Daddy knows best

Is it irresponsible to talk about how we might respond to a major terrorist attack? The British Government seems to think so.

Terrorists target London with multiple attacks. It's a nightmare scenario devised by Panorama with the help of security experts to test how well Britain would cope.

But the government condemned Panorama's programme as "irresponsible" and refused any co-operation.

Panorama: London under attack will be broadcast on BBC One on Sunday, 16 May 2004 at 22:15 BST

"We are disappointed to learn that the BBC appears to have adopted an irresponsible and alarmist approach over what is understandably an emotive and frightening subject for the public," a Home Office spokesman told BBC News Online.

He said the programme depicted a situation that was "simply not realistic".

So if an attack on London is going to take place, the tube is not a likely target? Ask the people of Tokyo and Madrid! It doesn't take five minutes to come up with any number of scenarios even more horrifying than the one picked by the BBC.

This is surely yet another example of secrecy for the sake of it.

Incidently the BBC report about the MI5 website includes the weirdest photo I've seen in a long time. That is David Blunkett being shown a computer monitor isn't it?