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How important is your safety?

The government provides free guidelines and advice which allows business to assess the risk of a terrorist attack. The website, “Continuity Central“, released a publication today entitled “Protecting Against Terrorism” summarising guidelines for businesses. This was not a public relations exercise by our political masters but a common sense response to requests from those businesses that have thought about the possibility of a terrorist attack.

The Security Service, in partnership with Home Office and Cabinet Office, have updated existing protective security guidance for organisations with a duty of care for others. This guidance, entitled ‘Protecting Against Terrorism’ has been published in response to requests from businesses to have a hard copy version of the guidance on the website

Yet, the majority of small businesses must be unaware that there are free guidelines of this nature. Has this government, renowned for its expertise in public relations, promoted a booklet that would save lives? Was this a press release that the mainstream media responsibly reported because they understood that smaller enterprises do not belong to organisations with the resources to monitor such subjects?

The release of relevant publications is a vital opportunity to raise awareness of the preventive actions that organisations and individuals can take to mitigate a terrorist attack. This press release sunk without trace on a day when the Home Office launched a campaign for reducing forced marriages amongst immigrant groups, announced new funding for racial equality and community cohesion and issued new regulations on the work of the Criminal Records Bureau. All admirable goals for some I am sure but I would argue that they are of less importance than raising security awareness amongst small businesses and the self-employed

You may rest assured that New Labour has its priorities right: the politically correct client bank must come first.

9 comments to How important is your safety?

  • GCooper

    I stopped reading the moment I got to the ZaNuLabour: “….The Security Service, in partnership with Home Office and Cabinet Office, have updated…”

    It should be has .

    Any organisation that is so sloppy with its grammar is too sloppy to be entrusted with my safety.

  • Verity

    Actually, GCooper, I stopped reading when I read “in partnership with”.

    Forefinger to mouse: Click.

  • Sandy P.

    Considering Instapundit’s reporting that AQ’s chatter is at pre-9/11 levels and ME men who rented a car w/fake names were scoping out Sears Tower, small business just may be reminded of protecting themselves sooner rather than later.

  • guy herbert

    Gosh, Sandy, I’m terrified. The number of people renting cars under ‘fake’ names has a high correlation with global temperatures, too.

    Strange how the word “security” magics away skepticism.

    Why should I assume that government advice on ‘terrorism’ is any less self-serving tripe than anything else it tells me about how to run my business or live my life? The less independent check I have, the less incentive there is for the purported authorities to be competent or truthful.

  • Nick M

    Where exactly do terrorism and small business intersect?

    I could imagine AQ blowing Canary Wharf to kibbles and bits. I can’t imagine them blowing up my local newsagent – for that they’d only get 0.3 of a virgin – possibly just the legs – I dunno.

    This is typical New Labour shite. Scare everyone then say they have the only solution.

  • Julian Taylor

    I still don’t see why your common/garden variant martyr actually needs 72 houris or virgins since doesn’t the Koran say that the houri becomes as a virgin again each morning? It’s a bit like the Irishman who, when faced with 3 wishes by a Leprachaun, chooses a glass of Guinness that will never empty, gets roaring drunk and wakes up the next morning to be told that he still has 2 wishes and says, “I’ll have another 2 of those glasses please”…

  • J

    “Considering Instapundit’s reporting that AQ’s chatter is at pre-9/11 levels”

    Whoa! The ever-reliable Instupundit is reporting that AQ’s “chatter” is at pre-9/11 levels. Now there’s some serious intelligence. None of that dodgy stuff we went to war over, this is real meat – a sure sign of impending attacks. Everyone knows terrorists chatter a lot before something big. I mean I learned that in O level sigint. Well, now I know that, I’ll sure be glad when the government arrests some guys, or bans something, or tells us not to talk to strangers. Phew.

    All I know, is that without Gitmos, there’s be a lot more chattering terrorists than there are now, and for that at least, I’m very grateful.

    I will now go back to holding a glass against the wall and listening to my neighbours. One of them looks islamic to me, and is always getting packages from Maplins – very suspicious – if he starts chattering I’ll email instapundit at once.

  • The effect of terrorism on large businesses is far more interesting. We recently carried out a security and vulnerability assessment of all the UAE’s offshore oilfield installations. There wasn’t much room for political correctness in there.

  • As I said elsewhere, the reward for Muslim women in the afterlife is that they only have to pay attention to a Muslim prick one day out of seventy-two.

    And I’m glad that the first comment was about atrocious grammar; but what can you expect from a ‘leader’ who parties with ‘Oasis’?(Don’t Believe The Truth-doh!).
    It comes from the top down in a power-driven aglomeration(I hesitate to say ‘organisation’,and my spelling may be wrong).