“Just a couple of missile launchers and a few sharp-shooters on your rooftops, what are you big babies whining about anyway?”

The British army plans to deploy high-velocity missiles in the east London town of Leytonstone during the Olympics, but a high court judge has ruled that the residents of a 17-story housing tower have no right to challenge this extraordinary move in court! As seen in The Guardian:

Residents of the Fred Wigg Tower in Leytonstone, east London, argued that the missiles could expose them to a terrorist attack. The block is one of six sites in the capital where missiles, including Rapier air defence weapons and high-velocity systems, will be deployed for the duration of the Games.

The Fred Wigg residents applied for permission to seek judicial review of the government’s decision to deploy the missiles, saying it was a “disproportionate interference” with their human rights, and they were not consulted properly over the siting of the ground-based air defence system. They argued that those who wanted to move out should at least be relocated in hotels by the MoD or a gantry should be erected for the missiles away from the tower block.

Marc Willers, representing the residents, told the judge: “It is the unprecedented siting of a military base or missile site in peacetime on English soil that brings us to this court.”

But Justice Haddon-Cave said on Tuesday: “In my judgment, the MoD’s voluntary engagement with the community and residents in this matter were immaculate.” He said the MoD had no duty to consult, had not promised to and no “conspicuous unfairness” was caused by not consulting. He agreed with the MoD that a tower block was the only suitable site for missiles and the facts of the case were “not susceptible to a sensible challenge”.

The judge said residents had expressed “shock, anxiety and worry” over the prospect of missiles being stationed at the tower. But they had been under “something of a misapprehension” about the nature of the equipment to be deployed and the risks deployment would bring.

Well, I guess that’s why ee’s a bleedin’ judge then, ain’t it?

Read more at The Guardian

Thank you Chris Campion of Berlin, Germany!