs safe as any proprly organised and civilised society can be.
There is no need to make Britain safer at a tactical level. Strategically the world is to pot.
- Posted by DouglasUnfortunatley we are all targets of the terrorists but is has not been since 9/11 or 7/7
while we are a free country the terrorists will use it to kill. While the goverment and the police ask for greater power to arrest and tigher terrorism laws there will be many shouting human rights, orwell’s 1984 and so forth.
the only real option for this to stop is for th peacefull muslims in this country to stand up and take a stand. They are turning a blind eye to these people and i do not beleive for one second that they dont know who they are.
- Posted by philip morrisLooking at the recent attempted attacks and how they have not been as successful as they should have been, I think Britain is as safe as any country with unpredictable terrorists running around unchecked can be.
With regard to the Human Rights Charter, Article 3 states that “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person”; this cannot be achieved in the present climate while other articles within this Charter exist, and continue to be adhered to.
In order to protect the British, Gordon Brown must realise that this clear and present threat is from the Muslim community. Attentions must be focused on this group, and Political Correctness should be thrown to the wind. We cannot worry about peoples feelings when our families, friends and most importantly our children’s lives are all at risk. I understand how racist this must sound, but it is truely what I believe. Britain is far too concerned with ethnic minorities and their feelings, and in order to combat these radicals each and every single Muslim who is thought to have any sort of Radical connections should be investigated and dealt with severely.
- Posted by RossBritain is as safe as it can be from terror attacks,it will never be 100% safe.
- Posted by DavidThere needs to be a deterant in place for these idiots that have no regard for human life.That can only mean the death penalty.What is the point of giving them 30yr prison sentences.Far to many do gooders in this country.They would not be treated so well in their own country,neither would we if the rolls were reversed.
Hang em high and out to dry.
Very clever of the goverment to raise the threat level to critical now , after three attempted attacks.I think my seven year old would have worked that out.
- Posted by nic crockerThe goverment will gain some credibility when they can react in a preemptive manner to these people
Perhaps as safe as we were under the IRA´s bombing campaigns… statiscally safe, but some casualties expected.
- Posted by PhilDidn´t IRA do car bombs well before the jihadists?
Britain is not safe. While these extremists are here in Britain. Think its about time the government got these people off our shores. These people hate us with a passion and the government is letting them stay here and throwing money at them.
- Posted by JimIs It any wonder tarring everyone with the same brush is evident in Britain today?
Nice to see some sensible comments on this board, it makes a change from the usual nonsense.
Britain is a safe place and determined to stand up to bullying tactics. The police and security services are doing an excellent job and I will continue to put my faith in them rather than a beautific afterlife.
Nice to see Rushdie get an honour, two fingers to all the bitter deranged bastards in the world.
- Posted by SteveFar more worrying deadly than terrorism for my feeling is the threat posed by drivers of relatively high performance vehicles from giant BMW 4X4’s to ‘boyracer Peugeots’.
They represent a far greater threat to life in general and peace of mind as one goes about one’s daily life.
Especially in the suburban and rural communities where they intimidate people on the move, travelling at excessive speeds on rural roads and in built-up areas.
While on the motorways they travel far too close, such that their registration plate and even their manufacture insignia are not visible in the driving mirror.
One of the EUs most secret range of statistics must be those relating to which cars are the most dangerous relative to the number of a given marque on the roads of Europe?
- Posted by Michael HallREgards
M Hall.
It is high time the politicians in Britain wake-up and apply tighter immigration laws and deport Imams who teach hatred.
- Posted by AmbroseI believe we are facing the start of a very serious campaign to bring more terrorism to our streets. They have talked about it for some time and have road-tested their tactics in Iraq. I think we need to totally support the police and the security services who are in the frontline of fighting this. I think they can defeat this campaign but they will need the public’s support and sharp eyes and ears.
- Posted by Bob MacdonaldAnyone affraid to travel to Scotland or Glasgow is quite obviously a paranoic and would be as well not travelling anywhere in the world - Scotland - the country where the man in the street takes on the terrorist one on one with no-fear!
- Posted by Jean BrodieDespite these recent failed attempts we are still one of the safest nations in the world mainly due to our fine tuned intelligence services and excellent police force. The weak link in the chain lies with the government and their lunatic policies with regard to immigration. If they dont toughen up now they never will and the outcome is staring us in the face like never before.
- Posted by j francisI am niether white nor black and often times i get mistaken for someone who would look like a terrorist. I do not mind getting stopped everytime i am at the airport (even though they let through a billion eastern europeans without checking to see if they even have a valid passport!) However i have no problem being stopped as i have nothing to hide. While this country is worrying about political correctness (which by the way is completely devoid of any morality that has been the cornerstone of civilisation for 2000 years) Others are trying their hardest to find new ways to murder us and our children. And i have no idea what idiot let these people into the country in the first place.Probably a lunatic hypocrite anti war protestor, Hypocrit because they should be worrying and protesting against the effects of Islamic extremists on us rather than what muslims are doing to muslims in iraq and then having the audacity to blame the government for teh actions of fully grown men. Do they think that Sadam Hussain Was Princess Diana? Or Mother Teresa? While we have the voices of perpetual lunacy in the media and in our society which seeks to excusse or make excuses for barbarism from these beasts we will never fully defeat terrorism. With the advent of politcal correctness which if anything humiliates and patronizes minorities we can be accused of having one thing in common with terrorists and that is having no sense of Reason. The problem with common sense is that it is just not that common at all.
- Posted by r wilsIn danger of stating the obvious:
Cause - “Invade foreign countries”
Effect - “They bring the war to you”
Sadly, the above true and simpe logic is not beyond the people who run Britain. They just choose to continue with their policies and accept the risk and damages, for as long as they consider them acceptable.
- Posted by George