UK Safer from al-Qaeda Says Security Minister

(London, England) For what it's worth, this is nice to know.

The minister responsible for counter-terrorism has said that despite "some very nasty bastards out there who aim to do us harm", government security initiatives have made the UK safer from attacks in recent years.

Lord West, the Parliamentary under-secretary for security and counter-terrorism, made the claim in a speech to security executives and officials on Tuesday.

"We are safer - not safe," he said, adding that his media handlers often warned him against such claims as they could create hostages to fortune.

Repatedly (sic) referring to Islamic terrorists as "bastards", the occasionally colourful former First Sealord insisted it was vital that new technologies are developed for the security services to try to stay a step ahead of terrorists.

Other than to provoke al-Qaeda into doing something stupid, I can't think of a good reason for the security minister to make those statements. In any event, the linked article also displays this interesting statement.

The Cyber Security Operations Centre, a new unit at GCHQ [UK Government Communications Headquarters], is scheduled to begin monitoring the internet security situation today.

Are we to believe that Britain has not monitored the Internet until now? If that's true, some heads should be lopped.