Killer Instincts

Robust British humour has broken out with a vengeance in the Wirral, where a shooting range is deriving a bit of harmless amusement from a teenage victim of terrorist grooming. Shamima Begum was fifteen when Islamic State recruited her, which is very nearly old enough to be a child soldier in the best army in the world. Ultimate Airsoft, which must be the best-named training centre for plucky little Brits outside the fanatically fissiparous Conservative and Unionist Party, has been using pictures of Begum as targets, apparently because of her lack of empathy. In the same light-hearted spirit, the site also uses images of Margaret Thatcher, who married for religious reasons (profit, not Prophet), spent some years at war with enemies within, and spawned two offspring, the stupider of which became involved in a bungled African coup d'état. Since two of Begum's three children have been tactful enough to die before causing too much damage, it would of course be offensive and unjust to draw any comparisons, especially as the Home Secretary is apparently still undecided on the question of revoking Thatcher's citizenship.