"Gotcha!" screemed The Sun on the day Margaret Thatcher salvaged her waning popularity and flagging career by murdering in cold blood the entire crew of a warship that was in fact turning back and going back the way it came. To me, this legendary and historic headline symbolises a tradition of rejoicing when one's enemies are killed.

My attitude to winning a war is not to celebrate. OK, we should celebrate the fact that the war is over, but not the fact that the enemy has been slaughtered. Death is a sad sombre affair, even when it is the death of our oppononents.

So in the same way, let us grieve for those who have lost their lives today in the World Trade Centre and let us grieve for those who died in the Pentagon.

These people may have been the agents of global capitalism and american imperialism. But did they deserve to be executed? "Targeted killings" anyone?

They do not deserve any more sympathy than those countless millions every year throughout the world, whose deaths or even whose ruined lives are deemed un-newsworthy. It does make me sick to see so much mourning for poor old america on the TV tonight, but only because they never bother to mourn to the same degree (or even at all!) for the victims of our wars in Kosovo and Iraq and the victims of global freemarket capitalism in general.

I feel a very strong urge to say that America has long been asking for it. But surely those people did not deserve death.



Having said all that and still standing by it all, I feel a rush of excitement to know that the World Trade Centre has been destroyed. That place no longer exists. Now maybe this is just me being male and barbaric but the fact that the WTC has been destroyed is, to me, fucking gratifying!

And whilst I do lament the deaths of the individuals who died in the Pentagon, the fact that the Pentagon itself has taken a damn good hit is as far as I'm concerned an absolute bonus!

As for Tony Blair and his crocodile tears, I actually think he was being genuine. He looked fake as fuck, sure. But then he always looks like that, that's just the way he is. No, I don't think he was faking it. I think he meant it. I think he was genuinely upset. Blair loves America. When he has sex with Cherie, he imagines that she's America itself. What I DID find ironic about that speech was when he started banging on about "evil". "This is the new evil of our world" he bleated. (not quite sure why "bleated" but it seems kind of apt). What's ironic about it is not just the fact that Tony Blair himself is the new evil of our world (him and the rest of the global elite that is), but the fact that he's so totally unaware of this. The arrogant self-righteous git honestly believes in his own moral authority and superiority. He thinks of himself as the SOLUTION when he is in fact (a part of) the PROBLEM.


Well, it was a good protest. It would have been even better if more people had come, but we certainly made an impact. I felt rather uneasy on the way back, on the DLR and on the tube, all the way right up to Charing Cross, being surrounded by the continual presence of men in shiny suits. Towards the end there were less of them but they were always there. It can't still be them, I kept thinking, each time I changed trains. But when I listened to their conversations, I was left in no doubt whose company I was in and it chilled my blood. I couldn't hear everything they said, just the odd phrase like "how many remote vehicles was it for the UAE? 3 yeah that was it" and "yeah, tanks" and "why don't they just get a life" and "are these people going to be here all week then?... Bummer!"

What can I say, wouldn't it just;-)

So, it's official, the men in clean suits doing dirty deals are expecting A BUMMER. Let's not disapoint them.