It is a truth universally overlooked that the only number in the world larger than the number of people on the anti-war march in London on 15 February 2003 is the number of those who have said, implied or emoted what a body blow to democracy in this country it was, and to the civic sensibilities of the young, that the marchers were not listened to. Well, here's a shock for everybody of that second number, the larger one. It would appear that a majority of the British public support the [scare-quotes]war on terror[/scare-quotes]:
A majority of Britons support the "targeted killing" of terrorists, both overseas and at home, according to a YouGov poll.
The survey, carried out for the defence policy thinktank RUSI and launched in London on Tuesday, finds 54% of the public support assassinating individual terrorists abroad, against 31% who object. Killing terrorists in the UK is backed by 52%-34%.
Will those of the we-marched-but-sob theory of parliamentary democracy now be lining up to insist on the war on terror taking its course with full drones? I somehow think not.