Monthly Archive for July, 2005

“I don’t want you going anywhere near London”, my mother said as I booked my trip to Ireland. “Don’t fly from Heathrow”.

“Doesn’t that mean the terrorists have won?”, I wondered to myself. Still, the flight from Luton is easier to get to, and although Luton was itself where the July 7 bombers travelled to London from, it’s certainly unlikely to be a prime target. In fact, much like Birmingham, I’d argue that it might actually do the place good to be explosively rennovated.

But people’s attitudes since the attacks in which 56 people died, including the four apparent suicide attackers, have been mixed. The We’re not Afraid site has given Londoners and others an outlet with which to show their defiance. Less brave Londoners have set up their own site in response: I Am F*cking Terrified. Plenty of gratuitous swearing, and unfortunately not-very-funny pictures, but they also make some very good points:

8. Fear is something you can grit your teeth against, but it doesn’t stop you being afraid. If you’re terrified, you’re terrified. Simple as that.

9. Terrorists cause terror. That’s why they’re called terrorists. If they didn’t cause terror, they’d be called something else – like ‘annoyingists’. Saying that you’re afraid doesn’t mean that the terrorists have “won”. #

Let’s face it, the ideology that drives these people is not fuelled by how scared someone who lives near London might be about going down for a day trip. Brits claiming not to be particularly bothered about what is, let’s face it, a pretty shambolic “terror” campaign will not convince the extremists to pack up and go home.

At the moment, we’re the bad guys, and it’s not because we’re afraid. It’s because of the mess our governments have made in the Middle East over the past century. And unfortunately, it’s going to take more than bravado to put that right.