posted
The cycling forum is bursting with information today:
quote:I have heard from a pretty good source that Bloomberg contacted its employees at 7:15am today and told them not to travel to work in London.
Uh huh.
quote:Mobile phone networks in London have been switched off because mobile phones can be used to remotely detonate bombs (see Madrid).
Gotcha. Any more insider info?
quote:News seems to say only 4 confirmed blasts rather than the 6 or 7 incidents. Bus bomber should have been on the underground but got caught up in the traffic
Was it like this during the Blitz do you reckon?
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Kellifer a beautiful, sensitive impenetrable mind.
posted
Hope you are all okay and that loved ones are safe. My thoughts are with you Londoners and hope you get home safely tonight.
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quote: Mobile phone networks in London have been switched off because mobile phones can be used to remotely detonate bombs (see Madrid).
Errmm... that maybe true that they can be used to detonate devices, but how come people can SMS ok - I have heard from several people that they are able to send and receive sms's and surely this could be used to detonate an explosive device.
Plus what if someone dialled the wrong number the day before?
posted
A Barbelith poster has apparently received an official looking circular from Westminster police, saying that walking is now reckoned to be okay so long as people stay away from the affected stations.
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turbo
Gold..... What is it good for? You can't eat it, you can't smoke it, yet everybody wants it.
posted
Glad to see all the Londonites post on this thread. It must feel extremely surreal to be in London at the moment.
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schism
Can I borrow your underpants for ten minutes ?
posted
I don't mean to belittle the situation and I'm fairly well out of it in the West End so all I can see is just hundreds more people walking around than usual...
...but, it seems that London got away with it pretty lightly all things considered.
It's true that millions must have been lost by business and a huge amount of disruption and worry has been caused but on the scale of things, it's no New York or Madrid. That's one thing that we should be thankful for.
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scrawny
One Mojito, two Gin and Tonics, Three Bacardi Lime Sodas, and a couple of pints of Stella please.
posted
quote:Originally posted by Ganesh: A Barbelith poster has apparently received an official looking circular from Westminster police, saying that walking is now reckoned to be okay so long as people stay away from the affected stations.
Can everyone keep an eye out for some official confirmation of this? Cheers x
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quote:Originally posted by schism: I don't mean to belittle the situation and I'm fairly well out of it in the West End so all I can see is just hundreds more people walking around than usual...
...but, it seems that London got away with it pretty lightly all things considered.
Yeah, I was about to post the following. Here goes anyway:
I really, really hope I'm not saying anything out of line here, but I'm getting a strong feeling that this has been a far smaller incident than was first reported. I think the sheer number of people with mobile phones, email/internet access and instant digital cameras has allowed approximately four explosions to appear like a creeping barrage where any bus, train or litter bin could explode at any moment.
So many witnesses have described hearing the Russell Square explosion that one gets the impression there must have been lots of explosions. The radio and internet news sites were reporting three buses and five or six Tube bombings and twenty deaths at one stage. It's now down to one bus and three Tube, and two (2) confirmed deaths.
I know that casualty figures tend to increase as time goes by with these incidents, but starting with at two surely offers some hope that it's not going to be a very large figure, however horrible any figure would be.
Also, having everyone locked into their buildings and sirens rushing around to check suspect packages is obviously adding to the atmosphere. It's a precaution, a sensible one perhaps, but it doesn't help people to get an accurate perspective on the real situation.
I dunno, that may be complete bollo, but it's the view I'm starting to get from my remote vantage point absolutely nowhere near London.
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posted
Yah, Dang. That seems to be the view of A N Expert just on the telly. He said that we're 'lucky', in that it wasn't a chemical or biological attack, and that the physical explosions were smaller than thay could have been - cf Madrid. He described it as a 'warning attack', showing what they can do. This is not particularly comforting.
A US security organisation (un-named) reckons there's 40 dead. There are apparently 8-10 dead at Edgware Road, 10 at Kings Cross and 2 at Aldgate. Hard to know if it's a Madrid-style situation, where the casualty figure started small and rose horrifically, or a Twin Towers type, where the numbers started at 60,000 and went down.
Quite a feeling of 'move along, nothing to see here, just get on with it' seems to be emanating from the media now.
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posted
Oh, yeah. They had Paddick on earlier, saying (well, speculating, to be fair, but it kinda made sense) that he didn't think a large bodycount was the objective- it was more designed to fuck the infrastructure for a day- kind of a "we can do this any time we want- probably a whole bunch more if we feel like it" type deal. Although it doesn't seem to have inspired as much panic as I'm guessing it was intended to- I fucking love this city.
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quote:Originally posted by dang65: I dunno, that may be complete bollo, but it's the view I'm starting to get from my remote vantage point absolutely nowhere near London.
Fair enough dang, but you wouldn't have been so cool when you hear that there's been an explosion on a bus and then someone gets on with a detection device crackling and bleeping. When you finally arrive nearly three hours late for work and all of your team have been called on standby, you might be a teensy bit over-precautious. There were at least two people who didn't get off so lightly this morning at least. That's enough for me in Little Britain.
posted
I think what you say about the way news of modern events can spread instantly and become exaggerated is true, Dang, but the scale of it may be wider than you think. Like I said, it seems there was a controlled explosion outside my office in South Ken, but that hasn't made it onto any news site.
There may not be as many deaths as in the Madrid train, but they have effectively demonstrated how easy a large city can be disabled.
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quote:Originally posted by schism: Who wants to get on a tube or a bus tomorrow now? Or next week?
I didn't want to for a while after 9/11. Point is, I had to, I don't have any other choice. It's just one of those daily risks one cannot avoid; being fearful seems, I dunno, a waste of effort somehow.
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turbo
Gold..... What is it good for? You can't eat it, you can't smoke it, yet everybody wants it.
posted
quote:Originally posted by schism: Who wants to get on a tube or a bus tomorrow now? Or next week?
Not me. When the IRA were staging all kinds of stuff in the late 90's, I walked everywhere each time I went to London, even when it rained or if my meeting was bloody miles away. Doesn't take much to instill The Fear in me...
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posted
Scrawny - we are now being allowed out of our office and have also been told the "walk but stay away from affected areas thing". I hope to be going home shortly but I need to contact a few more colleagues and see my boss and stuff first. If you need to come to mine then do. You know the digits. I think Victoria is still closed and buses are running outside of Zone 1.
quote:Originally posted by schism: Who wants to get on a tube or a bus tomorrow now? Or next week?
I will be: I want to see my girlfriend. Anyway, if I blew up people would imagine all the great things I might have done, rather than getting confirmation of all the stuff I'd actually have fucked up.
H1ppychick
We all prisoners, chickee-baby. We all locked in.
posted
quote:Originally posted by New Way Of Decay: Also, I can't say what I know here.
Presumably this cryptic comment means that the official line is somewhat playing down the bodycount for casualties and fatalities at this stage, and that you are 'in the know' because of where you work?
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scrawny
One Mojito, two Gin and Tonics, Three Bacardi Lime Sodas, and a couple of pints of Stella please.
posted
quote:Originally posted by schism: Who wants to get on a tube or a bus tomorrow now? Or next week?
This is it, though, isn't it. Even when they do get the tubes up and running, I'm not sure I'll be queueing up to be first on. Mind you people have incredibly short memories...
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quote:Originally posted by Vogon Poetess: I think what you say about the way news of modern events can spread instantly and become exaggerated is true, Dang, but the scale of it may be wider than you think. Like I said, it seems there was a controlled explosion outside my office in South Ken, but that hasn't made it onto any news site.
I'm not being blasé about this, honest. It's obviously been a horrible day. A controlled explosion could be anything though - a briefcase, a parcel, a sandwich box. Just something suspicious enough to be neutralised. I agree with the theory that the main aim was to fuck up London for the day, or for the week or whatever. It's got to be so easy to do that. Sick, but easy.
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scrawny
One Mojito, two Gin and Tonics, Three Bacardi Lime Sodas, and a couple of pints of Stella please.
posted
quote:Originally posted by Uber Trick: Scrawny - we are now being allowed out of our office and have also been told the "walk but stay away from affected areas thing". I hope to be going home shortly but I need to contact a few more colleagues and see my boss and stuff first. If you need to come to mine then do. You know the digits. I think Victoria is still closed and buses are running outside of Zone 1.
Thankyou. Will see how I get on.
P.S. Uber, finally got your vm. Thanksx
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quote:Originally posted by dang65: I agree with the theory that the main aim was to fuck up London for the day, or for the week or whatever. It's got to be so easy to do that. Sick, but easy.
True, but, as Stoatie says over on Barbelith, "paralysing the transport network" is hardly the threat they seem to think it is. London's pretty hard to terrify.
quote:Originally posted by Ganesh: True, but, as Stoatie says over on Barbelith, "paralysing the transport network" is hardly the threat they seem to think it is.
Yeah, I was thinking that. Are London workers supposed to shake in fear, going "Fuck! I might have to stay at home on Friday, instead of going into work. Fuck! This is the one thing I didn't want to happen!"
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quote:Originally posted by H1ppychick: Presumably this cryptic comment means that the official line is somewhat playing down the bodycount for casualties and fatalities at this stage, and that you are 'in the know' because of where you work?
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