"explosive until guaranteed that such was not the case?"
Logic error detected .
With no bomb would he show the empty bag to police who are holding off for that reason? With a bomb ( or a pretend bomb) there is no proof until it goes off. So assume there is one and further delay after he stops talking to negotiators will only lead to hostages being shot. Then armour is compelled by this process.

//that spelling of 'programme' is acceptable British English as is 'program', which whilst being looked upon as an Americanism, is the English word that was in common use before the French fashion crept into the language; hence 'labour' and 'labor', 'doctour' was fashionable for a while but 'doctor' now prevails.//

Not when you are talking about computer programs. Even in British English, the 'American' spelling of program is the one that applies when talking about software. It's a jargon thing, the same reason that the correct spelling of the element with atomic number 16 is always 'sulfur', regardless of what you may have been taught at school way back when. Look it up if you don't believe me, or ask an English computer nerd. I did, and he assured me that there is no 'me' in computer program, even in Old Blighty.

//you seem to have a bit of difficulty with the term 'correcting'//

It means 'making correct', doesn't it?

//I correct essays whilst marking them, (on a contract basis with the University), such corrections are part of the process of marking.//

Ahh... well that's different. It's not so much 'making correct' as 'pointing out where they've been incorrect'. Which is suppose is another common usage of the term correcting, although not the one that immediately sprang to mind. My science and maths subjects didn't require essays, and my few philosophy subjects had small enough classes (and presumably, the philosophy staff had enough spare time) that the lecturers did their own marking rather than outsourcing it.

//Yes, I thought Toni's post was a little, shall we say, pedantic.//

You say that like it's a bad thing.

http://tinyurl.com/jmu7f7f

//who hasn't received a marked essay with corrections?//

People who never make mistakes?

Actually, the philosophy academics were an easy going bunch, and generally didn't get hung up much over minor typos. The bits in my essays that got the red circle and and comments in the margins were where I'd employed a weak argument, not where I'd used poor spelling in a good argument.

Toni,

".... It's a jargon thing,,,,"

Therefore if it's jargon it is
"jargon

noun
special words or expressions used by a profession or group that are difficult for others to understand.
synonyms: specialized language, technical language, slang, cant, idiom, argot, patter, patois, vernacular;
archaic
a form of language regarded as barbarous, debased, or hybrid."

and so not normal English that one would use on a forum such as OLO.

Some of the quotes that you've made and apparently attributed to me are beyond my ken.

PS,

Why the use of //s instead of quotation marks ""?

This guy would've had the Lindt Cafe siege all wrapped up before the police had the area cordoned off.
http://www.youtube.com/user/hickok45
Probably not, be geez he's a good shot.
He can shoot out the eye of a needle.

I first came across his FN PS90 video, a gun used by the secret service apparently.
It's a bit of an eye-opener that anyone can have a gun like this but I guess thats how they do it in the US.
http://youtu.be/VRNK5DdI-w4

Combined with this it couldn't miss:
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