The London Bombings

Shocked as we all were by the bombs last week, I was able to draw a degree of comfort from one small thing: I received a number of phone calls at work from American clients to check we were all OK in our City offices; they clearly understood the emotional impact of the terrorist attacks, and wished to offer moral support and comfort. It might seem a small thing, but it did make me think how we are all in the same boat, and the comment from a colleague that "Tony Blair brought this [the bombs] on us" misses the point by about a mile. The people who did this see us all as legitimate targets regardless of age, race, religious conviction (unless we are like them, in which case our own lives can be sacrificed as well as those of other people), and there is no possibility of compromise. Our American friends understand this better than we do, I think, and I was much moved by their expressions of concern.