Security

I don't think I've ever seen someone eat a banana without squishing it in the process, although I suppose that would be a useful talent for a certain type of video.

Banana Cases are certainly on the list of ideas for Secret Santa presents now. Ideal for any repressed spinsters we may know.

Eugh. I feel sick, all this talk about bananas.

I imagine that there have been revised guidelines about evacuation procedures, and one obvious one would be to not have things (including humans) blocking exit routes? 

The fact that you can stand at the top or top or bottom is one of those things that gets lost in translation. "Do not allow stairways to be blocked" gets interpreted as the actual stairs rather than the top of the stairs. 

Humans are funny things arent they 😆

Travelling into the office via Liverpool St this morning some more police about than usual but not massive numbers ( mind you I wouldn't mind if there was ).

Stay save everyone.

Suspicious bag now declared safe, I see


I suspect we will see a lot of this sort of activity while people are on high alert - I remember it well from when the IRA bombing campaign was at its height here.

Was amazed that at the National on Saturday one of the laptop users who inhabit the tables all day thought it was OK to leave their bags and belongings unattended while they nipped off somewhere - they were like that for the whole of one of the intervals of Angels in America. I reported the bags to an usher (everyone else was ignoring them) who got security to come and have a look.

Still doing bag searches on the way in if you have a rucksack or large handbag, but well organised and a seperate lane if you don't have a bag so you can get in and out quickly. As theatremonkey reported the other day, the Olivier foyers were closed off as there was no matinee there. This has the annoying side effect of putting the loos up there (including the ones either side of the Olivier cloakroom) out of use.

But in the context of what happened down the road that evening, an inconvenience I can cope with!

The thing is - it's still incredibly unlikely statistically speaking that individual places or people will be attacked. You're far more likely to be killed in a variety of other ways (bee sting, falling off a ladder, road traffic accident, etc) than through terrorism. It would be over the top to have metal detectors at the doors of the NT and similar places and I really don't want to live in that sort of country - I'd rather take my chances, frankly.

And, as others have pointed out, the queues that build up due to security measures create a far more vulnerable target.

Yeah - every time something happens, I thank God for our gun laws - could be a hell of a lot worse.

Thankfully  as said, a false alarm.

Yep, I am a Peterborough boy born and raised, but lived in Bedford for 5 years, although am considering moving back to Peterborough before the next adventure.

At the BFI tonight there was a security guard positioned at the front of the auditorium watching the audience throughout the film. Whether that's a new standard or because the film was about Churchill and the cast was present, we'll see. In any case, he probably had a better night than those of us watching the film.