Weird World: terrified Florida officials stop school band from performing in 'dangerous' London

A US high school marching band has been banned from taking part in a London festival - because it's too dangerous. Education officials in Florida feared the 140-member band from Fort Myers High School might be caught in a terrorist attack. The band had to turn down an invitation to take part in London's 2007 New Year's Day parade after their school chiefs ruled they would be "safer in America".
One angry pupil, Ethan Lapham, said: "It's more probable to be struck by lightning or be murdered in your sleep, than to fall prey to an attack by al-Qaeda terrorists. There is no better time to show these terrorists that we have no fear of them. Instead we are forced, through the cowardly acts of our superiors, to hide in shame." But Herb Wiseman, high school consultant for Lee County, Florida, pointed to the July 7 London bombings. "What happens if kids get on a train that blows up? We don't have trains blowing up in America," he told the Fort Myers News-Press. Organisers of the London parade, who have invited groups from all over the world, offered to fly offficials to England to put their minds at rest, but they refused.

LOOKS LIKE Florida is still spooked by 9/11: some people are only too happy to indulge in weird terrorism fantasies (and that includes our Prez).