WE ARE NOT AFRAID
At noon today, like millions of people in Britain and also many in other countries, I observed a 2 minutes silence in memory of the innocent victims of the bombings which took place a week ago today.
Horrifying though the attacks were, it is very impressive how calmly and responsibly the overwhelming majority of people have behaved. London's transport infrastructure was very close to being back to normal within two working days. There was more disruption on Tuesday when police found and carried out a controlled explosion on a car which had been left, apparently by the bombers, near to the rail link at Luton, but everyone took it calmly and patiently.
None of the main political parties has used the opportunity to score
cheap political points: Michael Howard went out of his way to praise the Prime Minister's response to the bombings, and Charles Clarke had the honesty to admit that Identity Cards would not have prevented this attack.
Everyone has been at pains to point out that the vast majority of
Muslims are as horrified by these murders as everyone else. This
message has come from the Prime Minister, the leader of the opposition, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Muslim leaders themselves, who were quick to point out that Islam does not justify or excuse the murder of innocent people.
With the awful news that the four young men who blew themselves up,
taking with them at least 48 innocent people and bringing devastation to 52 innocent families including their own, there has been recognition in the press and elsewhere, that if we attack innocent people because of their religion we are playing into the hands of Osama Bon Laden and giving the terrorists what they want.
I found particularly moving some of the expressions of support from other countries. A year ago after the Madrid bombs, the Spanish national anthem was played at the changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. This week Spain returned the gesture by playing God Save the Queen at the changing of the guard in Madrid. Those who stood in silence in London were joined by people keeping a silence in Bali, Iraq and our EU partner countries.
We grieve today with everyone who has lost a loved one, including innocent family members of the killers. For example I think of the one-year old daughter of the Edgeware Road bomber, who has not just lost her father but who will have to come to terms with the fact that he abandoned her by taking his own life and those of others in this terrible way. I cannot understand, and do not want the ability to understand, how a man with enough empathy for children to be a successful classroom assistant could leave such a legacy to his own child.
Those who plotted and carried out this evil will fail, as the Kaiser, Hitler, and the IRA all failed before them.
As parliament continues the debate on the Racial and Religious hatred bill, I hope peers and MPs on both sides of the debate will think carefully and intelligently about what laws will most effectively protect all our communities from the kind of hatred which appears to have contributed to the appalling tragedy in London last week.
Horrifying though the attacks were, it is very impressive how calmly and responsibly the overwhelming majority of people have behaved. London's transport infrastructure was very close to being back to normal within two working days. There was more disruption on Tuesday when police found and carried out a controlled explosion on a car which had been left, apparently by the bombers, near to the rail link at Luton, but everyone took it calmly and patiently.
None of the main political parties has used the opportunity to score
cheap political points: Michael Howard went out of his way to praise the Prime Minister's response to the bombings, and Charles Clarke had the honesty to admit that Identity Cards would not have prevented this attack.
Everyone has been at pains to point out that the vast majority of
Muslims are as horrified by these murders as everyone else. This
message has come from the Prime Minister, the leader of the opposition, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Muslim leaders themselves, who were quick to point out that Islam does not justify or excuse the murder of innocent people.
With the awful news that the four young men who blew themselves up,
taking with them at least 48 innocent people and bringing devastation to 52 innocent families including their own, there has been recognition in the press and elsewhere, that if we attack innocent people because of their religion we are playing into the hands of Osama Bon Laden and giving the terrorists what they want.
I found particularly moving some of the expressions of support from other countries. A year ago after the Madrid bombs, the Spanish national anthem was played at the changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. This week Spain returned the gesture by playing God Save the Queen at the changing of the guard in Madrid. Those who stood in silence in London were joined by people keeping a silence in Bali, Iraq and our EU partner countries.
We grieve today with everyone who has lost a loved one, including innocent family members of the killers. For example I think of the one-year old daughter of the Edgeware Road bomber, who has not just lost her father but who will have to come to terms with the fact that he abandoned her by taking his own life and those of others in this terrible way. I cannot understand, and do not want the ability to understand, how a man with enough empathy for children to be a successful classroom assistant could leave such a legacy to his own child.
Those who plotted and carried out this evil will fail, as the Kaiser, Hitler, and the IRA all failed before them.
As parliament continues the debate on the Racial and Religious hatred bill, I hope peers and MPs on both sides of the debate will think carefully and intelligently about what laws will most effectively protect all our communities from the kind of hatred which appears to have contributed to the appalling tragedy in London last week.
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