September

9/11: The attacks change forever the British convention for placing the day before the month in dates.

12th: Washington informs Tony Blair of attack on US.

14th: Airlines report no one willing to fly. Bush insists this is a sign of defiance and commissions Hollywood to make films in which being scared to go on an aeroplane is an act of bravery. Filming immediately commences on an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie called Absolute Refusal about a businessman who cannot face boarding a plane but heroically makes a meeting in Cairo by crossing the Atlantic on a pedalo.

19th: The pop singer Michael Jackson is refused permission to lie down and sing songs from his new album into the World Trade Centre rubble.

27th: There are delays in sending American special forces to Afghanistan when the entire air force refuse to fly in a plane.