Multiple explosions in London

[Spock]

Originally Posted by Tessar

To who? And how is that exactly going to help anyone?

I'm very upset about it as well, but this isn't a time to be saying things like that.

OH NO? And what do you say "they're just funning?" Get real, these people need to be taken out.

[trolls' bane]

Originally Posted by Lotesse

Is everyone O.K. over there, mooters & their families? How f-ed up, so very sad and infuriating. I've got my heart in England (was born in Hastings, have many relatives in Kent) and have been wanting to get my English passport and leave L.A. and go to London for a while, after I sell a script here (!) and this horrific, chickens-t bombing makes me want to go to London even more, solidarity and all. Mooters of England, my heart goes out to you all during this awful tragedy.

Well said! I want to go too. I don't suppose that would be easy for me . But still, despite what many people say, this is no different to me than 9/11 was (and my stepdad was in New York and was going to go to a restraunt in one of the towers for lunch with some friends). And he's the one who said that they have no competetion. I guess you have to be there to feel the full force of it.
When did it happen, anyway?

[BeardofPants]

Found out this morning and have been madly trying to contact all the brits. Such a tragedy.
Oz is okay for those who want to know.

[trolls' bane]

I sure hope everyone is all right. Be careful everyone in Britain! (This also affects me because the only way for my mom and I to get around is with my stepdad or on the train...the Metro Red Line subway to be exact.)

[Nerdanel]

when i was in london, a little more than a year ago, we always went from russel square with underground, since the plae where we lived was close to it. i actually saw the hostel where we lived on the news. i don't know if i feel very affected because of that though - i don't think there's a need to. there are millions of people living there every day, and i've been there once.

[Fat middle]

I've read about it today and I'm very sorry for the victims' families

I know this is no moment for discussing politics, but I hope that this boms won't be used as a political weapon by the politicians.

[The Gaffer]

Originally Posted by Fat middle

I know this is no moment for discussing politics, but I hope that this boms won't be used as a political weapon by the politicians.

I think you can be assured that is will! We have an ID card Bill going through parliament at the moment which has been looking to be on extremely dodgy ground.

I was supposed to meet with colleagues near Old Street this morning and would have passed three of the four sites. I know several people who work at the BMA right opposite where the bus went up; and I've heard two "near miss" stories so far (one person late for work therefore not on the Piccadilly line as usual at 8.45; another was one block away from the bus blast).

By all accounts a world class response from the emergency services. People were on life-support machines at the scene within minutes. Inspirational. The NHS rules!

I don't know what others feel but I think that it is highly insensitive to be posting links to pictures of guns on a thread like this. The fact that it's a moderator doing it just makes it worse.

[Grey_Wolf]

Me and mum actually had plans on going to London for my birthday. Perhaps a good thing we didn't. Absolutely horrid what some people do in the name of some half-cooked idea. Or because they want to scare other countries from sending athetes there or tourists going there.

[The Gaffer]

Don't let this put you off: come anyway!

[Jonathan]

Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf

Me and mum actually had plans on going to London for my birthday. Perhaps a good thing we didn't. Absolutely horrid what some people do in the name of some half-cooked idea. Or because they want to scare other countries from sending athetes there or tourists going there.

I'm going to London for my birthday (about a month away). Heck, all this makes me want to extend my stay just to piss the bombers off.

Hope the tube will be running smoothly by the time I get there.

[The Gaffer]

Well, it will probably be back to normal, which is not to say running smoothly exactly. With 3m journeys per day the place will be in gridlock if it's not.

What are you planning to do/see?

[Grey_Wolf]

Originally Posted by The Gaffer

Well, it will probably be back to normal, which is not to say running smoothly exactly. With 3m journeys per day the place will be in gridlock if it's not.

What are you planning to do/see?

Me being a bookworm Oxford Street would be obvious place to go.

[The Gaffer]

British Library Reading Room, St Pancras. A truly awesome building, and buzzing with sexual tension according to a recent article in the Spectator...

[sun-star]

Originally Posted by Jonathan

I'm going to London for my birthday (about a month away). Heck, all this makes me want to extend my stay just to piss the bombers off.

That's the best response - come to London and have a great time. I'm going tomorrow in fact, though just passing through.

Originally Posted by The Gaffer

By all accounts a world class response from the emergency services. People were on life-support machines at the scene within minutes. Inspirational. The NHS rules!

Absolutely. They really couldn't have done better. The determination of everybody not to be beaten by this, and the support and sympathy coming in from all over the world, are also beautiful sights to see.

[HOBBIT]

I hope things work out . I was in London a few years ago and rode the underground and the buses. pretty scary times we live in.

Security in NYC has already gone up drastically, as well in othre American cities - so i can just imagine what security must be like in London.

Don't see a problem with ID cards though. In the states, our driver's liscenses (at least in NJ) are like our ID. Name, address, height, eye color, age, photo, etc. No problem with having an official "United States ID" - that might come in handy actually.

As long as you wouldn't have to wear any ID (like they make you do at many jobs and at many schools now, like mine) - then I see no problem with any ID cards.

[The Gaffer]

The problems I have with ID cards are that I don't trust the technology, I don't trust the systems behind them, I may or may not trust the people who'll be using those systems, I certainly don't trust the people who'll be using them in 20 years' time and I don't think they'll actually prevent theft, fraud or terrorism.

Apart from that, they're fine.

[Earniel]

From what I've seen and read I get the impression the people in London aren't all too impressed and shell-shocked by what's happened. I've been hearing jokes about the French sure being lousy losers over the Olympics and mentions of if Hitler couldn't bring London down in the war, the chances of terrorists to do so in a day are rather small. (There are also an odd number of refrences to tea...)

Is this just my impression or are the people of Brittain a little more 'bomb-proof'? Maybe due to the long conflict with the IRA?

[trolls' bane]

Well, in a sense, I don't suppose they feel it as bad as we do. On American local channel (by which I mean the ones you have without getting cabel installed), the London bombings are sure to take up the news hour every time it shows on one of the channels. Therefore, we are more alarmed than necessary, considering past events such as 9/11, and because everything sounds like the end of the world when it takes up all of the local news.

[Radagast The Brown]

It's quite shocking.. IMO. Have Family in London, my uncle passes every day on Picadilly, too - he was already in office when it happened, luckily. I myself have been in all 3 places in Tube where it happened about one year ago. Hmmm... no, I didn't imagine anything as such would happen there. It was all very quiet and calm. I wouldn't mind going to London again though, not at all... planning on going to the Olympics, maybe.

[sun-star]

Originally Posted by Earniel

Is this just my impression or are the people of Brittain a little more 'bomb-proof'? Maybe due to the long conflict with the IRA?

Yes, probably as bomb-proof as it's possible to be (which is a limited amount - I don't think you could ever become indifferent, but you learn to cope). The IRA did this kind of thing often. They bombed pubs, shops, the stock exchange. They killed members of the Government, MPs, police officers, soldiers and teenage army musicians, but they also targetted ordinary people in several cities, not just London. It lasted intermittently for over twenty years, so people got used to the idea of terrorism - anywhere could be a target, anyone could be caught up in tragedy while going about their everyday life. It hasn't been like that for a few years, but most adults have memories of that time and respond to this new fear in the light of the old.

In addition, life in many parts of Britain during WW2 was a daily experience of bombing, death and destruction. My grandparents lived in the East End of London during the Blitz and saw a large part of their world in rubble. The war wasn't something happening far away - it was right there in ordinary life. Ability to cope with danger (which was IMO far worse than what we face today) became part of the British identity, something people pride themselves on. This week we're commemorating the 60th anniversary of the end of the war - this brings it closer for many people who are too young to remember, and we want to follow in the footsteps of those who were so courageous in the past. Terrorism is different to war, but if its aim is to destroy your way of life, you can fight it in the same way - by going on living, and by responding as many people did yesterday, with care for others and solidarity and quiet strength.



As for tea, it's the answer to every other problem, so why not terrorism as well?