Sky News and the Hyderabad Bomb Blasts

Great to be back in the Sky News studio after tracking the aftermath of the twin bomb blasts in Hyderabad through the night and talking to international sources. Stephen Dixon was anchoring and we had a good briefing. A couple of points to ponder; the newly established National Intelligence Agency and NSG commandos still took around two and a half hours to reach Hyderabad, well outside the "golden hour" the British security forces talk of as being the most important time for gathering evidence and crime-relevant personnel after an attack of this nature. Just as serious, Rana Banerji made some damning statements to the Associated Press. "Rana Banerji, a former security official, said India remains vulnerable to such attacks because there is poor coordination between the national government and the states. Police reforms are also moving very slowly and the quality of intelligence gathering is poor, he said. 'The concept of homeland security should be made effective, on a war footing,' he said." Rana Banerji was tipped to become head of India's external security arm, the Research and Analysis Wing, before he retired. He was the RAW man in London at the Indian High Commission. The Sky Newsroom seems to have enough people for the various required tasks and they also have time to be quirky, funny and caring.