By Rumy Vakarelska
Memorial services in St Paul’s Cathedral today (pictured), as well as in Hyde Park’s and Russell Square’s monuments commemorated among other pubic and private events the 10th anniversary of the 07/07 most fatal ever terrorist attack on British soil. A moving book of tributes was compiled at St. Paul’s Cathedral.
“The tribute book is very revealing about the character of the London which the bombers attacked. The majority of the victims were young – they came from all over the UK, all over the world”, has said the Right Reverend Richard Chartres, the Bishop of London, according to the BBC’s News website.
On that day 52 people died in three spots of the busiest junctions in the London Underground, namely Edgware Road, Russell Square and King’s Cross, as well as on a red double- decker bus. Many of the members of the UK and international media reporting the massacre on that day and today said that were either living close by or doing a very similar commute as the 52 victims that died in the carnage in London on 07/07.
Another terrorist attack was closely averted on 21/07 in 2005 when Britain was under Tony Blair’s Labour government, which dealt consequently with the tragedy’s aftermath, but could not avert the slaughter.
Tony and Cherie Blair, as well as Hilary Ben, a Labour MP and a former member of the Labour government, as well as Tessa Jewell, an acting Labour leader, a former cabinet minister also running for as a candidate for a London Mayor in 2016, were all attending today the memorial service at St. Paul’s Cathedral, struggling to hide their deep sorrow that followed the tragic events. Meanwhile, David Cameron, the British Prime Minister and Boris Johnson, the London Mayor, who is serving his second term, were laying reefs at the victims’ memorials today in London, while a moment of silence was observed across the nation as well as a special moment in the London Underground earlier today.
In the face of the brave undertaking that life should continue as usual, it is hard to believe that that ten years later today Britain is under a high alert of another terrorist attack.
Following the mass murder of British tourists in Tunisia by another Jihadi fighter just days ago, it is clear that the imminent and future terrorist attack threats are a fact of life that a few generations may need to live with.
On that day, ten years ago, I was also heading towards a nearby tube station in the city towards Liverpool Street, but heard the news of the 07/07 on television just before leaving. Neither myself or anyone in my family went to their offices that day, also following the metropolitan police advice to stay put if possible.
As the memories of the last general elections in 2015 just two months ago start to fade, one can wonder why the party political campaigns, outside Scotland in particular, did not contain a stronger national unity message. Instead unprecedented political and societal differences occurred in most debates. On a day like that may be new opportunities for a greater national unity may occur to preserve London as a diverse, but a safer and more coherent place. At the last general elections, Londoners voted differently from the rest of the country casting 65 pc of the bulletins for Labour. At the face of 07/07 and new high terrorist attack alerts can London develop a new sense of social unity remains to be seen. But for now this strong need for shaping a more closely-knit society, which has also recently lost young people to terrorist groups in Syria, might produce some unexpected results. Copyright@RumyanaVakarelska, Partner, Team New Europe, producing original content for mass media and organisations.
