Blunkett and Blair Taken in By Urban Myth

I just heard David Blunkett reading from his diaries, where he recounts his time as Home Secretary. I did not believe my ears when he related - as fact - an Urban Myth I have heard many times. It goes like this: an Arab-looking man drops a wallet and a passer-by runs after him to reurn it, noticing that it is stuffed full of banknotes. Arab-looking man tries to give a reward but the good citizen refuses. 'Well I must do something to reward you. Take this advice: please do not be in London on 11 November'. Blunkett has just revealed that he took this third-hand account seriously and launched a full scale security alert as a result. he still appears unaware that it is an Urban Myth. As any reasonably intelligent person knows, these Urban Myths are related as events that happened to the story teller's sister, brother, but clearly do not stand up to the slightest scrutiny. At the time David Blunkett was Home Secretary, responsible for the security of the United Kingdom. Blunkett's Diaries are serialised on Radio 4, where I guess the editors had also not heard the story before.

Tags: diary, david-blunkett careers, technology,weblogurban-myth