Drone Wolf

[poliphilo]

Someone has come up with the monicker Drone Wolf for the man or woman who shut down Gatwick.

Instant legend.

The assumption is that the perp is an "eco-warrior" and the assumption is probably right. But it could have been a kid. We won't call them a terrorist because people weren't terrorised, merely annoyed.

The wonder is it hasn't been tried before. It's not that it hadn't been thought of. Airports round the world have been taking measures in anticipation. But not Gatwick, apparently. One airport- I think it was in the Netherlands- has been training up birds of prey to take drones down- an cheap and elegant way of dealing with a cheap and elegant "crime".

I put "crime" in inverted commas because our overuse of air travel is also criminal. We all know we shouldn't be pumping rubbish into the atmosphere and none of us is doing very much about it. Apart from Drone Wolf, that is. There's a long, long tradition of being annoying in a good cause. Gandhi belongs in it, so does Martin Luther King, so do Pussy Riot. They were all of them very annoying in their day and age- and look how we admire them now.

Comments

[cmcmck]

If it was a political act (which I rather doubt as no one has claimed responsibility and someone nearly always does) by greens of perhaps even rabid 'inners' I don't think they'll have done whatever cause they claim to espouse a great deal of good.

[poliphilo]

But that was what they said about the suffragettes in their day.

[basefinder]

That's a fascinating take on the situation!

[poliphilo]

Thanks.

[qatsi]

While I agree with the "eco-warrior" hypothesis on the balance of probability, it crosses my mind that it could be Russians (pauses to check this isn't LJ.). You know, "we thought we would go and enjoy your beautiful Sussex countryside and ..." It would dual purpose as a bit of mischief to satisfy Putin and also to probe the state of defences. Which don't seem to be doing very well at the moment.

[poliphilo]

I doubt it's the Russians. They don't usually have such a light touch.

Anyway, arrests have been made and we await further developments.

[oakmouse]

I'm exceedingly curious to find out who they are and what their motivation was. I can't help wondering if it was something along the lines of "Yeh, I got drunk off me arse down at the pub and me mate Bill dared me to shut down Gatwick with 'em."

[poliphilo]

The police have made arrests but I'm not at all sure they've got the right people.

[oakmouse]

Looks like very much not the right people. Poor devils, they've got a hard row to hoe now. (The falsely accused, I mean.) The internet is slow to forget and slow to believe a mistake has been made.

[poliphilo]

The authorities fouled up across the board.