Laughing Conservative has been happily languishing among plump Hereford cattle and grazing sheep, deep in the English countryside. This has enabled assessment -- free of media hysteria -- of an average Brit's reaction to the public decapitation of a young father in a London street. On the surface the stiff upper lip prevails, but there is a deep fury at what has happened. Butchering random victims by beheading them in the street is a horrendous yet highly effective form of terrorism, requiring no support network, no explosives and no transport, so we have to presume the jihadists will continue it. Most people I've talked to, I've known well for years so I can assess their mood accurately and they had no reason to be inhibited in talking to me. It will only take one or two more similar attacks for the public to demand the arming of all police. On a less subtle level there will be a sharp rise in vigilantism, desecration of mosques, etc. I have been digging tirelessly to establish if the mildness of British reaction is due to apathy. Far from it. It will play out in direct proportion to ongoing jihadist savagery.
