so an attack is imminent

[myoriginal3]

AIBU to be a little freaked, living in London?

I am astounded at the ignorance of what people in NI faced on a daily basis during the troubles. Did they shield you from the news in Britain?

Keira "And I've seen more than I can stomach for a lifetime."

This is what's changed for me too. It's also too easy to say "chances are low" when you haven't lost a loved one. I notice a lot of posters said this today. We have 7/7 survivors on MN, you never know who has lost people...it surprises me. I'm really glad to be off work this week. I live in Zone 5, I commute to central though.

Xpost Keira
I haven't read the whole thread but today has been eye opening in terms of what people don't know!

'I am astounded at the ignorance of what people in NI faced on a daily basis during the troubles. Did they shield you from the news in Britain?'

Yes, of course they did! Surely that is well known.

We live and work in central London with four kids and I refuse to be scared.

I was less than a mile away from the 7/7 bombings when they happened and used to be very anxious about terrorist threats. But I'm past that now.

My heart goes out to the families who lost loved ones last night. In Manchester and all over the world. I hope the world finds peace.

Ten I was a child for most of it and seeing terror covered in detail (admittedly Western only) nowadays it didn't occur to me they didn't show the extent of what we faced.

*'I am astounded at the ignorance of what people in NI faced on a daily basis during the troubles. Did they shield you from the news in Britain?'

Yes, of course they did! Surely that is well known*

No they didn't and no it is not "well known". The violence in NI, mainland Britain, and Ireland was well reported at the time. No one was shielded. It would be a bit difficult to shield someone from the Hyde Park bombings or the tory conference bombings now wouldn't it??

People chose to forget.

Keira, I assumed much of it was deliberately covered up.

That was certainly the case with smaller political controversies like the Miners' strike.

The impression I got from friends in NI that even on the news there many things were kept quiet (not to the extent they were in Britain though)

Pallisers, the things you've described are not the same thing as the actual experience of it being your daily life.

Quod, the government and the Conservatives do not set the threat level, as explained as nauseam earlier in the thread. The security services do that independently of politicians, precisely so that it cannot be manipulated for political gain.

I very much doubt that raising it to critical was a decision taken lightly or on the spur of the moment. I should think that they will have been considering it for some time.

Why are people finding that so hard to understand? It really isn't.

We all need to keep a sense of perspective. I lived through IRA bombing campaigns in London and was also in Paris on the night of the attacks on the Bataclan and other areas. I have been there twice since too, as well as to London. It was a case for needing to be vigilant, but not to allow it to stop you unnecessarily.

DH will very likely have to visit the City of London for work in the next couple of days as he occasionally does and as many thousands of others like him do daily. I refuse to spend my day just worrying at home.

www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/oct/22/how-the-bbcs-journalists-fought-to-cover-the-northern-ireland-conflict

'Savage’s study of internal correspondence by BBC executives from the 1960s until 1982, citing memos and board minutes, shows how the corporation was placed under consistent government pressure over its coverage of the troubles.

The BBC faced existential threats throughout the administrations of Harold Wilson, Edward Heath and Thatcher as its journalists sought to carry out their job of informing the public about the conflict.

Incident by incident, Savage highlights the way in which ministers, in company with military commanders, senior police officers and unionists, trampled on press freedom and sought to compromise the BBC’s public service remit.'

I am astounded at the ignorance of what people in NI faced on a daily basis during the troubles. Did they shield you from the news in Britain

Not so much shielded, but the violence in Northern Ireland itself sort of faded into the background and people in mainland Britain sort of got fatigued by it and it became (callous as it sounds) t just what goes on in Northern Ireland. Mainland bombs really bought it home though (I wonder if that why the IRA pursued it as a strategy in the 1990s.

Popular sentiments at the time included things like, 'they're all as bad as each other' 'we should pull the troops out and let them get on with it' and 'it'll never be sorted'.

Pallisers, the things you've described are not the same thing as the actual experience of it being your daily life.

It WAS in the daily life of people. Maybe not you but for a lot of British people it was a fact - and trauma - of their daily life. Which is why it is so astonishing that it is now regarded as just a bit of history that happened to other people.

I remember being in the tube in London in the late 80s/90s and someone saying "if it wasn't for the IRA bomb scares, it wouldn't even feel like Christmas".

You have forgotten what it was like - or you weren't alive then.

And I think everyone agrees is was a daily part of life in NI - but apparently that isn't part of Great Britain/daily life. Ironic really considering what was at stake.

Pallisers, this isn't about what was happening in Great Britain. It was about the well documented fact that the Government went to great efforts to censor media coverage of the situation in Northern Ireland.

If it makes you feel any better there has never been a terror attack while the status was at critical. (It's also never been a critical level for more than a few days.)

I noticed a few posters claiming May's exact words were: "a further attack IS imminent." I just watched the video of her statement and the direct quote is: "Their assessment is that an attack remains highly likely but that a further attack may be imminent." Not is, may be.

I work for one of the biggie tourist attractions in London that is considered a major terror target. We have been targeted by terrorist cells before and our anti-terrorist actions and our security prevented an attack from happening; two of our security guards later testified in court. There are all kinds of anti-terror actions and protocols that the general public has no idea about and honestly some of it is real Mission Impossible stuff. And a lot of information is kept secret from the public. If the authorities had solid info about a specific terror attack about to happen, the last thing they would do would be to announce it. Incidentally we (my work) have not been informed of any specific extra risk or threat and we have been in the past, info not ever made public.

I live and work in London and it genuinely never entered my head for a second to worry or change my everyday routine. And personally, I'm just about old enough to remember the 80s, and it felt worse and scarier then. Maybe my perception is wrong but it feels like people are more afraid of ISIS than they were of the IRA which is nonsensical. Maybe it's the internet and social media whipping up hysteria, but it's interesting to compare the reactions and discourse around Muslim terrorists compared to terrorists who are white. (And no this is not defending or minimising Islamic terrorism.)

So they censored it a bit about specific violence in NI. They certainly didn't blank it out completely - I watched the news in UK at the time. The mainland bombings were covered - they could hardly not be. The bombings and violence in NI maybe less so but you weren't living behind the iron curtain. Plenty of coverage on Irish channels and newspapers, freely available to all.

So no idea what your point is. People in London felt under threat of IRA bombs for many years. They went about their business. It is arguable that when the IRA copped on and just started disrupting the City and business with bomb threats is when they got most traction with negotiations.

If your theory is that people on mainland Britain had no idea the IRA was a terrorist organisation intent on bombing/killing then 1. Really? and 2. tell that to all the Irish people profiled/separate queue for security as they went through Britain on their holidays - this happend when the British outside NI apparently had no idea they were under terrorist threat - like seriously??

'If your theory is that people on mainland Britain had no idea the IRA was a terrorist organisation intent on bombing/killing then 1. Really?'

No that was not my theory. It would clearly be ridiculous.

A poster said...

'I am astounded at the ignorance of what people in NI faced on a daily basis during the troubles. Did they shield you from the news in Britain?'

And I said that it (what people in NI faced on a daily basis) was covered up, and that I considered this well known. I then provided a link to an article about the cover up.

If that was toward me, my point was along the lines of replying to people who endlessly say "well at least the IRA (yes because they were the only organisation blowing people to bits ) always gave warnings" when it is simply not true. I could list dozens if not hundreds of incidents which display that is a complete untruth.

Yes, I agree with you Keira, that the IRA frequently did not give warnings or warned in such a way as to mislead people into danger.

I was just quoting you as a reminder of why I said there was a cover up of much of the experience of daily life in NI. I wasn't disagreeing with you.

No, no I know you weren't Ten. I was grateful for your link. Thanks.

IMO you can't compare ISIS and the IRA
I understand why the IRA came to be. However I don't support how they "tried" to unite Ireland.

Violence, bombings etc have never got the point across.

Again imo..religion is something for arseholes, terrorists, and child abusers to hide behind.

Religious organisations are perfect for these kinds of psychos to hide behind..

im so scared

The IRA didn't always give warnings and often gave misleading warnings. There is a huge cover up over the experience of daily life in NI. Innocent people in NI were subjected to internment and other atrocities at the hands of the authorities. NI has one of the world's highest rates for anti-depressant use, suicides and unemployment. It is ok though because it is only NI and after the NI Agreement was signed we all lived happily ever after.

I am not for one minute justifying the tactics used by the British Government and I know nobody will believe me on that score.

It seems to me that the British government is so scared of ISIS because of 9/11 that they capitulate to a lot of terrorist activity in the UK. How come very time an incident happens in the UK they know within minutes the name of the terrorist and their associates and their training history and MO?

Forgive my french but why the f**k didn't they do something earlier when the writing was on the wall? Are they afraid because some of the perps are home grown terrorists/British citizens. Are they scared or lawyers or something.

I don't understand it and if my child was murdered by Salman Abedi I would be asking a lot of questions.

I think it's ok to be scared or anxious at the moment particularly if your a parent as they are targeting children.
I was born & raised in London (1981) & travelled back to Ireland regularly as both parents are Irish. Perhaps because I was young or maybe due to the way my parents framed it to me I don't remember feeling the same threat from the IRA as I do from ISIS. I would be a little freaked out by armed police in Dublin & I was definitely frightened when they started targeting economic interests e.g Bishopsgate as my dad worked nearby.
After 7/7 of course I got back on the tube the next day because I had to go to work.
I do think twice about where & when to take my young children to things in town regardless that I'm statistically more likely to get hit by lightning twice, etc

EmeraldIsle - I don't think people in England do really know what NI was like during the troubles. I knew a little as my cousin was at university there.

Agreed there was limited news coverage. I was caught up in a riot in Dublin maybe 10 years ago due to a march. I'd never seen anything like it in my life, rows of riot police, police vans on fire, we were locked in a shop that pulled the shutters down. Bricks, poles etc were thrown at police, kids with scarves around their faces chanting IRA. We were back in London the next day I did not see one mention of it.