I admit to being pretty shocked by events at Westminster today. The loss of life is appalling: I can only offer condolences to the families of those involved. My best wishes go to all who are injured.
Part of my shock is because I spend a fair amount of time in Westminster: enough in fact for people to have checked my well being this afternoon. I was nowhere near as it happened. But for there to be an attack on a place you know so well is shocking: I wilfully repeat the term.
That a policeman has died is equally upsetting: the police who work at Parliament do so regularly. It's not possible to be around the place on a regular basis and not be on at least nodding terms with some of them: I am, and have long been used to their carrying guns whilst exchanging banter on the day. These are decent people doing their job: I applaud them.
I make no claim to be a part of the 'bubble'. Equally, many I know treat my easy acquaintance with the place as odd: it's a familiarity I have got used to. And for all the contempt many express for the whole Westminster process, and despite the frustration I often feel for it, this is where our democracy is based. And that is why I value it. And that is why this event was something that so obviously challenges that democratic process.
It is deeply upsetting that people have died and been injured today. But we need to remember how important it is that our democracy survives all challenges. That is why I, like so many others, will be at Westminster again soon. This place is at the core of our democracy.
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Thank you Richard, I second your sentiments. Democracy forever!
The crowds around Westminster present a tempting target, such crowds include few politicos. Which means that the likelihood of any politico being injured or killed in attacks (which are politcally focused) is minimal. Such actions only injure/kill the (politically) powerless, whilst giving the empowered a chance to emote & strut their stuff on the political stage (look how tough on terrorism I am). The attacks also show up the cynicism (or stupdiity – take your pick) of the attackers.
you might be surprised how often MPs and Lords are to be seen walking around Westminster, either on the bridge, or around Parliament Square and Millbank.
As the Mayor said, living in a mega city means that the threat of terrorism is never far away (I grew up in London in the 70s and remember it well).
Other than gathering intelligence to prevent acts such as yesterday’s happening, there seems little that can physically be done to stop people if they are determined enough. There are many barriers and other infrastructure around Westminster already and they didn’t stop it. Let’s hope we are not heading towards a Fortress Parliament: that would only further encourage those who buy into the lazy cynicism Matthew Parrish describes.
I too remember London’s old terrorism
We lived with it
We will again
I had the good fortune to have the Houses of Parliament as a client over a 3-4 year period and saw a lot of the place. MPs expenses were part of the work… I’ll say no more
I’d strongly echo Richards thoughts both about today’s awful events, the people who work there, and Westminster as the centre of our democracy. My time there got me much more interested in politics and positive about it. Yes there were the rogues but when you talk to the staff who really know them all, most were working extraordinarily hard and trying to do an honest job. I also realised how little most people know about it because we take it for granted. Right up until the point where we start to lose it.
Matthew Parris put it very well a few years ago when he said that it was too easy to adopt a ‘lazy cynicism’. He was dead right and that lazy cynicism is a big part of why we are where we are. We are in real danger of losing it.
Thank goodness you are safe Richard. And well done for making the point that in many ways you are sort of just as much at the centre of the story as you sometimes go to Westminster and as the values you hold are the target of these terrorists so you are perhaps the target of these people.
Not enough of the reporters and eye witnesses I have seen on TV have made this personal point so well done for personalizing this to really bring things into focus.
Well that wasn’t my point: that bit had not occurred to me
But that it feels personal was
Yes, I’m afraid Richard’s values are a target. Democracies require opposition and debate. As the intellectual inspiration for Corbynism, and the intellectual bulwark against the establishment demonisation of the SNP, Richard is critical to that opposition. Oh, did I mention Green QE?
The fact is that many of Richard’s insights are a genuine threat to many vested interests. That is why we value his bravery as well as everything else.
Let me assure you, I am just a guy who writes down what he thinks
It was a day of stark and thought provoking contrasts for me.
A shocking day indeed with too many innocent people who have lost their lives or whose lives will have been altered for ever. My thoughts are with them.
I heard of the death and injury suffered as well as the quick response by the under funded police force.
And how underfunded NHS workers streamed selflessly out of a nearby hospital to tend to the dying and the injured.
All within close proximity of the place that is the cause of their ills – whether by misleading people in order to go to a war that has actually made us less secure or misleading the people of the need to underfund public services since 2010.
Tony Blair hopefully will continue to be rebuked because of his abuse of Parliament but I wonder if any thing will change within the Tory party regarding their destruction of our society as a result of the sacrifice and commitment shown by the emergency services they are underfunding yesterday?
Don’t hold your breath. People have committed suicide because of the Tory cuts to benefits. I don’t see any contrition or second thoughts there.
Those were my thoughts from yesterday I’m afraid. As long as other innocents can pay the price of stupid politician’s behaviour – why should the politicans themselves bother to change tack?
The political right will praise ‘the heroism and sacrifice of our public servants’ while at the same time wrecking the public sector through a totally unnecessary policy of austerity.
As for benefit claimants committing suicide? I’m sure most right wingers are absolutely fine with that; after all, as far as they’re concerned, if you claim benefits you’re not really a proper human being at all, in their eyes.
I agree with Richard’s expressed sentiments entirely on this matter but, looking at the media coverage and political response to this event, I will risk accusations of insensitivity by declaring the overall reaction to be hysterical, overblown and cynically opportunistic.
To illustrate what I mean I will compare the recent London attack with a remarkably similar incident that occurred in Melbourne, Australia, just two months ago when a deranged man drove to the city centre and deliberately crashed into pedestrians at a popular location. 6 of his victims died, another 37 were injured. The Melbourne attacker started his violent spree with a knife assault in another part of the city. The London incident finished with a knife attack. Both of the assaults ended when the assailants were shot by police, both men were locally born, acted alone and did not have any known accomplices.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-21/melbourne-car-attack-death-toll-hits-5-after-3mo-baby-dies/8200808
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jan/22/three-month-old-baby-dies-melbourne-car-attack-death-toll-five
The parallels between the two incidents are clear. The similarities end at the point where we compare the media and political reactions. The Melbourne atrocity became a major news event in Australia as it should have, and there was some international coverage. It did not instantly become the top story in most of the major news outlets worldwide or receive continuous rolling updates for days afterwards. It did not result in public statements from foreign leaders nor did those leaders feel the need to call the Australian prime minister personally to discuss the event. The Australian Prime minister did not immediately convene a summit of his top security experts and officials. His foreign minister was not abroad the time but, if she was, we can be fairly sure that she would not have been immediately recalled to discuss the actions of a lone criminal.
As it turns out, the atrocity at Westminster became a major global event, a near-identical occurrence in Australia, did not. One obvious explanation for that contrast relates to the fact that the Melbourne attacker was not a bearded muslim but an Australian of Greek background, clean-cut and athletic in appearance. There was nothing about him that instantly fed into any current political narrative and he was not referred to as a ‘terrorist’.
To be fair to the press and politicians, Westminster is a political centre. The pedestrian mall in Melbourne’s Bourke St is not. The political location would have led London police to suspect a political motive and the possibility of other associated attackers elsewhere. Those suspicions have now been largely dismissed and the motive is still unclear. Of the 11 people arrested in the wake of the Westminster atrocity 9 have been released without charge. Police describe the other two arrests as “significant” but they have not linked them to Wednesday’s attack.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/mar/24/nine-custody-westminster-terrorist-attack-police-arrests
To me it would seem that the tragic attack at Westminster has inspired an over-reaction on the part of the government, media and a string of exploiters like Nigel Farage who used the incident as a pretext to rubbish British “multiculturalism” on Fox News. For my part I am not seeking to decry all of this as unfair or racist (though it might be). What I will say is that the global over-reaction encourages lone-wolf terrorists by giving deranged individuals the biggest possible stage and spotlight that they could imagine. They become heroes in their own deranged minds and household names worldwide.
More controversially, perhaps, I would also suggest that there are some in politics who do not mind the fact that these mass-murderers may be encouraged. Conservative politicians have long appealed to their base by promoting themselves as the defenders of society, by being “tough” on crime, terrorists and disagreeable foreigners. In the absence of a perceived threat they have less appeal. Islamic terrorists for their part, justify themselves by pointing to foreign military interventions and “tough” anti-islamic policies in the West.
The ‘fundamentalists’ on both sides are entwined in a symbiotic relationship. They both rely on the actions of the other to attract support from their own people. Similar relationships have existed in the past: between the Neo-conservatives and Al Qaeda or US and Soviet “hawks”. To make matters worse in the West, traditional conservatives and the “alt-right” are now engaged in a political intolerance auction to compete for the loyalty of bigots.
In the meantime the rest of us would do well to consider the suggestion that turning Khalid Masood into a global focus of attention may not be a good idea. It inspires others like him. It may also serve the interests of certain others. What it does not do is improve our security.
Much about this attack makes little political sense, not the last being that few people are radicalised at 52, but some can definitely no longer manage their own baggage. It is entirely possible that this was not Islamic fundamentalism, as much as it is possible that it is: as far as I know no one knows
Of course it hit at Westminster. Again, there may be a lot of reasons why that may have happened
What is certain is Farage et al are wrong
Absolutely Marco, never underestimate the willingness of integrity free bombasts and racists to exploit tragic events like these to push their own agenda. Your 2nd to last paragraph is particularly good.Religious and political extremists often feed off each other’s existence.
And of course, in many ways they are very similar. Islamic fundamentalists and anti Islamic racist groups both hate gays, and feminists. Funny that.