We need more than an emoji to defeat terror

SHouLd we give children terror attack advice at school? deputy Assistant Commissioner Lucy d’orsi of the Met says yes — because it could potentially save their lives.

The new campaign she is championing features Bear Grylls and involves a specially designed emoji. An emoji! Phew, stand easy, we’ll all be safe from the murdering hordes.

The message from the police for children in schools in the event of a terrorist attack is basically this — ‘run, hide, tell’. They are also told to find ‘somewhere safe to hide’ — perhaps rather easier said than done, in the circumstances.

Now, depressingly, they also have to be told to stop taking selfies or phone pictures at the scene.

Following the Parsons Green incident in London, images of a partially exploded bomb were posted online within minutes — by adults. And it was adults who panicked and trampled over a schoolboy who tripped on the Tube station stairs when everyone was evacuating.

Perhaps there are lessons for everyone to learn, not just the kids. one thing is for sure. we have travelled a long, long way from the days when children only had to worry about the Green Cross Code and Tufty telling them to quick march when the road is clear. And none of it is good.