so an attack is imminent

[myoriginal3]

AIBU to be a little freaked, living in London?

My dh and I are meant to be going to a concert in London in December at 02 arena and I don't even want to go anymore]

Then don't go. No one cares if you go or not.

I hate threads like this. 2 of my DCs live and work in London and apart from being vigilant, what can they do? (being vigilant to me means me telling them to RUN if they see anything or anyone suspicious). The giving in option is to sit at home, order from JustEat, don't go out the door? Life has to go on and TBH I find it bizarre that someone is talking about not going to a concert in London in December.

Let's all give in then and hole up in our houses then, I'll build a bunker in the garden, get my adult kids home and we'll live in that. It's probably best we don't go anywhere or do anything in case something happens.

I totally understand anxiety and sadness about what has happened, I don't understand talking about cancelling a trip to London 7 months away.

Now we've all just to shut up, buck up and move on? Not to be allowed to express any fear or concern. Really?

I don't think the two events are comparable. I'm no fan of the Royals, but Harry lost his mother as a very young child and then had to deal with the attendant media circus around it. Unless you are a friend/relative of someone involved the situation is no way comparable. Panicking about a situation that is unlikely to happen to you (dying in a terrorist attack) and pretty self absorbed (how could this affect me and mine) is a world away from experiencing mental health issues in the aftermath of a traumatic life event.

Being a born and bred Londoner this fear is in all of us... but now it is obviously national.

We have the best Anti-Terror teams in the world and attacks like this are stopped several times a year, it is just being highlighted now due to what is going on.

It is important to talk about the fear.. As a child my dad was meant to be on a plane to America during 9/11, and they were both on the tube during the 7/7 bombings but they were always very good at calming us down and reminding us that we cannot give into these people.

Myself and my Dad are going to see Brian Cox on Friday in Wembley Arena and all the family have been discussing our fears (Also being pregnant I think my emotions are all over the place) but we simply cannot let these people win!

These people attacked Women and Children as a target because that is who they want to supress, well if we cancel our lives and just live in solitude wouldn't they be supressing us? We are a massive group of Women on here and we need to work together to stand strong and show them that we won't be beaten we won't start to hate each other and we will continue as normal.

May will be exploiting this for political reasons, Just as she's slipping in the polls. Shameful

Actually that crossed my mind too. And other people minds
Article on the possible influence of this terror attack and the GE/Brexit

I have seen the effect in France of having the army in 'sensitive areas' aka airport, train stations etc... It hasn't made a huge difference and TBH, I really don't think it would stop anything. Does anyone really think they would start using their weapons in the middle of a crowd??
But it's visible and showns the government is doing something about it.
But actually The important bit is the collaboration between the police, MI5, MI6 etc... That's where the UK is really good (and as far as I know one of the best if not the best in Europe). you just don't need the army outside to do that!
So my gut feeling is that this answer is very much a way to SHOW how responsive the UK is, in a very visible way (rather than all the stuff that normally goes in the background and that we never hear about - with good reasons!)

The audience at that concert were either females or gay males. There's no doubt in my mind that this concert was targeted because of misogyny and homophobia.

unattended bags

Being vigilant is also not being the guy who leaves his bag laying about unattended.

Just know where the exits are. Don't cause trouble if the queue is long. Don't pick this weekend to get plastered in the city centre.

On the IRA and "lone wolf", my Dad's friend and colleague was shot, along with his 6 month old baby by two IRA gunmen in Germany, near our house. As far as they know it wasn't a specific target, more of a "go out and kill servicemen". He wasn't in uniform at the time. They had stopped at a fast food place with some other families.

I grew up with my dad checking under our car for bombs every time we went out, our school bus was checked every morning and I knew at a young age they were looking for bombs.

You are probably more likely to die from an accident in your own home than terrorism. And actually academically terrorism is understood as being about creating a stage of dear.

*fear

I was horrified to see comments from the imam at the mosque where he worshipped this morning. "He showed me the face of hate when I talked about Isis"... so why the blue fuck didn't you report him?!? Apparently he even signed a petition against the imam for preaching against terrorism.

www.google.co.uk/amp/www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/23/salman-abedi-named-manchester-suicide-bomber-know/amp/

And I think also, if you are a boss, understand that people may be late because of this. They may need to leave early.

Quite frankly if staying home instead of going on a non-urgent trip to London/wherever is "letting them win" then hey ho.

Personally I think them managing to blow people up is them winning.

Yep it's been upped to critical.

I won't be letting it stop me from going about my life. I am off today and just heard that DS's school is closed due to a power cut.

I think we might go to the zoo. Or somewhere else nice,

Fuck these terrorists.

We were always told to be vigilant when the IRA were very active in London (I am assuming in other areas of the country to)

This kept people's minds alert a package left on a tube train or a bus would have more likely been reported how you report someone acting suspiciously is a bit more difficult to pin point but it certainly worked as many who worked in London will remember the constant having to get off the tube, having to take a different route home lines shut down and so on becuase of a suspected package but how many lives did this save or how many times did this stop people being harmed I don't know but I am sure it was a considerable as this impacts business, the tourist industry (there was a time few Americans would come here) how does that benefit governments loss of income and disruption has a huge impact on our economy

The IRA wanted to cause this impact (as well as fear and the spread of hate) Isis attacks are not as politically driven there target is always to kill as many of the public as they possibly can to cause fear

Of course politicians will let us know how well they handled the situation but really at this point right now not even two days after the attack if they were not stepping up security when advised to and another attack happened and they had ignored information passed on to them more families would be left grieving

To have this pressure on your shoulders must be incredibly difficult (and that is a number of people who do) I am thankful we do and right now I can't find it in myself to be critical of the government and their when under such horrendous pressure

London commuter here - we've been expecting a London attack for ages. It's a question of when and where rather than if and you just hope to god you're not in that place at that time.

Sionella, he DID report him for hate speech and extreme views. That's how he became known to the police initially. Heard him interviewed on radio last night.

Quite frankly if staying home instead of going on a non-urgent trip to London/wherever is "letting them win" then hey ho.

Personally I think them managing to blow people up is them winning.

This ^^

We are well overdue an attack here in Birmingham, armed police at the Christmas market, terror drills at the Merry Hill Shopping Center etc. recently. It is just a matter of time and I don't think there is much you can do to prevent it.

I have seen the effect in France of having the army in 'sensitive areas' aka airport, train stations etc... It hasn't made a huge difference and TBH, I really don't think it would stop anything. Does anyone really think they would start using their weapons in the middle of a crowd??

I live in France too and I disagree with this. Keeping major public buildings' entrances closed except for one, bag searches have definitely helped. Increased patrols have helped too. It was a random police patrol who disarmed and killed the louvre attacker and I think it was the same in the orly attack.

I'm not saying that a huge visible security response is always the answer but I wouldn't say it's useless either.

These conspiracy theorists trying to downplay the risk really dismay me. People died in Manchester. People have died in many European countries and others due to terrorism. The risk is very real. Please have some respect. For those who died, for their families, and for the people whose job it is to protect us.

To imply that the security forces are there for nothing more than their own existence, to imply cobra enabled tempora for political gain, to imply the attack was politically convenient, is abhorrent in the extreme.

Terrorism is very real indeed.

They usually step up the security levels after an incident - the websites include a table that shows that. It's normal governmental practice to reassure the populace by stepping up a visible presence. It does make me feel safer and grateful to those who work to keep us safe but in reality logically it probably doesn't make much difference, simply diverting potential plans to less obvious targets. And being vigilant is also pretty meaninglesss as I and hoards of other people crowd into a rush hour train there's very little I could do to run away.

Radom acts of terror work - because they terrify us even if logically we know they are random and unavoidable. It is just meaningless bad luck if you get caught and very very rare and unlikely. Otherwise it wouldn't be big news.

I do find it pretty laughable to suggest that Mrs May - of whom I'm not a fan - is milking this event for electoral advantage. You'd criticise if she did put a foot wrong and presumably this will be blamed if Labour get a drubbing at the polls. It may well help her as in insecure times people tend to trust conservatives more on law and order issues. But we shouldn't even be thinking such things at a time like this - it's so sad.

It has shocked all of us that young people and children were targeted so mercilessly. I'm not sure I believe iwe should read too much into the misogyny and xenophobia of a random act of evil. But I have wondered why he waited till the end of the concert.

I'm voting labour.

However I think blaming May for using this to her advantage is pretty sick.

It wasn't her decision to raise it to critical. If Corbin was in charge the exact same thing would have happened.

Alfie - oh good - i hope that's true, thank you.

Whilst the huge majority of people are decent, unfortunately a mosque is an easy location for fanatics to meet one another and therefore they have to be even more vigilant if they hear things, I think . Universities too. A friend of mine did a degree at SOAS and she said the talk in the common room was frightening. So much hatred for women and westerners, all of it coming from a very small group of young men - but a group who had been able to find likeminded people there, which made them feel it was ok to share and expand their views. We all have to be more alert and aware, but sadly this is going to impact more on some than others.