London

I read this this morning and felt compelled to post it, regarding the bombings in London. I spent a semester in London during the run-up to John Major’s run for re-election in 1997 when the IRA was regularly bombing all around the UK. The utter calm and annoyance that was so pervasive in response to the bombings was shocking to me, but I got used to focusing on the inconvenience rather than fear. Read below for a much more eloquent response.

From the OpinionJournal –

It is very unlikely that Londoners will behave in the same, frankly craven, way that the Spanish electorate did. A more bloody-minded, visceral, indeed atavistic reaction is the right one to expect from us, and it would be deeply out of character for Londoners to want to appease their tormentors in any way. Indeed it is telling how many are saying that the authorities overreacted by completely closing the entire transport network in the aftermath of the bombings. There are also voluble criticisms of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair for ordering us only to make journeys “if absolutely necessary.” If the elderly lady I overheard in a small crowd watching the events on TV through the windows of an electrical goods store in the King’s Road, Chelsea, is anything to go by, the general attitude is: “It’s ridiculous not being able to take trains home. If we didn’t kowtow to Hitler, why should we to this lot?”