News Terrorist Attack - London

[hungryraccoon]

They said in the news thus morning that the chances of being killed in a terrorist attack are so small that they can't even be calculated.

I've been in London every weekend this month & will be again tomorrow & I do feel that it's safe enough to do so. Obviously it does cross your mind though.

 

[shyvas]

I was here during the blast.

 

[Moll Flanders]

I was just saying on another thread that I did feel nervous using the underground today, but there were some police on the train I was on. I get more anxious for my husband obviously as he works on the underground. I expected a terrorist attack to be like the one we had in east London in 2015 with the man just randomly stabbing strangers. It shocked me that one individual could get so far into Westminster as I thought it would be better protected. These type of attacks are so hard to predict. On the way home on the train I had forgotten about it though, haha, You have to keep on with your normal life.

 

[shyvas]

I was just saying on another thread that I did feel nervous using the underground today, but there were some police on the train I was on. I get more anxious for my husband obviously as he works on the underground. I expected a terrorist attack to be like the one we had in east London in 2015 with the man just randomly stabbing strangers. It shocked me that one individual could get so far into Westminster as I thought it would be better protected. These type of attacks are so hard to predict. On the way home on the train I had forgotten about it though, haha, You have to keep on with your normal life.

That is also what I was thinking. The poor police officer had no way of either defending himself or the MPs.

I was also very surprised by the footage showing the PM - TM getting away by car. It wasn't the most effective or professional getaway due to secret service doing a very bad job.

 

[PTree15]

So horrible. Feel so sad for those people & anyone who witnessed it - it must be absolutely terrifying.

Agree. This is so very sad. I just wish we as humans could treat each other better.

 

[Moll Flanders]

 

[shyvas]

How to explain a terror attack to children – and why you should talk about it

I found this article interesting as children also have to be told the facts about the latest terrorist attack.

 

[ledboots]

How to explain a terror attack to children – and why you should talk about it

I found this article interesting as children also have to be told the facts about the latest terrorist attack.

It's difficult. Mine were 12 and 7 in 2001. The 7-year old's school decided to bring all the children into the cafeteria to watch it on tv. My little boy drew pictures of planes flying into buildings with plumes of smoke, and people leaping from windows, as he saw it live, before the news edited out the parts with the people jumping to their deaths.

 

[Moll Flanders]

I meant to say that it's weird how scared people are now as people in London put up with the IRA campaign for decades. I remember feeling worried when I used to go into central London when I was a child/teen because of the bombings, but for some reason I feel more anxious about the situation now. I think it is the 24 hour media that makes you feel like there is more of a threat to your personal safety.

The Westminster attack was not new. London has faced far worse | Frank Foley | Opinion | The Guardian

 

[KLS52]

I think about doom and gloom wherever I am, every single day. I hate it. I think of something happening when I'm at the mall. I check my surroundings whenever I get out of my car, away from home and even when I get home, worrying about home invasions. It's ridiculous. And probably excessive. But it's just the way I am now.

 

[shyvas]

I meant to say that it's weird how scared people are now as people in London put up with the IRA campaign for decades. I remember feeling worried when I used to go into central London when I was a child/teen because of the bombings, but for some reason I feel more anxious about the situation now. I think it is the 24 hour media that makes you feel like there is more of a threat to your personal safety.

The Westminster attack was not new. London has faced far worse | Frank Foley | Opinion | The Guardian

You are right. I also remember the IRA bombings. I don't know whether it has something to do with age but younger people don't seem as afraid as the middle aged or elderly.

List of terrorist incidents in Great Britain - Wikipedia

 

[Moll Flanders]

Yes, it's strange how people seem to be reacting more now when the situation with terrorism in the UK was far worse in the past few decades. Nothing to do with terrorism, but I was a victim of crime when I was in my twenties and two people close to me were also affected by crime in the same few months. One of them was almost murdered. I think it is just the cumulative effect of what has happened between then and now. It doesn't help that after those events I worked in parts of London where there was a lot of crime for two of my jobs. It also doesn't help that I had police in my family and now in my in-laws. I end up hearing about the details of violent crimes that aren't released to the media. Urgh, sometimes I feel like leaving London and moving to a tiny village with low crime.

 

[shyvas]

Yes, it's strange how people seem to be reacting more now when the situation with terrorism in the UK was far worse in the past few decades. Nothing to do with terrorism, but I was a victim of crime when I was in my twenties and two people close to me were also affected by crime in the same few months. One of them was almost murdered. I think it is just the cumulative effect of what has happened between then and now. It doesn't help that after those events I worked in parts of London where there was a lot of crime for two of my jobs. It also doesn't help that I had police in my family and now in my in-laws. I end up hearing about the details of violent crimes that aren't released to the media. Urgh, sometimes I feel like leaving London and moving to a tiny village with low crime.

Is it because of the way we react to terrorism further to what is seen or said on the media ? Today, news is instant with live coverage and many countries are so nearby due to the fact that people travel far more frequently.

I think that anyone that has been a victim of crime, never gets over the trauma. It's strange that many crimes are treated as 'hush, hush'. I don't recall the mainstream media reporting that a 14 yr old girl was raped in a school bathroom by an adult fellow student and a 17 yr old in the US. Such a serious crime against a youngster at school is horrendous.

The ever rising home invasions that occur over here hardly ever get to the news. I have people that call in every morning relating that burglars broke into their homes ans stole virtually all valuables including their cars. Apparently (according to the police) some burglers use sleeping gas and that is why some people don't wake up during the burglary.

I certainly did feel far safer at home when I was in the UK living in a house rather than a flat in this part of the world.

 

[Moll Flanders]

I was thinking that I used to go all day being at school and in the evenings at home until watching the news for the first time at 9pm, I think it used to be at 9pm in the 1980s and 1990s. I can't ever imagine doing that these days, checking the news is one of the first things I do every day. If there were the bombings like the IRA ones today the 24 hour news would be hysterical.

 

[Moll Flanders]

They held an 82 second silence on Westminster Bridge today to honour the victims. 82 seconds to mark the length of the attack last Wednesday.London attack: Commemorations for Westminster - BBC News

I have been talking with my husband and one of my childhood friends about the terrorism we had with the IRA. My friend told me that when we were young we were in London on a day out and we saw a victim of an attack staggering around and we were laughing as we thought he was drunk! I don't remember that at all. I do remember when we were about 13 or 14 in the science lab at school and a bomb went off in the distance. The science teacher paused for a few minutes and then just carried on with the lesson. I worked with that teacher in a temp job as an adult and I talked to him about that. He said that he assumed it wasn't dangerous as the school fire alarm didn't go off so that was why he carried on. Talking about the past really has helped make me put what happened last week into perspective.

 

[MadamSarcastra]

London Tube Explosion: At Least 29 Injured After Attack On Train

 

[MadamSarcastra]

British police arrest London bomb suspect at Dover border point