The No. 30 bus blown up in Tavistock Square on July 7, 2005 was fitted with CCTV cameras and HDD recording equipment, but no pictures showing what was going on prior to the outrage have ever been released.
The last time a major summit was held in the UK, three trains and a bus in London were bombed, 56 people were killed and over 700 injured. Also, despite London being the CCTV capital of the world, many of the cameras in the system were found not to be working, including, apparently, some that could have at least shed light on who carried out the attacks. So this time around, with the G20 summit scheduled to take place in the capital itself, you'd expect the authorities to have security as tight as a as tight as a .... Botox smile. (Those of you who thought I was going to mention a nun, duck or camel in a sandstorm, wash your mouths out with soap immediately!) However, from the Guardian of March 30 comes news that other considerations are taking precedence over the need to keep Londoners safe this silly season. It's an intriguing tale of 60 traffic/public order cameras in central London that must be turned off on the very eve of the G20 summit in order to comply with some new legislation that specifies a minimum 720 x 576-pixel recording capability:
The security operation at this week's G20 summit was thrown into chaos last night when it emerged that the entire network of central London's wireless CCTV cameras will have to be turned off because of a legal ruling.
The Department for Transport (DfT) has ruled that Westminster council's mobile road cameras - a third of the authority's CCTV network - "do not fully meet the resolution standards required" and must be switched off by midnight tomorrow.
The blackout begins on the eve of the summit, when world leaders arrive in the capital and protesters take to the streets.
The council only discovered last week that images from its newly installed £15m traffic cameras do not meet the quality required under the Traffic Management Act, which comes into force on 1 April.
It sounds like somebody's playing an April Fool's joke on somebody, and I can only hope that's all it is. Because any would-be assassins, terrorists or practical jokers armed with custard pies are going to be that little bit harder to catch. And we shouldn't forget bobbies with tasers and agent provos among the demonstrating masses. They are going to feel just that little bit less obliged to behave themselves.
The 60 cameras in question use the latest digital technology and transmit images using Wi-Fi. While they are primarily for traffic enforcement, according to the council the cameras are "an essential additional tool" to tackle crime and disorder, and have been fixed to strategic locations across the capital ahead of the summit.
The 24-hour live footage from the cameras, which monitor roads around the West End, Belgravia, Trafalgar Square, Knightsbridge, Oxford Street and London's main bridges, is also accessible to police and the intelligence services.
A further 160 "permanent" CCTV cameras run by the authority are unaffected. However, security officials believe a shutdown of the mobile road cameras could hamper the G20 security operation, which will require police to secure the safe passage of dozens of motorcades carrying delegations VIP diplomats and leaders.
"Frankly, it couldn't have come at a worse time," a source said. "These are not just parking enforcement cameras, they're for public order and we've got the G20 world leaders coming. This is a complete disaster."
It is fascinating, if lamentable, that potential lack of "public order" currently appears to be a greater concern for the powers than potential terrorism, which, as some readers may remember, struck London on July 7, 2005, slap in the middle of the 3-day G8 Summit in Gleneagles. The British are not easily inflamed into rioting or running amok, but we're being sold the idea that a "summer of discontent" is all but inevitable. The G20 meeting is certainly attracting a fair amount of organized protest, but it looks like fairly innocuous festival being put on by people who want to save us all from unemployment, financial ruin, climate change, or nuclear Armageddon. I'm sure there is something the authorities are not telling us — which is fine by me — loose lips, etc. But I hope and pray that this time they are paying serious attention to the prospect that some exceedingly nasty uninvited guests may be out to spoil the party.
Update
Angrysoba writes:
There have also been some conspiracy theorists who have found it mighty suspicious that when George Galloway was attacked at Glasgow airport by a disgruntled Rangers fan it happened in the only location without CCTV.
Speaking of Galloway, our Christopher Hitchens has decided to impress us all with his principles and magnanimity by calling on the Canadian government to let George Galloway in to hear what he has to say. He also extends this to another of his bete noire, Tariq Ramadan, whose English policeman who thinks he can speak French impression is one we'd all love to hear. Ramadan has been kept out of the US by President Obama despite the allegation that he gave money to charities that may have funnelled money to Hamas, which is ironic given that George Galloway managed to get into the US despite very publicly cutting out the middle man and driving to Gaza to do the very same thing.
He also says it isn't acceptable for Geert Wilders to be barred from showing his piss-your-pants-in-terror take down of Islam movie, Fitna, in the Houses Parliament but I think most people agree that if a principle is worth applying it should be applied universally.
“The enemies of intolerance cannot be tolerant." • "If it is an offense to justice to hold people who may have been victims of mistaken identity or of vendettas by other factions, then it is also an offense to justice to release psychopathic killers who believe that they have divine permission to throw acid in the faces of girls who want to attend school." • "Don't be such a lesbian!
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