The news from London is awful today, but I expect we’ll see the reaction of Londoners will be much different than what we saw after Madrid.
From the Blitz to the IRA, the killing of innocents with bombs is not new to Britain, and it has never succeeded in achieving its desired effects.
Some commentators today noted the timing of the attack, coming just after Live 8, the Olympics 2012 announcement, and the start of the G8. Although less recent, I offer two dates that are more relevant : June 6, 1944, and October 15, 1805.
Paul Wells’ post Some Chicken, Some Neck sums it up in one line:
If you were a fanatic murderer who liked to flatter yourself on your knowledge of history and you wanted to terrorize a population, could you possibly choose a worse target than the people of London?
The title of Wells’ post refers to a Dec 30, 1941 address by Winston Churchill to a joint session of our Canadian Parliament. CBC audio clip of the speech is here, skip forward about 2:45 for the relevant bit.
In an update, Wells also links to a blogger from London who bluntly responds to the men who did this evil (NSFW).