This post on Abou Djaffar‘s fine blog expresses something that the Woolwich murder made me feel. It was a perfect demonstration of the dreadful way availability entrepreneurs come out of the woodwork, the spirit of Why the Bombings Mean You Should Support My Politics, a text that looking back accurately predicted the tone of our lives.
The security services, whose halfwitted attempts to recruit one of the killers couldn’t have been more disastrous, instantly announced that they needed more power.
GCHQ, taking advantage of its special direct access to the prime minister, announced that it needed more power via the Communications Data Bill, although it seems unlikely that anyone will achieve much SIGINT detection against what was basically a kebab-shop stabbing.
Hazel Blears, acting as spokeswoman for the parallel intelligence/counter-radicalisation system set up in DCLG under the Prevent strategy, instantly announced that DCLG needed more money and more discretion to act.
The prime minister convened COBRA and started appearing on TV a lot.
The extreme right immediately picked a fight with the cops and started setting fires.
People like David Goodhart started banging on about immigrants.
Tell Mama, which AFAIK started out as something to do with bullying at school, suddenly became front-and-centre in the fight for social cohesion.
I could go on. But can’t all these people just fuck off? The whole exercise is nauseating, and has the side-effect that I just don’t care. And if fascism is alive and well in Muswell Hill, like Elvis, I probably should care. Apathy is imposed on me.