There's little doubt that the demonised Hamza had, at the very least a serious image problem and also he was clearly unhinged and potentially dangerous. Like most people, I have little sympathy for his ideals of worldwide fundamentalist islam. But browsing the hysterical mainstream media reports containing photos of a "HORRIFYING arsenal of terrorist gear" makes me rather uneasy about just what the cops trawl up and put on display as evidence of terrorism these days. Many of the items seem very normal household items and, me being fond of camping in remote places means I have a similar stash of survival gear too. How much of this kit do you own?

Wooden spoon(!): yep got plenty of those
London A-Z: have more than one of those too
Lighter gas: yep
plastic water bottles: also have some of those
survival space blanket: yes
glass cutterr: yes, along with all my other tools
diamond knife sharpener: yes
various pen knives: yes
khaki belt: yes
gas mask: yes, good prop on eco demos
camping pots & pans: yes quite a few
aluminium water bottles: yes
camouflage gear: yes
garden trowels: yes 2
walkie talkies: yes

handcuffs: no never done S & M
big hunting knifes: no but they're no more dangerous than kitchen knifes
starting pistols: no, they look scary but are harmless

So you see, it really doesn't take much to be seen as a terrorist these days. Also publishing photos of anyone's face lit from below can make them seem far more evil and threatening. I'm just wondering whether I should bury some of this stuff out in the garden tonight while the curtain twitching neighbours are asleep. Good job indymedia don't log IPs.