Amidst all the mawkish 11/9 blather I heard some interesting contextual statistics read out on BBC 5Live on one of my sleepless (and toothache-ridden) nights. The full version can be read here:

At 07:23 AM on 11 Sep 2006, wendy mann wrote: We learn that between 2001 and 2004 the number of worldwide deaths from all acts of terrorism is approximately 6600 , if we include the 2005 figures despite the changed format it amounts to approximately 11,700. That is out of a population of 6 billion people 11,700 people died as a result of terror attacks. In the UK 3500 people died as a result of traffic accidents last year, this year and each year since 2001 , that’s 17,500 innocent people. Israel since the onset of the second intifada has killed an estimated 4500 Palestinians, it has killed 1100 Lebanese in 34 days of war . In Iraq the latest independent survey estimates 128,000 deaths as a result of our war against WMDs, in Afghanistan it is estimated that upwards of 30, 000 individuals have been killed. Last year 53 UK citizens died as a result of a terrorist act on British soil. 56 Americans have been killed worldwide. Five years on and whilst we wallow in propaganda we have to aske whose world and whose values are under threat, and being brutally denied?

Make of it what you will.


2006 snogs

posted by Andy 13:25