UK Govt anti terrorist measures

Blair's announcement of further measures to act against those who may have ill intentions has further raised the temperature of debate. Yesterday two MPs - George Galloway (as one might expect), and the Labour MP Bob Marshall-Andrews, were on the radio talking about how the British Government needs to acknowledge the long history of western foreign policy regarding the Middle East, and take responsibility for it, if the risk of further terrorist atrocities in the UK is to be significantly reduced. UK and US involvement in Afghanistan, Iraq (including the so-called 'first Gulf war' in the nineties), and the whole 50+ year history of the occupation of Palestine, are increasingly coming to the forefront of the debate, which has to be a good thing.
If Blair and Bush were to take steps to acknowledge that much of this history was not necessarily in the best interests of the local population in the region, and redouble their efforts to progress towards a peaceful settlement, especially in Palestine, they would surely ease the threat. Not that I'm suggesting any sort of climb down in the face of the threat - rather a pragmatic approach to the problems created in the past, and an honest effort to improve the situation now and for the future.
Some years back I was lucky enough to visit Jordan for a week or so. A large chunk of the population in Jordan comprises Palestinian refugees. The economic situation in the country is not good, with many people living in pretty poor conditions. The contrast with Israel (funded by the west) is stark. No suprise then that some of those displaced, disenfranchised, poverty stricken refugees are sufficiently unhappy with their lot that they choose to take up arms against what they perceive as an agressor.
Marshall-Andrews made the argument, to which I subscribe, that by announcing further repressive measures in the UK, Blair will almost certainly add further strength to the cause of those angry young men (and it is always angry young men) who disagree with UK foreign policy, and so swell the numbers of those extreme few who may be willing to take more drastic action.
We all want the authorities to catch and try those who have ill intent towards us, and we all support the outstanding efforts of the police and the security services to date in this regard. But do we not already give sufficient powers to our police and others to do what they need to do, without fuelling the flames by introducing yet another package of draconian measures. It reminds me very much of Thatcher's government in the days when she was struggling with the problems in Northern Ireland.

Kids

A hell of a weekend. Last Tuesday night my son Joe (3) woke up at 11pm with breathing difficulties. Thinking ti might an asthma attack brought on by the high temperature (it has been really warm here this last week or so) we took no chances and called an ambulance. It turned out to be a virus causing croup - an inflamed larynx causing the difficulty in breathing. By 2.30 am we were home and all was well-ish. Since then Joe's behavious has been dreadful. Totally non-compliant and rebellious. We think it might be down to the sucrose in the medicine he's been taking, causing him to be hyper, so hopefully as he no longer needs the medication, things will improve. But he has driven me to distraction over the weekend. And just he has recovered from the croup, his sister Rosa (6 months old) looks like she's got it, leading to more sleepless nights. The joys of parenthood,eh.
It's now Monday afternoon, and I've been able to escape to the office for some much needed rest.

2 minutes silence

I missed the 2 minute silence that was observed today by many across the UK and further afield. I'm unhappy with myself about missing this (I was involved in a discussion and simply lost track of the time), and once agian I am surprised by my strength of feeling over this whole tragic affair.