Thoughts on London Bombings

July 2005

Last Thursday I joined people outside Portsmouth’s Guildhall marking two minutes silence in memory of the victims of the London bombings. And it was truly moving to watch later the TV pictures of millions of people stopping to stand silently and in unity in remembrance. It is clear that these acts of violence will not break the will of the British people.

A week ago saw the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War Two when this country stood firm against Nazi dictatorship. It is important to remember what we fought for then – tolerance, democracy and freedom. We should be clear that no religion condones acts like the London bombings and Muslim leaders have been among the first to condemn them. We need to be tolerant and perhaps make greater efforts to understand each other – but to turn on each other would only allow the terrorists to win. We must work to make sure that the sort of intolerance that flourished unfortunately for a while in Nazi Germany is not allowed to take any root here. And while sensible measures against terrorism must be taken, we should try and minimise the effect they have on our civil liberties, democracy and way of life.

On a slightly lighter note but also with its serious side were the events commemorating Trafalgar 200. It was a tremendous day of truly memorable events. Some 300,000 people came to Portsmouth, three times the estimates of how many would come, so some problems getting that number off Portsea island was perhaps not surprising but I am determined that all the authorities involved learn the lessons from this. I have also had a very large mailbag saying how disappointed they were with the lack of TV coverage on the BBC as I understand the BBC themselves also have had.

In remembering those that fought in both Trafalgar and the two World Wars, the civilians who lost their lives in wars and the victims of terrorism, we should all strive to build a better Britain that is about all that is good and noble in this country.