CSPAN is, as usual, an endurance contest: hours upon hours of tedium, then they come up with something interesting. In this case, it's a reference to this series from The Mirror. Reporter Ryan Parry went undercover as a footman for a few months, and has this to report.

Now, I hope that there won't be a mass, uh, sacking is the Brit term, I think, of footmen/servants who may have padded their resumes just a bit, but it is interesting to note that for all of the paranoia surrounding security these days, an investigative journalist used just about the oldest ruse in the book to penetrate the inner circle, as it were: he lied and got away with it.

The fact is that, in spite of all the "measures" we take on security, society's main protection will ALWAYS be that, in the end, the vast majority of citizens see the benefits of it, and choose not to engage in criminal acts, terrorism, or whatnot. Once you lose a critical number of people, hell will break loose.

Like in Iraq.

Speaking of which, I'm glad that Billmon's sabbatical still allows for the occasional post. More hearts and minds stuff. Unbelievable.