It's not just the Post Office

I have long railed against the incompetence of our postal service, but when a letter or package fails to reach its destination it usually doesn't have lethal consequences. Not so when a country's intelligence service proves lamentably incompetent.

Today it's MI5's turn to be slapped.

This was revealed in The Sunday Times earlier:

One of the four suicide terrorists behind the London bomb attacks was scrutinised by MI5 last year, but was judged not to be a threat to national security, a senior government official said yesterday. As a result, MI5 failed to put him under surveillance and his plans to become a suicide bomber remained undetected.

It speaks for itself, doesn't it? And it's sickening.

Now, a humorous email exchange about the bombings. It's allowed: I live here and we're all in danger, and the other person is a cousin of mine who lives in a country where they've lost count how many suicide bombers have blown themselves up on buses. It goes like this:

Him: Take care, London is a dangerous place.
Me: Yes, London is becoming a dangerous place again. I was here when the IRA were putting bombs everywhere. It wasn't fun.
Him: Bombs… ohh no!!! The streets of London are dangerous because when you cross the street you should look first to the right. Bombs… we're used to them. LOL!