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Oh, Isn't This A Bit Of A Nuisance

Written by Martin Belam
Published 26 July, 2005
Categories: BBC, Politics

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Lunarchy has already noted that when we arrived at work on Monday it seemed that every phone in our BBC building had received an emergency '666' sticker. '666' is the BBC's internal equivalent of '999', and has spawned many a satanic joke in the office.

Mind you this was nowhere as alarming as developments on Friday, when we all received an email from 'Safety and Security information'. I appreciate that the BBC needs to keep a track on staff, but the first call to action in the email was to go to the intranet and "and make sure your personal and next of kin details are up to date". Cheery.

Still, the response to events in London on the web has swung from the We Are Not Afraid site to the jaw-droppingly funny, and ultimately more therapeutic I Am Fucking Terrified.

Even the middle-ground is represented on the web, with Take One Onion pointing me to 'I am (a little bit) afraid':

I just wonder if all this 'I'm not scared' bravado might make it more difficult for us to discuss our very natural fears with each other and so help to manage them better.

So I'm coming out of the closet. I'm a little bit scared. Anyone else care to admit it?

Personally I've skipped the terrified / defiant stages, and I've moved straight into a rather British "Oh, isn't this a bit of a nuisance" phase, simply because of the way my planned work is being disrupted by constant contingency planning and keeping one eye on News 24 in the office.

And Diamond Geezer has a much funnier take on this

Posted by Martin Belam, July 26, 2005
Read more posts on currybetdotnet about: BBC, Politics

The views expressed on currybetdotnet are my own, and do not reflect the views of my current or former employers.

1 comment so far

Rob commented on July 27, 2005:

Somewhat catchier than 159 I suppose!

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About Martin Belam

I'm a London-based internet consultant and writer, with 8 years experience in product management, information architecture, and user experience design for global brands like Sony, Vodafone, The Guardian and the BBC. I specialise in advising on search, widgets, RSS, online news publishing and bulk email delivery.
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