Late last century, I was involved in preparations for the Sydney Olympic and Paralympic Games. In the early part of 1996, a group of us was in London, looking at venues, attending conferences, and getting briefings on key issues. One of the issues was security.
At the time, Australia had never hosted something as big as what the 2000 Olympics and Paralympics would be. And for the first time, in a significant sense, security in an increasingly insecure world was a key issue. Indeed, “9/11” happened roughly a year after the Sydney Games.
In London, we visited Scotland Yard. It was just like a scene from a movie. While we were there, we were in the control room, and the call came in of a suspected IRA bomb somewhere in London. It was around the time of the lethal Docklands bombing in February 1996 or soon after, I think.
We stood back as everyone swung into action. It was a sight to see. After the device was defused, we were allowed to go. I remember one of the top cops asking me, “What would happen if a person found an unattended briefcase on a Sydney train platform?” I responded, “They’d nick it”. He said, “That’s what you have to prepare the community for, to be on alert. And then he said someone did that in London once and took home a bomb!”
I was reminded of this story watching “Say Nothing”, a multi-part TV series on The Troubles. It’s a good watch with a 94 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In Australia, it’s on SBS On Demand.
17 August 2026