Signs the terrorists are winning: Litter

One thing you will not find for love or money at the Sydney train stations I most often use — Central, Wynyard and Martin Place — is a rubbish bin. These have been removed as a security measure, presumably to prevent the kinds of bombings the IRA used to undertake on the London underground. But because it stops so far short of removing all rubbish bins from public places, this seems like a rather inadequate strategy that comes at the significant cost of reducing the hygiene and general pleasantness of an important public amenity. Part of the purpose of terrorism is to provoke disproportionate and counterproductive responses from your adversary, and this seems to fall squarely into that category. Score one for bin Laden.

Photo by Flickr user kiwikeith, used under a Creative Commons licence.