To be in two minds about going to London this Friday.

[katedan]

I have never been one to bow to the terrorists and change my plans, was in London the day after 7/7 but we have booked to go to winter wonderland with the kids this Friday and since the horrible events in Berlin I am feeling very nervous about it and wonder if I am being irresponsible to be taking the kids to London at such a high threat time. AIBU?

Looking at Arcadia's link, I wonder why the risk of NI related terrorism is as high as general terrorism?

Albert has it. 2000ish people die in road accidents in the UK each year. What would you put average annual terror related deaths at in central London?

Why the fuck would you get in a car but avoid central London? It makes no sense at all.

Just putting it out there but yes Berlin is the capital of Germany ...But Nice (where the previous lorry attack was) isn't the capital of France. So.... Avoiding just the capital of a country doesn't really make sense....

I think anywhere is fair game at the moment to be honest! Larger events in big cities will have beefed up security.

I'm off to London for Christmas, my main concern is bloody Southern Rail.

Sorry but this attitude utterly fucks me off. What do you think the millions of people who live in London do?

I agree

Plus if there is an attack who is to say it would be London!

I would have thought London is one of the safer places to be, particularly at the moment. Anyone planning anything will be aware that there will be heightened security everywhere, particularly in the biggest towns and cities, so if anything they would target elsewhere.

I am a Londoner and I think YABU to come into London on Friday, for all of the previously mentioned reasons - not because of any terrorist threat.

YANBU to be concerned, Londoners will tell you (myself included) that there is no greater threat today than there was last week or the week before and that's completely correct. However, Londoners also live with the risk of living and working in the city all the time and so get used to an increased level of vigilance as it's normal for us.

It is up to you whether you brave the crowds, if you don't then I am sure there are many other people who have changed their plans for the same reasons as you. If you do, make sure you have a plan for what to do if you get separated in the crowds (you don't say how old your kids are) and have a brilliant time.

Why the fuck would you get in a car but avoid central London? It makes no sense at all.

Totally agree. We are going into London on Friday. My children will be at the greatest risk - by some margin - in the 7 minutes that they are in the car on the way to the station.

It's human nature to worry about things when you've seen awful images on the news....but try to think rationally about the risks. Nothing in life is risk free. Nothing. And all sorts of things we do every day - just in order to carry on with some semblance of normal life - carry far less risk than being killed in London by a terrorist.

WW will be heaving on Friday, it quietens down after Xmas.

Op I live in London, me and ds regularly go to West end, touristy places, tubes etc. I can stop living my life.

I've lived in London all my life and have only had one narrow escape. It was an Ira bomb placed in a car in West end. We were quite near the target when the police realised and when my mum started panicking a policeman lifted me up in my pram and legged it down the street! He put us in a shop and when the bomb went off everything started falling off the shelves!

That was in the 70s by the way!

I understand op. We're supposed to be taking dd to see Santa on Christmas Eve at a high profile shopping centre and I am very reluctant to go now. If it was just me, I'd go (worked there for years until I had dd!), but now there's her to consider too...

I'd never let anything stop me previously though.

Londoners also live with the risk of living and working in the city all the time and so get used to an increased level of vigilance as it's normal for us.

I wish the Londoners who amble gormlessly across my path staring at their screens every fucking day showed this increased level of vigilance you speak of

But I agree, you just can't tell where the next act of terrorism will be, so I rarely think about it. I can see how someone else might though.

(Btw dcs loved WW and I've just got home to find a note saying they've gone to Oxford Street 'won't be long' .)