Happy Independence Day from the mother country of merry ol' England!

The Two Crabs are proudly flying the flag from our London flat.  So far, nobody has thrown eggs at our window!

London is still reeling from last weekend's attempted terrorist attacks. The story is dominating the news media with silly headlines like "The Docs of War". 

I've had a few friends and family members e-mail me about the situation here in London, including a few tourists who are contemplating postponing their trips to England.

One word: DON'T!

Don't give in to terrorism. Don't succumb to fear and media hype.

If anything, now is the PERFECT time to visit the UK. The police and security forces are extra-vigilant. There are machine-gun toting police patrolling all the major tourist sights, airports and rail stations -- something you don't see very often around here. Security everywhere is extremely tight.  Yesterday I was down on Oxford Circus and Picadilly Circus, the heart of London's shopping and West End theatre district. I was happy to see that streets were still packed with tourists and locals alike.

On Sunday, I covered the Concert for Diana. More than 63,000 people turned out to Wembley Stadium for the show. I interviewed a few Brit families with children who said they were completely unphased by the attempted attacks. One woman said she was not going to let "THEM" stop her and her family from enjoying a day out together. Brits have always been resolute in the face of adversity.

So come to England; come and spend your hard-earned dollars! (Incidentally, the Pound reached a 26-year high against the Dollar today: £1 = $2.01). And don't forget to bring your "brolly" (BritSpeak for "umbrella"). It's been raining EVERY DAY for the past two weeks straight.  Ugh...

And by the way: Is it just me, or were these "doctors" the DUMBEST terrorists in the world?  These idiots (heretoforth known as "Dumb & Dumber") are 0 for 3.  They made three car bomb attempts, and failed all three times.  The last idiot in Glasgow tried to set himself on fire, and he couldn't even do that right!  Plus these rat-bastards left their tracks all over the cell phones that they used as potential detonators; they called the phones several times to set off the bombs. But the bombs failed to explode, so police were easily able to find the bombers identity by checking the caller ID on the phones. A 12-year-old, tech-savvy kid with a pocket full of bottle rockets could have concocted a better plot.  Don't get me wrong. I'm very glad these attacks failed and nobody was hurt. But damn, these guys were just plain DUMB!!  Good riddance!

Happy Fourth of July!

PS: I'm going to sunny and dry Paris tomorrow for a few days for work. It's a tough assignment but somebody has to do it!