purplecthulhu

Those who expect us to be 'burning with fear' really know very little about the history of London. The city has suffered much worse than this in both recent history and in living memory. Large tracts of it have been devasated by Hitler and by the IRA, and London rebuilt. We're used to transport disruption - London Transport can do that all by itself without outside help thank you! - which, for most of us, will be the only lasting reminder of Thursday's attacks. London and Londoners will endure.its what we do. Its part of our myths, our culture (or should I say 'their' since I'm not sure how much I count as a Londoner). There's a reeason why we're comparing these latest idiots to Hitler, the IRA, the daleks, the cybermen, and the martians - be they in War Machines or buried in Quatermass' Pit. And that's because London is always being destroyed and rebuilt, whether by enemy action, alien action, an accident at a bakery on Pudding Lane, or by our own property developers.

My reaction, on hearing the details of why my tube journey into work was disrupted, was, like the bowl of petunias, 'Oh no, not again'. We've been here before, and will be again. I remember the Harrods bombing, the destruction of St Mary Axe. I walk beneath the memorial plaque to the 173 that died at Bethnal Green tube station every day. What happened on Thursday is an awful tragedy for all those injured and for their friends and families of those of the dead. It was a monstrous act. But it wasn't unprecedented in the history of London. It will be absorbed, London will rebuild. The destruction of St Mary Axe and the buildings around it by the IRA led to the construction of the Swiss Re building (the Erotic Gherkin) - from destruction came something new and admirable. That is London's way, and some lunatic bombers blowing up tubes and buses will have even less effect.

We're here, and we're staying, and you're not going to change us or the world by killing a few innocent people.

So don't bother.