Ian Hislop, the long-time editor of the satirical magazine Private Eye, narrowly missed shots fired by a hit man whilst travelling through Soho in a black cab taxi, the Metropolitan Police have revealed.
A Metropolitan police spokesperson said: “Police were called at 10.10am on Tuesday, 1 October to a report of a firearms discharge on Dean Street, Westminster.
“The driver of a London black taxi reported he was stationary in traffic when a shot was fired towards his vehicle, striking the window.
“There were no injuries. An investigation has been launched.”
In Sadiq Khan’s London, this sort of thing is an all too common occurrence therefore there is also a distinct possibility the shooting was just another gang event or related to the multitude of criminals running free across the capital city with no restrictions.
Satire under fire
If this was a genuine attempt to assassinate Hislop it is a dangerous precedent to free speech and satire, although in the last few decades Private Eye has been pretty squeaky clean and left-wing leaning, it is not clear why a person would want to silence someone like Hislop?
The Daily Squib Editor receives multiple death threats on a regular basis simply for exercising the satirical muscles in his quivering pen, and was recently featured in an exclusive Sun newspaper article involving Vladimir Putin and his severe condition of micro penis syndrome.
The tragic Charlie Hebdo massacres in Paris were also a horrendous time for freedom of speech and satire.
Message to satirists across the globe: Keep going and Never Give Up!
