General Chat

this is being held in Newport next month and already things are being fenced off around Newort and Cardiff - it's got to ridiculous proportions. Fencing along parts of the M4 and around Cardiff Castle and other parts of the city

schools are being closed when the children will just have gone back after the summer holidays

All because Obama is attending :-(

You should be honoured having such an auspicious guest.

Talk tidy!

With the present terrorist threat I think it makes sense, whether or not Obama is there, any NATO summit is a target.

I lived in Bournemouth for a few years and lived not far from the BIC (conference centre) where party conferences were held. It was a couple of years after the Brighton bomb and the Tories were having their conference in Bournemouth that year. Every household within about a half-mile radius of the BIC had a visit from the police, taking details of our cars, where we worked, what times we left and arrived, anywhere we went regularly etc. All the local post boxes were covered and there were marksmen dotted all around, road blocks etc. The beach front was also closed in the centre. My boss had a car with Irish plates and he was always getting stopped, at that time and later, but it served him right cos he was a b*****d :-D

I agree with Ann. If the security risk is so great that we have to take such drastic measures then we don't need it here.

Annie

There are plenty of huge country houses on vast estates, as owned by the National Trust where the security risks would be minimal.

Why disrupt a City, spending millons on security measures


Tec :-)

spot on Tec!!! :-D

Haven't they brought in 9,000 - 10,000 police for the duration? It will be a place to avoid but I bet, for once, there won't be roadworks or a contraflow in operation!

Thanks for the reminder. We are hoping to visit family in Cardiff soon but will delay until it's over.

I think they have to have that amount of security, given the current climate. I can't think of any NT place with enough space to host the delegates and all the security people.

Same thing happened when the G8 was held in Birmingham & Bill Clinton attended.
I lived & worked in the city centre but had to go miles out of my way to get where I needed to be.. Not even in a car, no buses etc. I always walked anyway.
Ridiculous.

I remember that, wisechild, I saw Bill from a distance and he waved when we waved to him.

We got the train in that day and security at New Street was very heavy.

Leeds Castle in Kent has been used as a secure setting for Northern Ireland Peace talks in 2004, but I don't know how large a number it can accommodate.

Gwyn

nice break for burglars methinks!!!

getting even more ridiculous - there are now body scanners in the two main shopping streets in the city centre - Queen St and St Mary Street - all pedestrians have to walk through them

they are boarding up all the trees on Cathedral Road and other places to stop snipers getting in the branches

army helicopters are buzzing around all the time and Cardiff City football ground is now a car park for literally hundreds of police vans for the police who have been drafted in from around the country

I'm wondering if my council tax is paying for all this

it's killing Cardiff city centre and Obama is only there for a lunch - apparently he's never been in a castle and that's why Cardiff Castle is the lunch venue

Keep an eye out for (men) in dark suits, sunglasses and hearing aides. They are probably armed and dangerous! :-D

Hubby had to drive daughter to train station this morning because she couldn't take her car into Central Cardiff, how ridiculous!

I just keep thinking - "Why us, why us?"

AnnC

Have you considered that the miles of steel fencing and extra police presence, is to protect the good people of Cardiff and Newport from the delegates inside the Celtic Manor :-D

Tec :-)

never thought of that :-D

wonder what will happen to these miles of steel fencing when it's all over?

Watch out for the fly past at breakfast time tomorrow Ann.

Gwyn