Counter-Terror Officers Investigate Ulez Camera Explosion
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
Metropolitan Police counter-terrorism officers are investigating an incident where a Ulez camera was blown up using a “low-sophistication improvised explosive device” (IED).
These two paragraphs introduce the story.
The explosion happened at about 18:45 GMT on Wednesday in Sidcup, south-east London, damaging vehicles and property.
The Met has said it is treating the blast as a “deliberate act”, but not terrorism at this stage.
It also appears that the camera had been cut down earlier and then someone blew it up.
I am 76 and I know several of my generation, who experimented with explosives. One, who was an American, blew his hand off.
But speaking to my children, none said they had experimented.
Is it, that my generation was born closer to World War II?
I don’t drive so ULEZs and Low Traffic Neighborhoods don’t bother me, but if some blow-up cameras and deface the signs, they must bother others.
I can’t help feeling that Sadiq Khan is introducing policies, that some violently object to!
I doubt that is a sensible policy, both practically or politically.
The Anonymous Widower 
When I was a kid the age for buying fireworks was 13, it has since been successively raised to 16 and then 18. In our small town there was an ironmonger (ironically run by a man who had lost a hand in the war) who would happily sell bangers etc. to children as young as 10 or even less (if you were very tall like me). Of course we played with them, although the worst injury I got was a burnt finger trying to light one that had broken open in my pocket. They were also relatively cheap and quite powerful compared to today.
These days decent fireworks are considered semi-professional and can only be bought from a dealer in a former MoD armoury.
Comment by R. Mark Clayton | December 8, 2023 |
PS why use a bomb when a partially chewed fruit gum on a stick would do just as well – still criminal damage, but unlikely to result in years inside for causing explosions with intent to endanger life!
Comment by R. Mark Clayton | December 8, 2023 |
Along with Hobby Chemistry Sets we children of the 1950/60s found it was comparatively easy to buy chemicals before restrictions were introduced, however I suspect that Jetex Motors and Fuse cord that first saw the light of day in 1949 were the incentive for many aspirant bomb makers, that and my friend’s brother Bob who taught us how to make gunpowder.
Comment by fammorris | December 9, 2023 |