A Curious Girl: Attack on London

"Where does it end? You kill them and take their land. They kill you and take the land back. On and on and on. The cycle of hatred..." Delenn, Babylon 5.

It's been quite a week for London. Yesterday, Al Qaeda (or people claiming to be them) brought it to a standstill. I'm grateful that it wasn't as bad as it could have been... and that my family are, thankfully, safe. But we've been so lucky. I feel so lucky that I can't even comprehend what some people must be going through right now.

I thought Tony Blair actually did quite well in the circumstances. My statement at such a time would have probably been, "Shit. F***ing terrorists." So I'm impressed that his speech was coherent, and even quite poetic, despite the obvious shock.

It was actually very weird in the office yesterday. Not being in London, after we'd checked that relatives were all OK (Mum sent me an e-mail, pre-emptively), it had to be business as usual. I heard some uneasy jokes about France getting revenge for the Olympics. So watching events unfold using news sites was very peculiar. I watched the (ITV special) news at home, but ended up feeling a bit disgusted at the way it was covered. There always seems to be a slight schadenfreude at these moments - endless 'human interest' stories and dissections of exactly what happened in what station and how it felt to be there. I'd swear that some journalists rub their hands in glee whenever these things happen. News isn't Hollywood. It's not about savouring the moment or dwelling on experiences. It's not about making good television, for heaven's sake! It ought to be about facts. I wanted to know if Al Qaeda did it. I want to know what difference this will make to the G8. I want to know if Tony Blair will use this to push ID cards. Granted, I'd also like to hear how many people died, where the injured are treated - the facts of the situation. I'm comforted to hear how well the emergency services did. I don't know why we need to hear endless accounts of just what it was like, and how dangerous it is to inhale smoke, and a million experts on every related subject coming out and giving their view. It seems really quite disturbing that on the BBC website, within a couple of hours of the attack there was already a large number of linked articles, including a pictures section. Did everyone whip out their cameras as soon as it happened?

I hope Tony Blair understands just what values we hold dear. Apparently the G8 have boosted aid, which is good news, especially because the attack didn't push terrorism forward on the agenda. Thank goodness they're still discussing poverty and climate change. I was really worried the resulting paranoia would drag us back into war. It's time we stopped spending money on bombing countries to catch a few terrorists, and started spending it to help people. It seems like every attack is a retaliation. It's senseless!

And now... Terrorists cause terror. We value freedom, peace and justice. Please, no more wars, no ID cards, no killing hundreds of uninvolved people just to get a few terrorists, no paranoia, no prejudice. Otherwise, the terrorists really will have won.

Hope everyone's OK. *hugs* to anyone who's been affected.

Random word for today: prosaic

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