the dissident frogman · time to take sides

Seems to me that the United Kingdom should drop the constitutional monarchy, and go for a full blown people's republic.

Britain's new Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and chums (or, as AP's Jill Lawless puts it "friends and foes alike"):

"The stern Scot's [that would be Brown -- Ed.] few public statements have been somber, measured and brief."

"(...) Brown's response to the attacks has won praise from allies and foes alike."

"On Tuesday, the head of the Muslim Council of Britain, Muhammad Abdul Bari, lauded Brown and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith for the "calm and reassuring tone of their responses to the recent attacks."

"(...) The low-key Smith also stands in contrast to her pugnacious predecessor, John Reid (...) Smith called terrorists "criminals whose victims come from all walks of life, communities and religious backgrounds." Brown has spoken of "al-Qaida" attackers but not of "Islamic" or "Muslim" terrorists." [Emphasis mine -- Ed]

Spot on Smithy! "All walks of life", that's the Brazilian Electrician Liberation Army right there.

Then you have another type of Scots, like Glasgow taxi driver Alex McIlveen — obviously forged out of a claymore and breast fed on haggis and whisky — and chums, apparently born and raised the same:

" (...) as my passenger was paying and getting out, the Jeep rammed into the airport entrance right next to us.

“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The guy in the passenger seat was wearing a white T-shirt. He got out carrying what looked like a petrol bomb and seconds later the Jeep was in flames.

“Then he kicked and punched a man to the ground before punching a policeman square in the face. That’s when I saw red. That sort of thing just isn’t on.

“I told my passenger to run for her life, then I went for the man in the T-shirt and managed to skelp him in the face. I followed it up by booting him twice.

“By that time some other people had joined in and it seemed like the T-shirt guy was trying to get back into the Jeep. Then the driver got out of the car. He was already in flames. It was obvious he was the real psycho of the pair.

(...) “He was going crazy, just lashing out at everyone and babbling p*sh in a foreign language the whole time. I’ve heard people say since that he was shouting ‘Allah!’ but I didn’t hear that. It just sounded like a lot of c**p to me.

“I ran for the guy and punched him twice in the face with pretty good right hooks.

“Then I kicked him with full force right in the balls but he didn’t go down. He just kept on babbling his rubbish.

”I couldn’t believe that he was still standing. I know I would have been floored by that kind of kick.“

Alex continued to take on the man, who was lashing out with his fists. He recalled: ”He was a big guy and I’m not really a fighter, but his punches were wild and I managed to dodge them and make some good strikes myself.

“Luckily, more people joined in and we managed to beat the guy down. The police apparently caught the other man. I don’t think the policeman I saw at the scene drew his baton during the whole thing. He should have given it to me - I’d have leathered those guys with it.”

Someone put the taxi driver in charge of the bloody country, quickly.