Keep calm and carry on

by digby

A message has gone viral claiming that there is a high likelihood of a terrorist attack on London’s underground network on Monday morning and all London police officers have been called in to a special 4 a.m. shift.

Wow. That sounds really scary. Except it wasn’t true.

But a Metropolitan Police spokesman told BuzzFeed the text message is “completely untrue” and no extra officers are coming in early.

The Met, which is responsible for policing the capital, say they have a policy of not normally commenting on hoaxes for fear of encouraging more. But they felt this particular message had reached such a wide audience they had to issue a public denial.

The London boss of the British Transport Police, the law enforcement body that looks after the tube network, has hit out at such “rumours”.

I can see why the Brits are nervous. The government issued a scary warning on Friday. And since it’s clear that some of these ISIL members are British I’d guess they feel more vulnerable than usual. But it isn’t the Battle of Britain.

I feel as if we’re going back to that place we were a decade ago when the fear of 9/11 excited people into a frenzy that led them to some very bad judgment. I get that governments have to warn their people of these threats and they should. But the people shouldn’t allow themselves to be overstimulated by it. The old British trope, however stale and over-exploited it’s been in the past few years — is still a good one:

Just kidding …