Gunman Was Actual Human Being, Journalists Find

The man who took pot-shots at the police before being killed by them has been named as Mark Saunders, a barrister who had served with the Territorial Army.

He had a private education and was an Oxford graduate. The firearm he used was "lawfully held, and legally in the possession of the person it was issued to", according to the deputy chair of the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Opponents of the Government will see this as a blow for New Labour's policy of fighting the war on gun crime by reducing the number of guns held by non-criminals.

A neighbour said, "I saw Mark some weeks ago. He was sitting on the wall or pavement outside his flat and he was sobbing. I have no idea what about but he looked shaken. He was kicking the pavement with the toe of his foot, banging it really hard."

The neighbour did not intervene. This has not yet been interpreted as a symptom of British cold-bloodedness deriving from a recent imperial past and a pervasive national immaturity arising from excessive national and cultural dependence on the United States.

No pronouncements have yet been made on the crying necessity to keep firearms out of the hands of highly educated white professionals.

None of the UK's major political figures has so far advocated abolishing the Territorial Army on the grounds that it encourages the belief that problems can be solved effectively through highly organised and calculated violence.