A ‘security expert’ has advised Boris Johnson that he should not bicycle to work because he is a likely terrorist target. What bunkum. Every time that public figures change their behaviour in the face of such advice, the terrorists score a little victory. Of course some crazed terrorist or just plain madman – like the killer of John Lennon – could decided to hang outside Johnson’s home and kill him. But then Ken Livingstone was an easy target, too, taking the same Tube train every day.
Johnson has also resisted calls to wear a cycle helmet. He says, quite rightly, that it is a matter for the individual. There are pros and antis: while undoubtedly some people have been saved by helmets, there is also evidence that drivers take less care when passing cyclists wearing them. And they are a hassle and hot.
Life is risky and would be no fun if it weren’t. We can’t take all the risk out of our daily lives and we shouldn’t pretend that we can. The terrorism experts are quite often wrong. For example, how dare the Ian Blair, the head of the Met, say that there will certainly be another terrorist attack on the London transport system. Indeed, there may be, but he cannot know for sure one way or the other. The more one hears from the security experts, the less impressive is their ‘expertise’.
