Also, big honking missiles on rooftops too. Bet that scared the terrorists good…

“Also, big honking missiles on rooftops too. Bet that scared the terrorists good…”

Fog of war, I’d say. The hullabaloo about missiles surely was used for both diverting the minds of attention-seeking terrorists (“oh, they have prepared even for that, it must be really difficult to make any spectacular strieks”) and the general public (“I’m so outraged at the idea of AA missiles in my neighbourhood that I don’t even notice the newest CCTV camera at my front door”).

Another similar thing is the fuss about liquids when flying.

I continued to use the Tube in the aftermath, but it was pretty much deserted at first.

@ 1 Cylux

“Also, big honking missiles on rooftops too. Bet that scared the terrorists good…”

They’re almost as good as my alligator-repellent rock.

@4 I could do with that to go with me shark-repellant bat-spray

‘Pwned’ — explain please.

‘Pwned’ — explain please.

‘Owned’ famously mis-spelt in a videogame – Doom or Duke Nuke ‘Em, wasn’t it?

(Anyway, not that current.)

‘ four idiots spoiled everything’

Just a tad insulting to the 52 murdered people of all colours, creeds and religions maybe?

Disgraceful.

“There was a real sense of political momentum, a feeling of people power, and for once, and absence of the usual cynicism associated with politics.”

It wasn’t that good – we were waging a brutal, unprovoked war again the Iraqis, recall?

I certainly didn’t feel positive about British politics.

That the person who emerged as the darling of these games was a Somali born, British Muslim man comfortable in his nationality and faith, makes the refutation of the terrorist ideology all the more complete.

It’s a good refutation of the reactionary right as well. The Daily Mail was calling Mo Farah a ‘plastic brit’ not long ago, and demonising Muslims and immigrants, and now they’re busy singing his praises (through gritted teeth no doubt). I think the DM must win a gold medal for rank hypocrisy!

The Daily Mail and ‘Plastic Brits’ — didn’t this paper once promote to the hilt a very ‘Plastic Brit’, a young runner from South Africa?

Graham @10. ”The Daily Mail was calling Mo Farah a ‘plastic brit’ not long ago..”
Really? Are you sure they named him? I actually doubt it as he came to Britain at eight years old and that was not what the ”Plastic Brits” people were talking about. Not Martin Samuel anyway.

I guess that this will go down as a truth in lefty legend though.
That the DM called Mo Farah one of the Plastic Brits.

@12 Damon

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2112899/London-2012-Olympics-Plastic-Brits-insult-Games–Des-Kelly.html

Thanks for the comments, folks.

Max @ 8 – I don’t see why it is insulting to their victims to call these four murderers ‘idiots’. Of course we remember the victims. But this post was not about them. Now you mention it, however, I could have put in an extra line about how the diversity of the 52 victims mirrors the diversity on display at The Games.. But tend to be wary of co-opting them into such arguments.

Chris @ 9 – I think it was precisely because of the depressing, duplicitous and (as you say) brutal nature of the Iraq invasion that many of us were looking for something to be optimistic about in the summer of 2005. The positive political events did feel at the time like a shift in the right direction, towards a place where the Iraq clusterfuck could be reversed, or at least atoned for. And then the four bombs went off, and we slipped back into several more years of fear.

@ 12 damon

“I guess that this will go down as a truth in lefty legend though”

Hah. You seem to be confusing “lefty legend” with “recorded fact, easily accessible over the internet”.

Next time, perhaps you should check whether a fact is true – even if you don’t like it! – before dismissing it as false. Because right now it looks like you’re the one who wants to believe in legends.

With all the missiles, Army and Air Force stationed in and around and above London – http://andreasmoser.wordpress.com/2012/05/07/london-olympic-world-war-iii/ – I was actually hoping for a terrorist attack. A huge firefight would have been much more entertaining than pole jumping or canoeing.

Olympic spirit deterred terrorists?
Tell that to those who have been kept in prison without charge for the time of the Olympics: http://andreasmoser.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/london-olympics-vs-human-rights/

Graham and Chaise. I’m happy to conceed if I was wrong there.
Mo Farah is British by any definition I could make. Because if you go to school there you cannot but become a Brit. That he and his family have gone to live in Oregon shouldn’t really matter. If David Beckham goes to live in LA he’s still English so it was a cheap shot I think.
The others (plastic Brits) are a bit more complicated. Those Gulf countries who have offered citizenship and big money for foriegn athleets to compete for them are clearly going too far. And the thing with the Ukrainian wrestlers seems like a bit of a joke.

It was one person in the DM who said it though. Des Kelly.
I think it best if people liked that are named individulaly, as saying ”OMG the Daily Mail sad this ….” is not strictly accurate. Martin Samuel also of the DM might disagree with him, in the same way that people who write in the Guardian might disagree with each other.

Also, although it seems no one on LC has any time (whatsoever) for the ‘contrarians’ at Spiked …. they are right again as far as I can see on this.

”The 16 days of the London 2012 Olympics, and particularly the 10 days of outstanding athletics on the track and field, were an exhilarating, inspiring spectacle, the sporting highlights of which will live long in the imagination. Agreed? Now, can we leave it at that?

Instead, an army of pundits and politicians seem determined to mar our memories by degrading the Games with their Olym-politics, droning on about the cultural, social and economic ‘meaning’ and ‘legacy’ of London 2012. They are trying to turn Olympic athletes and events into tools to pursue their own pet agendas, from saving little children from obesity to signing us all up to their Big Society. If this carries on, they may well achieve the seemingly impossible (and not in a good, Mo Farah way) by making some of us sick of hearing about those glorious Games.

http://www.spiked-online.com/site/article/12762/

Another possible explanation for the absence of terrorism is that some states have noticeably changed their attitude towards the Olympics: http://andreasmoser.wordpress.com/2012/08/15/palestine-olympics/

@ 18 damon

“Graham and Chaise. I’m happy to conceed if I was wrong there.”

That’s cool of you, thank you. I think I’d agree with your take on “bring a Brit”. And yes, there will always be a line beyond which we seem to be squeezing people into the “Brit” category in the name of sporting success.

“It was one person in the DM who said it though. Des Kelly.”

Fair point, although we can assume that it met DM editorial policy. But yes, “Des Kelly, writing in the Mail, said…” is better than “The Mail said…” where an author is named.

“Also, although it seems no one on LC has any time (whatsoever) for the ‘contrarians’ at Spiked …. they are right again as far as I can see on this.”

As you know, I occasionally have time for Sp!ked and will say if I agree with an article. It’s just that 90% of the articles I’ve seen can be synopsised thus: “blah blah elitist blah blah I care about the working class no really blah blah I’ve found a vague fully general line of attack that I can throw at anything I don’t like hurrah for me blah blah blah”.

Regarding your quote, I should point out that it’s kinda an example of what it wants to condemn, but I guess that’s unavoidable if you want to say “I wish we’d all stop talking about X”, so it gets a pass there. I’m not sure if I agree with it, but there certainly is a lot of overanalysis going on regarding the perceived politics of the Olympics – I’m guessing it’s every opinion columnists’ favourite metaphor ATM – so I can certainly sympathise with the author’s feelings.

I think that I have a different view.

There was never going to be any trouble at the Olympics. It’s too big, too Global, too independent and trouble would have destroyed the message that Islam is a religion of peace. Let’s not kid ourselves, it’s trivial to disrupt anything, anywhere, anytime.

The Islamists are playing a long game over generations, not years, and they are winning. Inch by inch, tiny step by tiny step, they are increasingly influencing our decisions and behaviour. They are winning a very slow game of chess.

Andreas, this isn’t the fecking small ads. Take your spam elsewhere.

Did anyone consider the consequences of the 7th July bombings would have been much greater if the 4 bozos with backpacks had arrived in London on tbe 6th instead? Same level of bomb damage and the Olympics in Paris. Complete amateurs!

Shrugged re comment 21:

“There was never going to be any trouble at the Olympics. It’s too big, too Global, too independent and trouble would have destroyed the message that Islam is a religion of peace. Let’s not kid ourselves, it’s trivial to disrupt anything, anywhere, anytime.”

Er ……….. Munich 1972?
That didn’t harm Palestinian interests – far from it. So much so it is rarely discussed with the revulsion it deserves.

@ 21 Shrugged

“There was never going to be any trouble at the Olympics. It’s too big, too Global, too independent and trouble would have destroyed the message that Islam is a religion of peace. ”

Pretty sure that suicide bombers and the like aren’t bothered about spreading that particular message. If they are, they’re exceptionally bad at it.

Er ……….. Munich 1972?
That didn’t harm Palestinian interests – far from it.

Well forty years down the line, the West Bank is still occupied and the Palestinians still don’t have their state, so I’d venture it it didn’t help them a great deal.

I think some people are misreading the nature of my OP. I’m not claiming that the Olympic spirit had anything to do with the lack of a terrorist attack in 2012. I’m saying that the aims and ideology of the 7/7 terrrorists have been comprehensively refuted and in some sense diffused by the attitudes we saw over these recent weeks. Cold comfort to the families of the victims. But this absence of fear is the right outcome, nonetheless.

A terrorist outrage at the Olympics would have done much to unify the international community in combining with a hostile response while the threat was enough to oblige Britain to incur mounting security costs. The jihadists have found alternative opportunities for parading their ideological differences with other Islamic countries:

Three Arab states have urged their citizens to leave Lebanon amid signs that the conflict in Syria is spilling over into its western neighbour. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar urged immediate action after a string of kidnappings of Sunni Muslims by a powerful Shia clan.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19275595