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16. Mar 2026|13:17 |
smuks gabaliņš par valstsvīru atrautību no valsts (laikam pareizāk jāsaka - no tautas)
"..40 years ago. It was a time that Downing Street was just an ordinary street that anybody could wander down. A single unarmed police officer stood outside and he was happy to chat to tourists and even, as in this case, pose for photographs. Today, Downing Street is like a fortress with huge steel barriers behind which a dozen heavily armed police officers lurk. They wear black uniforms, including flat jackets and cradle rifles in their arms. They all have automatic pistols at their hips. The more menacing bunch of men, it's hard to imagine. Anybody attempting to walk past 10 Downing Street these days without authorization is liable to be shot. It is hard to imagine any of these men posing for a snapshot with some random tourist and smiling at the camera.
Welcome to modern Britain. The scene there encapsulates what many of us now feel that the police rather than being our friends now regard us as potential enemies to be watched and if necessary cowed into submission. Our leaders hide behind barriers guarded by armed troops lest they have to encounter us face to face and hear our reproaches at the dreadful way in which they govern us. So why is Downing Street now like a citadel under siege?
The ostensible reason is the threat of terrorism, but that's quite absurd. Cast your mind back to the 1970s [..] Terrorism in those days was off scale. But Downing Street still remained accessible to us all. In 1971, two powerful bombs were detonated at the home of employment secretary Robert Carr. These were the work of domestic terrorists, an anarchist group called the Angry Brigade. There were bombs near the home of the commissioner of police for the metropolis at the time. Bombs all over the place. In fact, 3 years later, the IRA (Irish Republican Army) were planting and throwing bombs all over London and across the rest of England. Some restaurants in London ported up their windows to stop bombs being thrown through them, as happened in some places. The bomb was thrown through the window of a pub in Woolwich in 1974. It killed two people.
Downing Street, though, remained open to the public. A handy shortcut between Whitehall and St. James' path. The real reason that Downing Street was sealed off in this way is that political power in this country began to be more and more removed from the wishes and desires of ordinary people. And our leaders began to be fearful of the general public. Prime Ministers in the past used to travel about on public transport without any bodyguards at all. One can hardly imagine Kier Starmer getting on a tube train, can you? He might be asked awkward questions by members of the public if they recognized him. The fortification of Downing Street is symbolic of the rift which has taken place between us and our rulers. They are keen to avoid us if humanly possible or indeed keen even to avoid catching a glimpse of us or hearing our voices if that can be achieved."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Angry_Brigade
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolwich_pub_bombing |
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