World Notes Britain 'tis The Season To Plant a Bomb

Christmas comes but once a year -- for which Londoners can be thankful, since the Irish Republican Army has chosen to mark the season with terrorist attacks. Last week a bomb exploded at London's Clapham Junction, the country's busiest railway intersection. No one was injured, but an estimated 500,000 commuters were affected and the city's businesses could lose around $90 million.

Since Dec. 1, the I.R.A. has set off 25 fire bombs across the country in a campaign of economic sabotage. Although no one has yet been hurt, one device went off at London's National Gallery.

In Northern Ireland the activities of the I.R.A. and Protestant extremists have been more lethal, taking 89 lives this year. But as a government spokesman explained, "It doesn't make news to bomb in Northern Ireland. Fire bombs in London at Christmas cause lots of publicity."