A Big Night Out Is the Order of the Day

by Michael E. Lloyd

Note especially the first line, emphasis mine. N.G., in “Big Night Out,” is alive and well.

From news reports in the U.K., November 7, 2014:

Police have arrested four men on suspicion of allegedly plotting to carry out a terrorist attack, which security sources say may have been imminent.

The decision to carry out the raids, with one man being held at gunpoint by officers in west London, came after surveillance lasting several months in the capital and the Home Counties.

The suspects, aged 19, 22, 25 and 27, were taken to central London police stations while properties, in London and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, as well as cars, were searched.

Detectives are investigating if the group was moving material for a possible attack in the near future. The law agencies refused to discuss details of specific targets, but the arrests took place with Remembrance Sunday approaching and amid warnings of possible attacks on public events.

Michael E. Lloyd

Thank you, Mike! “Big Night Out” is definitely topical. Notice how the news report communicates unreality in language reminiscent of Orwell’s 1984:

“suspicion of allegedly plotting” — What is a suspicion of a suspicion?
“may have been imminent” — What aren’t the police telling us? Why didn’t the police know whether an attack was imminent or not? Did the police simply get tired of watching the suspects, or could they no longer justify the budget allocation for the surveillance? With what can the four suspects be charged?
“possible” — Where is the word needed, and where is it not?

Once again, Philip K. Dick’s “Minority Report” (1956) says, “I told you so.”