Ordinary life must go on, the government persuaded us while administering its warning two weeks ago of a possible terrorist attack: if we allow the threat of bombings to disrupt our normal activities, then we give the terrorists what they want. Fine words, indeed, except that they seem to apply only on British soil. If you are thinking of taking a holiday abroad, on the other hand, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is ready to bombard you with a thousand reasons not to go.
Those who remember the lengths to which the government used to go to promote Britain to foreign travellers during the IRA’s mainland bombing campaign could be excused a little puzzlement over the FCO’s advice following the Bali bomb: ‘We advise against all travel to Bali and elsewhere in Indonesia.’ Poor countries which rely on foreign tourists for hard currency, and whose businesses could be destroyed by such advice, are spared little thought by the killjoys in Whitehall.
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