The Guardian reports:

A massive unexploded second world war-bomb began to tick as experts worked to defuse it, police said today.

The 1,000kg-device (2,200lb) was found in a river at Sugar House Lane, near Bromley-by-Bow tube station, in east London, on Monday.

Army disposal experts from the Royal Engineers were brought in to make the half-century-old weapon safe. Police said that at one point during the operation the bomb began to tick, but stopped again when it was doused with liquid.

A 200m exclusion zone has been put up around the scene, causing some delays to travellers in the area and forcing businesses to be evacuated.

Speaking at the scene today, Commander Simon O’Brien said the bomb had also leaked unknown substances.

He said: “This is the largest world war two bomb to be discovered in the past three decades.

“It measures approximately the size and length of a man, and weighs around 1,000kg.

“Royal engineers and partner agencies have been incredibly heroic and have worked extremely hard to defuse the bomb.

“We are all working to resolve this issue with minimum disruption to Londoners as soon as possible.”

Police said cordons would remain in place until tomorrow, as work on the bomb continues.

Transport for London said the District and Hammersmith & City tube lines would be suspended at Bromley-by-Bow from 9.30pm tonight until 10am tomorrow.

The train operator C2C said there will be no services from Fenchurch Street after 8.50pm tonight and limited services in the morning.

Sammy Duddy, who died on October 17 aged 62, had a rather unusual curriculum vitae for a member of the Loyalist paramilitary Ulster Defence Association in having been a drag artiste who went by the stage name of Samantha.

During the 1970s the self-styled “Dolly Parton of Belfast” became well known on Belfast’s cabaret circuit, presenting a risqué act in Loyalist pubs and clubs, dressed in fishnet tights, wig and heavy make-up. Once he even performed for British troops on tour.

“I wore a miniskirt many a time,” Duddy remembered, “but it was usually a long dress, a straight black wig, a pair of falsies I bought in Blackpool and loads of make-up to cover my freckles. The darker the mascara the better, and scarlet lipstick, because I was a scarlet woman.”

…read more.

Michael “Looney Loyalist” Stone, he of the recent “I am here to kill Gerry Adams” visit to Stormont, has said (via his solicitor) that his sojourn to the hill equipped with nothing but his wit (and an axe, a garrot, some guns and a handful of nailbombs) was not an attempted terrorist attack but in fact a piece of performance art replicating a terrorist attack.

Well, were any of us expecting that as a defence? What next, the Omagh bombing being hailed as an artistic commentary on the commercialisation of our society? Bloody Sunday, a cubist rejection of 1960s peace and love?

Undoubtedly Stone’s murder of six people, for which he got a prison sentence of nearly 700 years, was a complete misunderstanding then, with his appearance at the funeral of the three IRA members, who had been shot by the SAS in Gibraltar, in which he shot the place up was simply his expression of man’s inhumanity to man, using a sawn-off shotgun as his brush and the people in Milltown Cemetery as his canvas.

This isn’t Stone’s first foray into art though. After his early release as part of the Good Friday Agreement, he famously appeared in the Late Late show, showing Pat Kenny what a reformed character he was, painting pretty pictures and such. More recently one of his paintings has been offered on eBay for nearly £10,000.

This new “War as Art” idea could be just the thing to get DUP bigwigs Ian Paisley Jnr and Jeffrey Donaldson out of their latest spot of bother over a series of emails between themselves and convicted loyalist killer Kenny “Pastor” McClinton. In the emails, McClinton implies that actions he took, including a murder in May 1977, were in direct support of Ian Paisly Snr’s strike of 1977, making a connection between Loyalism and the DUP that the DUP haven’t been quick to deny.

The DUP, who have difficulty sitting in the same room as people from Sinn Fein (who have already stated that the “war is over”), have had no problem with the son of their glorious leader saying to McClinton that “We couldn’t kill them but we can destroy them and their ideology.” I didn’t realise the DUP were trying to kill anyone, thanks for clearing that one up Ian. Great to see you guys sticking to your guns, as it were, and not talking to terrorists.

Perhaps Ian and Jeffrey could just enter their “email as art” piece for next years turner prize? They would be head-to-head with Stone’s tour-de-force though, and you know what he’s like about surrendering.

As they say, I don’t know much about art, but I know what I like. And I don’t like any of these muppets very much at all.

So they tried to bomb us again. Even worse – they are us! Have no fear though. Days before we decided to try to bomb us again UK Home Secretary, John “Resin” Reid announced the Government’s latest cunning plan to thwart those who wish to curtail our freedoms. The Government is going to make us give up our freedoms first. That’ll show ‘em!

It doesn’t stop there though, because you know those useless terror levels that the Americans have had since the World Trade Centre attacks, the ones that everybody has taken the complete piss out of the world over? (For example: “Better bring an umbrella today, the threat level is ‘Amber’. Honey, have you seen my amber sweater?”). Well now we have them in the UK too, oh happy day.

To stress the point, they (not that they, the other they) have placed the threat level at critical, which is one worse than severe, dontchaknow. This means we are to feel afraid (but not terrorised, that means they’d win) and are to be vigilant at all times. Once the level goes down, I guess we’re expected to return to being happy go lucky and ignoring all those abandoned bags on the tube.

A knock on effect of this has been that America has raised it’s level too, as the systems are in sync and… only they haven’t; they have raised the level to “Red” only for ‘planes arriving in the United States from the UK. Some alert that, they’re not just doing it to humour us then.

Of course you’d imagine that Tony Bliar would have his face plastered everywhere talking about defending our freedoms and that, only he’s not; the blighter got out of here just in time and is on a beach in the Caribbean. Lucky for him, I’d follow him, but I can’t get on a plane unless I’m naked and have no luggage. Anyway, you know what, he’s gone and left John “Two Shags” Prescott in charge. And they say the man doesn’t have a sense of humour, who’d have known?

I’d have stuck a We Are Not Afraid image on the site, but then I would have felt like a total knob.

In fact the critics had their condemnation in print before any of them had seen it! George Monbiot has a good article on this.

Anyway it’s great to see these two great western leaders differentiating themselves from those religious fanatics who claim to recieve their orders from, ummm, God.

Website dedicated to pictures of bombs. Don’t ask.
http://www.nukephoto.com/

[http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0112/defence.html]