Fighting the Enemy

We must take measures that have general acceptance, that benefit us in other ways than just the fight against terrorism.

1. Given that analysis of e-mail traffic is one of the major techniques used by the police to track terrorists, we should make it a serious offence to send spam e-mails. This must be done on a wordwide basis, would cut out ninety percent of all Internet traffic and make terrorist communications easier to find. It would be a major benefit to everybody.

2. It should also be made more difficult to make phone calls on an automated basis for direct marketing. These are a pain to everyone.

3. Most crime and terrorism involves cars in some way. Although, I am against ID cards, I feel very strongly that cars should be made much more traceable and much more easily checked for tax, insurance and MOT. We’d all benefit, as the number of accidents with the uninsured would drop.

4. Walk through the centre of London late at night and you are plagued by unlicenced taxi touts. Crack down on these and others, who circumvent tax regulations, as how much of the money generated is used to finance other things like drug dealing and terrorism.

5. We must also ensure that education prepares people for jobs. It was said this morning that young Asian men have the highest employment among the various ethnic minorities. Solve this problem and we’ll all benefit.

None of these measures are too serious, but they will have an affect.