Gary's views

Gary's weekly views

Each week an article by Gary has appeared in the Plympton Plymstock and Ivybridge News in South West Devon. The articles are published here

LONDON

For Londoners last week, it was truly, as Dickens wrote, the best of times and the worst of times. Joy unlimited on Wednesday after the Olympic bid triumph, quickly followed by the nightmare scenario of the bombs on Thursday. Then the poignant 60th commemoration of the end of the war, culminating in the mass gathering in the Mall, polished off an unforgettable week. All of us, whatever our post code, shared fully in the highs and lows of those remarkable few days.

As I travelled back on the train to the Commons this week and took the tube from Paddington to Westminster, passing through Edgware road tube station, one of the flash points, I wondered if I would notice a difference. There were a few more security guards on view and the loudspeaker warned us to report suspect packages more frequently than usual. But other than that, the irrepressible spirit that won us the Second World War was very much in evidence. Everyone was just getting on with it, although of course for the fifty or so families scarred by the terrorists cowardly bombs, life will never be the same.

London is very different now than during the Blitz. It is incredibly cosmopolitan, all colours and creeds and races mingling together. But this does not seem to have diluted our Bulldog character. Where were the scenes of mass hysteria, the wailing chaos, last Thursday? There were none. What we saw was a people stoic in the face of adversity, superbly served by dedicated professionals who quickly took control. We saw years of training and planning meticulously put into practice. We can all be proud.

The fact that we are becoming so multi-cultural is not dampening our cussed, back to the wall, independent British-ness. Nor need it ever do so. The impressive river of our culture has throughout history been widened and deepened by tributaries from other sources joining us, whether by force or invitation. For example, are we so cool in a crisis because of that ice-cold Viking blood flowing through us?

The war on terror is not a struggle between two competing religions. It is a conflict between those of us who believe in our fundamental values of democracy, freedom and the rule of law and a ruthless band of extremists who seek to destroy those liberal values.
These terrorists will not win. We will not be intimidated. Our values will flourish. London has shown us that.

posted by Nigel on Monday, July 18, 2005