please empty your brain below
Amen

Ken | 06.06.17 - 7:09 a.m. | #

Well said dg. Very poignant. Very deep.

Rob Healy | 06.06.17 - 7:14 a.m. | #

Yes,DG,an excellent post this morning. Very well said indeed.

Jo W | 06.06.17 - 7:23 a.m. | #

Powerful, thank you; by far the best commentary I've read in the last few days.

Phil C | 06.06.17 - 8:02 a.m. | #

Great writing. Needs to be seen by a wider audience than just the regular DG readers.

popartist | 06.06.17 - 8:18 a.m. | #

Eloquent is the only word that suits.
Your comments make the words of the Politicians and "Experts" seem like the ramblings of idiots.

Peter Watmore | 06.06.17 - 8:20 a.m. | #

Good piece of writing with good points made, unfortunately you can't build physical barriers against an idea.

Often these are good ideas, sometimes they are bad ideas, if a bad idea is supported by the machinery of state, catastrophic things happen.

Sadly there are now some of bad ideas supported or encouraged by those in power or have access to it.

Those who were around when catastrophic things happened have mostly made their exits.

History then repeats itself.

Still anon | 06.06.17 - 8:34 a.m. | #

Yes put a few pavement barriers up across a couple of bridges - that'll stop them, as if they will try ther again. Down Bow Road or Wandsworth High Street or the Edgware Road or your street. Are they thick? What a silly response and a waste of money - better do every road in the UK - nah!.

Boxer | 06.06.17 - 9:09 a.m. | #

Well said.
There did actually used to be metal railings over London Bridge, but they probably wouldn't have stopped the attack from occurring, just might've made it happen somewhere else.

RogerW | 06.06.17 - 9:16 a.m. | #

It's sobering to realise that around 1400 people die every day in the UK, many of them in ways that could have been avoided 'if only'. So I will keep going about my normal life in London and continue to be more concerned about crossing the road safely than being attacked by terrorists.

ActonMan | 06.06.17 - 9:57 a.m. | #

Thank you.

Bryn Davies | 06.06.17 - 11:24 a.m. | #

127, then 136 cf. is it 12? Terrorists have killed a dozen people in London this year. The other figures refer to road deaths in London in 2014 and 2015 respectively according to the TfL website. In both cases the impact on friends and relations is similar, a terrible loss. The only difference is one of intent, one deliberate and one accidental. We need to keep a sense of perspective even in these emotional days, otherwise no one would ever leave their home. So DG you are right: 'We cannot live our lives in fear'.

Anon Anon | 06.06.17 - 12:21 p.m. | #

There are places in London where I have been.
Places where, on a certain date, at a certain time, lives were ended or changed.
I wasn't there on that date, at that time.
But each time I pass through, I pause, and remember.

Brock | 06.06.17 - 12:33 p.m. | #

Superb piece of writing.

Jerym | 06.06.17 - 1:30 p.m. | #

I found this helpful in putting such matters in perspective. It's clear that disproportionate emphasis is placed on deaths from terrorism. It's the suddenness, the overwhelming, seemingly random intrusion into 'normality' and the violence which does this. I think you have written before about the post-event rationalisation that goes on; the attempts to make sense of something senseless. Wouldn't it be great if all of the energy and angst that arose from these tragedies could somehow be directed at promoting peace. Rather than mass public grief, memorials and plotting ever more stringent defences, wouldn't it be better to learn how to bring about lasting peace.

As the cliché goes, "if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got".

drD | Homepage | 06.06.17 - 1:47 p.m. | #

Boxer. By your logic, all those security check points at Canary Wharf should be removed. It's been attacked once so it can't happen again???

dg writes: That's not what Boxer said at all.

Of course these bridge barriers are not a panacea, but personally I think it's a very sensible step.

IslandDweller | 06.06.17 - 2:46 p.m. | #

Excellently put. Would love to share

Woggle | 06.06.17 - 4:40 p.m. | #

Thank you.

Geraldine49 | 06.06.17 - 5:53 p.m. | #

Well said DG... thank you

Kevin Too | 06.06.17 - 6:37 p.m. | #

I missed the IRA bomb in Victoria (early 80s) by 5 minutes, it was in the part of the station that I used to cut through on my way to work. That one led to the removal of all public litter bins. Now a different type of terrorism is leading to barricades on bridges. What next?

amber | 06.06.17 - 9:23 p.m. | #

Can you send this to all politicians everywhere please.
A great piece of writing that puts it all into perspective.

Sally Hirst | 06.06.17 - 9:46 p.m. | #

The most recent place is where I live, where I work, where I go shopping, where I go out for a meal or a drink, and where I travel through to get almost everywhere else in London.

Once all the cordons are lifted and life slowly returns to normal it's going to feel a very strange place.

Thank you

Rob | 06.06.17 - 10:40 p.m. | #

Would i be able to share? Well written

Craig | 07.06.17 - 2:28 a.m. | #

Well said.

Rowan | 07.06.17 - 2:33 a.m. | #

Thank you dg excellent.

Colininthailand | 07.06.17 - 11:53 a.m. | #

Thank you, DG

Bob L-S | 07.06.17 - 3:05 p.m. | #

Well said mate.

I work at the Borough Market on the Stoney St side.

Stay safe.

JG | 08.06.17 - 1:17 p.m. | #

Thank you DG. Beautifully said.

Rose | 08.06.17 - 1:41 p.m. | #











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