Has Somebody Or Something Awakened The Sleeping British Lion?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/11997586/Paris-attacks-Holidaymaker-car-boot-checks-and-shoreline-patrols-launched-to-hunt-jihadists-targeting-Britain.html

/// And an additional 2,000 spies will be hired at MI5, MI6 and GCHQ to fight those "who would destroy us and our values" in the wake of the Paris terror attacks, David Cameron has said.. ///

I wonder how many of these positions will be open to Muslims?

[ToraToraTora]

Good Idea and useful measures but what are we doing about those that are already here?

[Islay]

I would imagine the same number that is open to everyone who has the right to apply under the current government employment rules!

[Gromit]

// I wonder how many of these positions will be open to Muslims? //

According to the Daily Mail, it sounds like all of them will be muslim :-/

// MI5 is launching an ambitious campaign to recruit intelligence officers to convince the thousands of Jihadi extremists it is monitoring to spy for them.

They are however interested in multilingual candidates who can speak Arabic, Russian, Chinese or Urdu.

A ssenior MI5 manager has said: 'The recruitment of agents is driven by leads — from among those people we have an interest in, of which there are several thousand.' //

[vetuste_ennemi]

"I wonder how many of these positions will be open to Muslims?"

All of them, surely? Wouldn't want our security services to be accused of racism/discrimination/Islamophobia, would we. That would be acting contrary to the values we're trying to protect.

Just so you don't misunderstand me, AOG, I'm getting this fatuous argument in before any of the (very long list of AB's) Friends of Jeopardy pops up to make it.

[anotheoldgit]

All Muslims whether radical or peaceful, should be fingerprinted, DNA-ed, and made to carry ID cards, in fact it would be better if we all were made to.

[Islay]

Do you wish them to wear an emblem on their clothing too?

[ichkeria]

As a matter of fact Osborne announced that that the security services numbers would be substantially bolstered a week or so ago - maybe this is extra, or he is being slightly opportunistic

[anotheoldgit]

Gromit

/// According to the Daily Mail, it sounds like all of them will be muslim :-/ ///

You don't want to believe all you read in the Daily Mail Gromit.

[anotheoldgit]

Islay

/// Do you wish them to wear an emblem on their clothing too? ///

If you mean emblems with 'Extreme Muslim' printed on them, that would be a great help.

[anotheoldgit]

/// It will also include the Border Force “making effective use if its maritime capability with two cutters deployed to intercept any suspicious small vessels travelling to the UK”. ///

And I wonder what they intend to do with the passengers on these suspicious small vessels when they are intercepted, bring them back to our shores or deliver them from whence they came?

[Islay]

How about we give them a tattoo free of charge?

[Gromit]

At a time of austerity cuts and police numbers being savagely culled, the Security Services have enjoyed increased funding.

The decision to expand our spy network has not just been taken now, it was taken months, if not years ago.

You normally wouldn't hear of extra expenditure. But now is a good time to announce it, after a terrorist attack. Last Monday, Osborne announced an extra 1,000 spies as a response to the Russian plane disaster. After the latest atrocity, that has bumped up to 1,900. Presumably if there is another incident, another announcement will increase the number again.

It makes it look like the Government are responding to an increased threat, when it reality they are just making public something they did secretly months ago.

[anotheoldgit]

Islay

/// How about we give them a tattoo free of charge? ///

Eh, that's not a bad idea, I wonder why nobody has ever thought of that before?

[ToraToraTora]

good I'd rather spend it on national security than the myriad of scroungers etc.

[vetuste_ennemi]

"Do you wish them to wear an emblem on their clothing too?".

I don't, but it has historical precedents, doesn't it, Islay. Here's one you haven't heard.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_badge

[Islay]

Really vetuste? That makes interesting reading perhaps the op may read it!

[Gromit]

// Islay. Here's one you haven't heard [Jew Yellow Badge]. //

Someones being a bit slow, innit?

[Gromit]

AOG,

// That's not a bad idea [giving them a free tattoo] I wonder why nobody has ever thought of that before? //

I suppose you have the credentials for a holocaust denier, I shouldn't be surprised.

[rsvp]

I always assumed it took a long time to recruit and train spies - or are we now fast tracking this to make up the numbers?

[vetuste_ennemi]

"I always assumed it took a long time to recruit and train spies ".

The way the guy put it on Daily Politics, RSVP, is that GCHQ will have the budget to recruit "experts". These could be people from academia with degrees in Middle-Easter Studies who will know the languages and cultures.