The gagging of common sense

Law enforcement officers on the streets every day. On the look out from 8am to 10pm across the city. Infringements are spotted and offenders fined within a few minutes of the transgression. People run down the streets and rush out of their homes to avoid conviction. The number of officers on patrol has been increased in recent years to save the community from a dreadful crime.

It sounds like the sort of action a civilised society should take to clean up the streets and make the city safer in these days of violent crime and terrorist attacks. But these patrols don't make the place safer. They are dealing with a crime no worse than someone leaving their car parked for too long in the streets and parking zones.

Meanwhile in other parts of the country police have their leave cancelled to deal with terrorist threats while victims of lesser crimes of violence wait for hours for a response. In those places too the armies of vigilant traffic wardens are in place to pounce on parking offenders.

So let's move the parking patrols to watch out for the real criminals. No one would die or even be injured if the cars were parked for minutes or even hours longer than the allotted time. An ounce of common sense would abandon parking patrols in favour of more police or community patrols to search out the thugs, gangsters and terrorists who really threaten our way of life.

I hold out little hope. Somewhere common sense has been gagged.

Tried and found difficult

Confused by religion? Recent events have made us all too aware of how little we know about the practice of faith in this country. I now feel an obligation to better understand what a Muslim believes, how they practice their religion and the divisions within it.
I have been a lifelong Christian. I was taught the basics of my faith as a child - but it was a penetecostal version of the Christian faith. In the late 70s and early 80s I helped to form a "house church" - a "Christian Fellowship". We were free from the previous rigours of our denominations, met in homes and community halls and many said we had simply created another denomination with its own practices. They may have been right. I now belong to an Anglican Church in York but my theology is the result of my journey so far and it changes frequently.
The journey through my own faith is often compex, subjective and I confess indifferent. But I reckon most people who know me would say I was serious about my beliefs. All the same, living by a faith isn't always easy. In fact I think it was GK Chesterton who said in response to someone who said that Christian faith had been tried and found wanting that in his experience the Christian faith had been tried and found difficult.
So it would be fair to assume that those who practice other faiths find it equally difficult and confusing. I'm thinking here about an intellectual understanding of it. Thankfully many of the practices have been reduced to straightforward religion. Doing my duty, attending worship and maintaining a devotional life of prayer and bible study. But when I do sit down with a Muslim what will I tell him about my faith and what could he tell me of his that would improve our mutual understanding? And will we still believe the same things next year. Will I be able to tell if his views are extreme? I know there were times when my Christian views could have been descibed as bit "way out".
I'm not saying we shouldn't do it. Recent events tell me that we should do it more often and more urgently. But a few trite smiles and nods towards each other's agreement to differ are not going to suffice. The route of engagement will be demanding. Perhaps we would all understand our own faith a little more too as a result.

Is a camera an offensive weapon?

A young photographer was stopped in Leeds City Bus Station by a Community Support Officer and asked to explain why he had a camera. "You could zoom into anywhere with that!" was the accusation. He was asked questions about his identity, what he was doing and where he was going. Not wanting to cause trouble, he complied and went on his way.

If this is the level of common sense that these officers deploy during a time of heightened security is it any wonder we miss the obvious. It's a case of "straining out gnats and swallowing camels".

Was he stopped because he was young, because he had a camera, because he looked like an easy target, to justify the officers existence? Who knows, but in a free society a young artist shouldn't have to face that kind of harrassment. I hope he took their picture and sells his story to one of the papers!

Now we know who - why?

The London bombings were carried out by British men from West Yorkshire. But why did they do it?
No one has convincingly claimed responsibility - no group, cause or organisation. We keep on assuming that it was Islamic extremists or Al Qaeda or even Hamas or a combination of these factions. The attacks may bear their hallmarks but why do we assume we know? And what is their demand? Do they want us to pull out of Iraq, become Islaamic, stop supporting the United States or Israel or another power in the world? There is no message with this attack, no ultimatum, no conditions, no apparent deal or terms. Until we know what's demanded the bombing has become the rallying point for any campaign that can hang a cause on it. Ditch the US, get rid of Tony Blair and New Labour, pull out of Iraq, stop supporting Israel, give Afghanistan back to the Taliban, end immigration, and so the list goes on.
True terror is when people are killed without a cause. Killing for its own sake. The threat of more to be indisciminately visited on the innocent is made even more terrifying for want of a remedy. Not that for a moment any society should give in to the demands of terrorists, not knowing what those demands are somehow adds to the mindlessness of it all.
There can be only one judgment made at this stage. Deliberately killing people like this is totally unjustified and wrong. And whoever poisoned the minds of the young men who died with their bombs must be tracked down and brought to justice.

Thanks Yanks

In stark contrast the "We're not afraid" spirit, US Military personnel have been ordered not to travel to London. Not just to the centre of London, the whole of the area inside the M25 is out of bounds to them since the terrorist attack last Thursday.

Brits have been stoically returning to work, many even travelled to work straight from the attack scene, in defiance of the threat to our freedoms and our British way of life. Even a logical assessment of the risk would show that the likelihood of being the victim of another attack is very small. So what lies behind the decision except fear.

An American friend of mine flew home from an Italian holiday via London as planned last Friday. He even used the tube to cross London between Stanstead to Heathrow. So not everyone from the US is afraid.

I am concerned about the message the US Military decision sends out. It seems like "You go back to work as normal, but we're staying here in our secure base until the dust settles." Even worse, does it mean that there is a further danger we Brits are not being told about?

On the basis of this avoidance of danger. Isn't Iraq a tad risky. Perhaps it's time to pull, out of Baghdad.

We will remember them

She came into the room clutching an old black handbag. The pain of a soldier's death in Normandy was locked up inside. The handbag had belonged to her mother. Julia had never opened it since her death a few years ago. Today, in a digital storytelling workshop, she would find out what was inside. Things she never knew about the soldier, her father, who died in the D Day landings 60 years ago in 1944.

I spent several months last year helping people like Julia tell their personal stories about the second world war. My teams had been commissioned by BBC Peoples War to run a series of storytelling workshops throughout England. They opened my eyes to what they endured and suffered. Not just in the five and a half years of war but in those that followed too. In some cases the pain had been handed on to the next generation, as in Julia's case.

The memories were made into short films, digital stories, and published by the BBC. Try these for a start.
My mother's handbag
Fond and trying times of war years
They shall not grow old

There are many more stories like these in the BBC Telling Lives archive and thousands of text verisons on The Peoples War site. Both are worth a visit on this day of celebration in the UK to mark the end of the war.

I'm still in touch with Julia. She was so thankful for her few days in the digital storytelling workshop that I was invited to her ruby wedding anniversary. Even though it was her party she had baked a cake for me; it had been my birthday a couple of days earlier. It's a privilege to help people like her to tell their stories. Every one is special.

For freedom

The events of yesterday meant that I didn't open Thursday's newspaper until this morning. The contrast is striking. Today's images of terror are dark and alarming. They sit uncomfortably next to the smiles and scenes of celebration in the press yesterday. It's like a Hollywood disaster movie in reverse. The heros are lauded. Tony Blair smiles victoriously, crowds wave flags and dance in the streets - we've won against the odds and everyone is happy. Then a truly evil enemy steals the limelight. The prime minister's face turns steely grey, the crowds flee the tubes stations and streets. Many covered in blood or at least drenched in fear. The city that promised a glorious prospect for hosting the Olympic games is at a standstill and gripped by terror. The credits roll and those who who responded so maginificently are praised.
This morning we rise again. Determined not to allow the incident to hold us in its grip. The underground is running again, people return to the streets from which they fled less that 24 hours ago. I know that many people have been affected forever and sadly those who lost their lives will never again make their last journey. But the City of London, indeed, the whole United Kingdom is back on it's feet today demonstating it's right to be free, refusing to hide behind closed doors and barricades out of fear for a few fanatics bent on destruction.
There are many questions to be asked and perpetrators to be persued. Thankfully we live in a society that's free to ask them and persue them.
I knew a woman in Harrogate who always left her doors unlocked so that anyone in need of shelter and friendship could come and go freely. She left a note on her kitchen table. 'Feel free to help yourself but if you are a thief just remember "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?"'

Death toll rises

The number of dead in the London bombings has risen to 37 with 700 wounded casualties being treated in hospital. These figures are from Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick of the Metropolitan Police.

Thirty three dead

Sadly my earlier hope that the number of casualties was relatively small has been dashed. The latest report says at least 33 people have died in today's explosions.

Statement claiming London attacks

BBC NEWS | UK | Statement claiming London attacks
Just listening to Frank Gardner on BBC1 - Apparently we in Britain are burning with fear, terror and panic. It makes me doubt the validity of this whole claim.
"The heroic mujahideen have carried out a blessed raid in London. Britain is now burning with fear, terror and panic in its northern, southern, eastern, and western quarters."

News Now Special Section on London Explosions

News Now is one of the best places to keep across the latest reports from news sites and some blogs too.

Archbishop adds voice to condemnation

Rowan Williams is in York today and he has just made a statement condemning the attacks. The Bishop of London earlier issued his own statement and The Times reports that churches are opening for prayer.

Unknown group claims London attack in Qaeda's name

Top News Article | Reuters.co.uk

PM statement from Gleneagles

Tony Blair is reading a statement from the G8 group - condemning the attack on London and stating their determination to defeat terrorism "..... Here at the summit we are striving to combat world poverty and to save lives. The perpetartors of these attacks are determined to destroy lives..... We shall prevail and they shall not."
He'smaking the statement flanked by the other leaders at the summit. It is an extrordinary sight - the world's main leaders including Kofi Annan of the UN standing shoulder to shoulder behind Tony Blair.

Four explosions - Home Secretary

The Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, has just made a statement in the House of Commons that there were four explosions in London this morning. Three on the tube and one on a bus.

Blasts fit Al Qaeda pattern

This report from Reuters is being carried by several news organisations.

Reuters raw video of eyewitnesses

Eye witness describes tube explosion

A PA report just in from Aldgate: "A 42-year-old man wept as he described what happened on the train. Terry O'Shea, a construction worker from Worcester, said: "I was in the third carriage, the one behind the one where the explosion was. There was a loud bang and we felt the train shudder. Then smoke started coming in to the compartment. It was terrible. People were panicking, but they calmed down after one or two minutes. As they led us down the track past the carriage where the explosion was, we could see the roof was torn off it, and there were bodies on the track."
Guardian News Blog

MI5 suggests attacks are a "pre meditated act of terrorism"

MI5 > What's New
The latest update on the MI5 website talks about "terrible casualties" and says "It's too early to confirm the cause of the attacks but the nature of the incident points to a pre mediated act of terrorism."

Outside London stations are closed at Swindon, Brighton and Poole.

Scale significant?

The scale of the London bombs is significant. The attack seems to be aimed at disruption rather that a high casualty rate. Unlike Bali and Madrid. The BBC's Security Correspondent, Frank Gardner, has just said similar on BBC1.
So is it for effect - to strike fear - to make a statement to the G8 members meeting in Scotland? Or - and I hope it is not this - is it the prelude to a bigger event later - when people are trapped and the police distracted by the earlier, smaller event?
BBC monitoring has found a website of a group claiming responsibility - it's being checked. Earlier "The BBC's Frank Gardner said Arab sources said the blasts were probably the work of al-Qaeda."
There's a useful reporter log on the BBC News site too.

London Bombs

It's becoming clear that the attack on London is a significant event. Large numbers of casualties are being taken to London hospitals, Operation Cobra is in action and one eyewitness says that the Army is erecting steel barriers somewhere in the Buck House/Green Park area. People are being advised not to travel and to stay put - the transport system is paralysed anyway so there's not much hope of making a journey in or out of Central London. One BBC reproter sais that he had to use a bike to reach Tavistock Square. The cell phone system is overloaded too.
I've just been to the coffee shop at the end of the street here in York. There's a somber attitude among people in there as they begin to realise that something bad is going on.
BBC 1 and BBC News 24 networks have joined up to provide coverage. Usual programme schedules have been suspended. BBC News
Police now believe there have been 7 explosions and two people have died as a result. The Prime Misnetr is on TV now saying that it is a terrorist attack. He's leaving the G8 conference in the next copuple of hours to travel to London. He expects to be back at Gleneagles this evening.

Attack on London

There is severe disruption in London this morning caused by a series of explosions in the city centre. It began with reports that a power surge had caused an incident at Aldgate Underground Station. As the morning wore on it became clear that a number of explosions had occured on the underground and the whole network been closed down by Transport for London. Then a call to the BBC described a bus that had been blown apart in Tavistock Square. A later report from an eye witness talked about the top deck of the bus being blown off.
The police have declared a major incident and the Ambulance Service is only treating people with life threatening injuries.
There is concern now that this is an attack on London. (11.00am) It's possibly timed to coincide with the G8 Conference in Gleneagles.
I sent a text to my son who works in London - thankfully he is still at home 30 miles away. I have that sinking feeling that this is a sinister event. After the euphoria of winning the Olympic bid yesterday the city is today in chaos. My immediate reaction is that it will only serve to stiffen our resolve to defeat terrorism and to root out the evil that is being events like this.

The shadow of war still hovers ...

We stood and watched as the paratroopers filled the skies over Ginkel Heath. 60 years earlier they had dropped into what became one of the miltary disasters of the second world war. Ginkel Heath is a few miles from Arnhem in Holland. Allied troops planned to take the bridge there in a triumphant surge towards Berlin to end the war. In the event the heavy armour that should have arrived from the south was held up 7 miles down the road and the paratroopers were ambushed by a German Panzer division. The bridge was never taken, many British soldiers died, the town of Arnhem was devastated and my father was among those taken prisoner of war when the British surrendered after a few days of valiant but hopeless resistence.
Why am I writing this now? I have just read the account of events by WF Deedes in the Daily Telegraph. He also watched the paratroopers drop sixty years after his company failed to reach the town in time to make the plan work and to save the skins of the paratroopers. It was his first visit since he witnessed that miserable defeat.
We must have stood there watching the skies together. My brother and I travelled to Arnhem last September for that 60th anniversary of the start of Operation Market Garden as it was called. Dad had often spoken about being shot in the leg there. How he was taken to a makeshift hospital and ultimately imprisoned for the rest of the war. He died in 1983 having never returned to the battlefield after the war - despite an annual commemoration by the Paratroop Regiment of which we were now a part. In September 2004 Arnhem was a busy place. I was proud of what my father had endured for his part in that operation as we assembled in the centre of the town for an act of remembrance. We stood silent and shoulder to shoulder with veterans of the battle. As WF Deedes wrote in the Telegraph this week -
'Arnhem was one of the few places on our travels over which the shadow of war still hovers'

London - 2012 Olympic hosts

The drama of the IOC voting has unfolded throughout the morning on the radio playing in the background as I worked on a rather dull database.
As the losing cities were revealed the truth dawned. It was between London and Paris. BBC 5 Live had reporters in each of the hopeful cities and as they fell away their disappointment was reflected. Moscow, New York, Madrid and finally Paris. It seemed such a long wait for the result. I don't really know why, but my heart was in my throat as the envelope was opened. It was as though Manchester United had scored in the last minute of the Champions League final.
This is good news for the UK - and I suppose there is a sense of satisfaction because of the recent difficult relationship with France and the unflattering comments from Jacques Chirac, the French President, about Britain.

Cynicism is only the most common form of naivety.

"No one should be naive about aid. It cannot make poverty history, and it can do harm. But to say that nothing works is wrong. Cynicism is only the most common form of naivety." Helping Africa Help Itself The Economist - July 2nd 2005

There have been more positive things said about Live8 than negative ones. I resisted writing about the concert on Saturday before the euphoria of the event had died away. A steady line of rock and pop stars worked the crowd and the media, largely, very skillfully to put across the message that it's time to Make Poverty History.

As a boy rock and roll was a tool of the devil. My fervently pentecostal family could only see evil in the activities of popular musicians. When the Beatles, The Stones, The Who and their ilk entered the scene with their "sexual revolution" and "drugs culture" their fears were substantiated. The devil was at work and nothing good could come from their music.

Similar condemnation was never dispensed to politicians who were busy creating the nuclear deterrant and doing little to address global injustice. It was enough to pray for those in authority.

As I watched the Live8 concert I reflected on the reversal of roles. The rock stars had become the saints urging the nation to raise its voice in protest - to be on the side of the angels - against the powers of darkness about to assemble in Gleneagles for the G8 conference.

My take on this is that creative people are always a bit scary. They challenge our comfortable lives and make us think about what we're doing. As a boy the challenge to our sanctimonious religion was unsophiticated. It could almost be summed up in the catch phrase "If it feels good - do it." Anathama to the strict code of our faith. This weekend some of those same people and their successors used their creativity to challenge the most powerful world leaders. It remained unsophisticated. The catch phrase this time; "Make Poverty History". But it challenges our comfortable life style and threatens our economic security.

The message my parents condemned in the sixties has in many ways led to a more liberal and tolerant society. Equally the message of Live8 can lead to as more equal world - but it will take time and pain to get there. I just hope that naivety on the part of the concert goers doesn't lead to cynycism in the short term while those with power embark on the long road to justice.

White Band

I have added a Make Poverty History White Band to my websites. The code is available on the campaign website.
I didn't win any tickets for tomorrow's Live8 concert but I feel the campaign is working. There are inevitable reports of attempts to profiteer from the concerts and protests, but I guess many more people are thinking seriously about what they can do to bring about change.
Fair trade is an obvious one for me. There's a small shop at the end of my street called Fairer World. It sells all the usual fair trade stuff - but it only made sense to me when I started to BUY it! So I've stopped buying my coffee and tea from the supermarket. I now look for the Fair Trade symbol in the shops and ask about fair trading at the ones where I don't see it.
The G8 members will hopefully follow my example. In proportion am I already doing more than they are? I don't think I can do the sums - perhaps someone else already has.

Rodent retreat

No sign of the squirrel today. I filled the feeders this morning and the wire basket has remained in place with no sign of any new teeth marks. Has it given up?