[Boatanchors] text sent in good faith

[J. Forster]

Several comments.

First, Googling the episode turns up that the ham was 67 years old, and thus
could well have suffered through the Blitz and be very familiar with being
terrified by German bombings as a small boy. My grandparents lived in Surrey and
saw the Battle of Britain take place over their heads and had German bombs land
in their garden. There were MG shell casings still to be found there in their
pond 10 years after the war. Seeing that repeat itself in London could well
provoke an outburst.

Next,  it apparently got very minor press coverage before the Daily Mail
article, except by a watch group. It is possible the Police were forced to react
by public pressure from local activists, although such action may well have been
unjustified.  They could well have been afraid of a riot, whipped up over
rumors, as has happened elsewhere in the worked, over slights, real or imagined.
It's not the world of the Pirates of Penzance any more, where the bad guys
surrender merely 'in Queen Victoria's name"..

Also, about 5 years ago, I was listening to the AM bands, somewhere around 80 M
as I recall, and there were a number of very high power ham stations, especially
in the south, that were rag chewing in language that would have delighted the
KKK. Had someone heard that, I imagine they would have really good cause to get
bent out of shape.

FWIW,
-John