Once Upon a Time...
In the well-known tradition of Blairite accountability, Tony and his chums have informed us that there is no need for a public inquiry into the London bombings on 7 July. Instead, a senior civil servant will compile a "narrative", using evidence compiled by the police and two select committees. Oh goody - story time again.
Some of the victims' relatives have been so discourteous as to "reserve judgement" about the narrative until they can "assess whether it would establish all the facts about the bombings." Why don't people listen? Tony has informed us that "we do essentially know what happened." It follows, then, that the facts have been established and all that is now necessary is for them to be woven into seamless prose by a senior civil servant. That is what's necessary, so that's what we're going to get.
Tony informed the House of Commons that he "understood concerns over the issue", and magnanimously accepted that people "will want to know exactly what happened." Those who live in Tony's Choice Emporium yet choose to travel on tube trains must have their little quirks, after all. Tony will humour them. Tony and his chums "will bring together all the evidence that we have and we will publish it so that people, the victims and others, can see exactly what happened."
The Minister for Identity Cards agrees that there is need of a narrative. A narrative always helps. However, he disagreed with Tony's assessment that "actually we do essentially know what happened". The Minister said that there were still questions over how the bombers operated and whether they acted alone. Unless knowledge of the bombers' modus operandi and possible accomplices who may seek to repeat the trick is considered inessential, this seems a rather large discrepancy; and the narrative hasn't even started yet.
Meanwhile, Sir Ian Blair, the instant and utter Metropolitan Police commissioner, has assured us that the terrorist threat has intensified since 7 July and that active cells are still plotting suicide attacks. This no doubt flawlessly independent assessment is part of the reason why Tony does not think it would be sensible to "divert a massive amount of police and security service time" into researching the bombings of 7 July, since we already know all the essentials. Tony also warned against thinking the intelligence services knew everything. That sounds to me like jolly good advice.
Still, the Minister for Identity Cards was realistic enough to accept that a senior civil servant, whatever his narrative skills, would not be independent of the government. He, and we, can afford to accept this because the government is not going to try to cover anything up. "Certainly, there is no question of a cover-up of any kind," the Minister said; so apparently there is not going to be any kind of cover-up. I am sure the government will not try to cover anything up. Sleep well.
Some of the victims' relatives have been so discourteous as to "reserve judgement" about the narrative until they can "assess whether it would establish all the facts about the bombings." Why don't people listen? Tony has informed us that "we do essentially know what happened." It follows, then, that the facts have been established and all that is now necessary is for them to be woven into seamless prose by a senior civil servant. That is what's necessary, so that's what we're going to get.
Tony informed the House of Commons that he "understood concerns over the issue", and magnanimously accepted that people "will want to know exactly what happened." Those who live in Tony's Choice Emporium yet choose to travel on tube trains must have their little quirks, after all. Tony will humour them. Tony and his chums "will bring together all the evidence that we have and we will publish it so that people, the victims and others, can see exactly what happened."
The Minister for Identity Cards agrees that there is need of a narrative. A narrative always helps. However, he disagreed with Tony's assessment that "actually we do essentially know what happened". The Minister said that there were still questions over how the bombers operated and whether they acted alone. Unless knowledge of the bombers' modus operandi and possible accomplices who may seek to repeat the trick is considered inessential, this seems a rather large discrepancy; and the narrative hasn't even started yet.
Meanwhile, Sir Ian Blair, the instant and utter Metropolitan Police commissioner, has assured us that the terrorist threat has intensified since 7 July and that active cells are still plotting suicide attacks. This no doubt flawlessly independent assessment is part of the reason why Tony does not think it would be sensible to "divert a massive amount of police and security service time" into researching the bombings of 7 July, since we already know all the essentials. Tony also warned against thinking the intelligence services knew everything. That sounds to me like jolly good advice.
Still, the Minister for Identity Cards was realistic enough to accept that a senior civil servant, whatever his narrative skills, would not be independent of the government. He, and we, can afford to accept this because the government is not going to try to cover anything up. "Certainly, there is no question of a cover-up of any kind," the Minister said; so apparently there is not going to be any kind of cover-up. I am sure the government will not try to cover anything up. Sleep well.
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