Comments on: Shoot a Brazilian, win a holiday!

By: David Duff

David Duff — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 15:21:00 +0000

I’d give him a medal as well as the holiday. He pressed on to do his duty despite *believing* that the man was a mobile bomb with the means and the motive to disintergrate both of them. Brave man!

By: jonT

jonT — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 12:12:00 +0000

Nonsense!
Scarborough’s lovely this time of year.

By: john b

john b — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 09:39:00 +0000

No, I just assumed that from the fact that he lives in Britain and therefore would be extremely unlikely to take a non-foreign holiday…

By: David Ham

David Ham — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 09:32:00 +0000

Is there any evidence at all that it’s a foreign holiday? I’ve just read the article 3 times and I can’t find the reference.

By: Tim Worstall

Tim Worstall — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 09:24:00 +0000

D’you think he’s gone to Brazil?

By: Kief

Kief — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 08:29:00 +0000

One thought that strikes me about the argument that if Menezes had turned out to be a bomb-wearing terrorist, that we would all be glad the office shot him, or sorry if he hadn't. I think if either of those scenarios had come about, especially the second one, the police involved would have been villified.

After all, they had someone they thought was a bomb-wearing terrorist under surveillance, essentially they had the advantage on him, but they waited to confront him, and when they did, they quickly lost control of the situation. He was able to run down into a tube station and actually get onto a train, a split second away from setting off his bomb and killing civilians.

The fact that the only way the police could prevent him from setting off his bomb on a tube train was to pump him full of bullets shows how badly they screwed the pooch on this one.

By: john b

john b — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 08:23:00 +0000

Hadn’t thought of the second point. That makes some sense…

By: dsquared

dsquared — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 08:20:00 +0000

Seems entirely sensible to me. On the one hand, the poor guy must be shattered. On the other, for cynics of the Met, it’s a good idea to get him separated from the rest of that squad by a few thousand miles until the inquiry is ready to ask them all what happened.