London

Everything happens when I go on vacation…

Fortunately, my family in London are fine. Better than the last major bombing in London when the IRA went after Harrods and my brother got knocked off his feet on his way home from work (but wasn’t seriously hurt).

I have lived in three cities in my life. Bristol for University which almost doesn’t count as a city but for which I retain a great fondness. San Francisco (or environs) for the past sixteen years, which I love. And London where I lived for six years or so off the Archway Road and in Highgate and near which I grew up. In many ways London is still home. And last week was horrifying, saddening and totally pointless. If I had to pick one city in the whole world which could let an event like this bounce off it with no effect, it would be London. People are rightly bringing up the Second World War and London’s resiliency. It reminds me of the brilliant photograph of St Paul’s standing proud amidst explosions and clouds of smoke.

One other thing London has – a mayor who is a real person and a real politician. I wish there were politicians in the US who could talk like this (full transcript of the speech by Mayor Ken Livingstone of London on July 7th):

This was a cowardly attack, which has resulted in injury and loss of life. Our thoughts are with everyone who has been injured, or lost loved ones. I want to thank the emergency services for the way they have responded.

Following the al-Qaeda attacks on September 11th in America we conducted a series of exercises in London in order to be prepared for just such an attack. One of the exercises undertaken by the government, my office and the emergency and security services was based on the possibility of multiple explosions on the transport system during the Friday rush hour. The plan that came out of that exercise is being executed today, with remarkable efficiency and courage, and I praise those staff who are involved.

I’d like to thank Londoners for the calm way in which they have responded to this cowardly attack and echo the advice of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair – do everything possible to assist the police and take the advice of the police about getting home today.

I have no doubt whatsoever that this is a terrorist attack. We did hope in the first few minutes after hearing about the events on the Underground that it might simply be a maintenance tragedy. That was not the case. I have been able to stay in touch through the very excellent communications that were established for the eventuality that I might be out of the city at the time of a terrorist attack and they have worked with remarkable effectiveness. I will be in continual contact until I am back in London.

I want to say one thing specifically to the world today. This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty and the powerful. It was not aimed at Presidents or Prime Ministers. It was aimed at ordinary, working-class Londoners, black and white, Muslim and Christian, Hindu and Jew, young and old. It was an indiscriminate attempt to slaughter, irrespective of any considerations for age, for class, for religion, or whatever.

That isn’t an ideology, it isn’t even a perverted faith – it is just an indiscriminate attempt at mass murder and we know what the objective is. They seek to divide Londoners. They seek to turn Londoners against each other. I said yesterday to the International Olympic Committee, that the city of London is the greatest in the world, because everybody lives side by side in harmony. Londoners will not be divided by this cowardly attack. They will stand together in solidarity alongside those who have been injured and those who have been bereaved and that is why I’m proud to be the mayor of that city.

Finally, I wish to speak directly to those who came to London today to take life.

I know that you personally do not fear giving up your own life in order to take others – that is why you are so dangerous. But I know you fear that you may fail in your long-term objective to destroy our free society and I can show you why you will fail.

In the days that follow look at our airports, look at our sea ports and look at our railway stations and, even after your cowardly attack, you will see that people from the rest of Britain, people from around the world will arrive in London to become Londoners and to fulfil their dreams and achieve their potential.

They choose to come to London, as so many have come before because they come to be free, they come to live the life they choose, they come to be able to be themselves. They flee you because you tell them how they should live. They don’t want that and nothing you do, however many of us you kill, will stop that flight to our city where freedom is strong and where people can live in harmony with one another. Whatever you do, however many you kill, you will fail.

5 Comments

  1. Welcome back to this Home. We haven’t forgotten and love spews for London. As short sighted as Americans can be, we do care and want to do good. At least I do, brother man.
    So, at midnight jump over your fence and grab a few stoned fruits from your neighbor when they ain’t lookin’. Take that fruit and make a tart, with a smile knowing we got yer back.
    Hugs & kisses from your yard,

    Biggles

  2. Bristol is very much a City. For a while, way back when, it was the second largest City in England.
    It is officially titled “The City of Bristol”
    And it is a county too, just to complicate matters.
    In size it is as almost as big as SF
    but it has half the population
    But more vast green space and houses
    (fewer appartments)

    SF & Bristol are almost the same size if you just count the land area (not the water).

  3. Sam – no offence meant at all – I love Bristol – just feels a bit more like a town to me than (say) SF. And now that SF isn’t even the biggest Bay Area city in size (although by far the most important culturally) it just exacerbates the feeling. I know that it is officially a city, but then so is Ely – and that isn’t much more than a cathedral on its own…

    …anyway, if I had to live in any of the three for whatever reason, I’d be happier than in most other places in the world.

  4. well that is something we both have in common then (3 favourite cities).
    But it’s funny – SF always seems to me like a village after London.
    I used to call it just that
    ‘the village’ when i arrived
    but now I love its small size (at first I resented it).
    Not sure I could live back in Bristol just yet. Maybe one day when I am old.

    (and of course I am offended – Bristol is a City, and that is the end of it 🙂

  5. That’s funny – after I lived in New York for a year when I was 18, I thought London looked like a village when I went back! I guess everything’s relative! (Although I can’t think of anywhere that would make New York look like a village…) Oddly enough I didn’t really like New York. A year there was plenty. I like New Yorkers though.

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