so an attack is imminent

[myoriginal3]

AIBU to be a little freaked, living in London?

Theresa May is using the situation to show how robustly she handles terror attacks - y'know, two weeks before the election. Turning child murder into political capital, lovely.

This post amply illustrates my previous post of 22:28

The threat level has been at the highest level of critical for some time now; it's just not been made public. Members of the emergency services will know this.

It is a bit worrying although I don't actually think an attack is imminent.
We have to go about our normal lives otherwise we would never go anywhere.

It's natural to feel upset and scared. I certainly do. The problem is that we can assess other risks like being hit by a bus but this risk is very random. It is a tiny risk though so imo not enough to alter my life choices in any way.

I am tired of hearing 'don't be scared or they have won' lines.

Last night they fucking won, and they will win again.

I am not in London or any big city that would be a likely target but I am scared. How can you not be scared? Not for myself but for other people?

I don't have a stiff upper lip and it's ok to be scared. It is also ok for people to not want to travel to London in the coming days due to the increased threat right now. Yes, many people live there but that doesn't mean that everyone else should still want to travel to London tomorrow because other people have no choice.

I will be going to London soon. If I was due to go tomorrow with the children I would have serious doubts about going. And that is fine.

What do you mean MrsJayy?

The IRA did not give warnings every time and those warnings were often deliberately wrong and designed to concentrate people towards a secondary device to kill or maim after the first device and to target security forces if you mean warnings rather than "orders"

Thank you Lock, I find that really helpful.

I have terrible anxiety issues so I am petrified. But I have enough experience with anxiety to know the level of fear I feel is not necessarily correlated to the amount of danger I'm actually in.

Tany, and you think that comment is better than what you think she is doing???

I'm guessing intel has revealed more backpacks were made or something similiar.... in the hands of more radicalised men

For anyone suggesting some political motive to TM's announcement, the threat levels are set by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, who assess all international levels of terrorist threats from multiple sources and advise Intelligence Agencies accordingly.
Nothing to do with Govt.

The police requested the military back up.

I'm 42 & I remember the days of the IRA, I remember going in John Lewis in oxford street & having your bag checked. I also remember the day of the Harrods bombing, my parents had been there but left 30mins earlier, in those days there were no mobile phones & me and my Nan spent hours in a panic

22-05-13 lee rigby
22-03-16 Brussels attack
22-07-16 Munich attack
22-03-17 London attack
22-05-17 Manchester attack
22-07-17 ?

Yeah, and they all happened when there was a 'Y' in the day too. It's friggin Wednesday tomorrow, so best we all stay at home with the doors locked

This sort of stuff really isn't helping and, if there were anything in it, I'm sure the security services have got it covered.

S

tessiebear I remember. My mom was out in Birmingham the evening of pub bombings. Tge cause may have been political, rather than religion but people still died.

It feels different today though.

The UK terror threat level has been raised to its highest level of "critical", meaning further attacks may be imminent, Theresa May has said. The move came after investigators were unable to rule out whether Manchester bombing suspect Salman Abedi acted alone, the prime minister said.

They've raised it because it can't currently be ruled out. They don't have information to say an attack is imminent. The article also said that the only other two times it has been at critical before nothing happened.

I know it's easier said than done, but try not to worry too much about something that might never happen.

Lockheart thank you for such a rational post.

Their aim is not to make us "scared" or to try and influence political opinion. They want us dead. That's it. They want western civilisation wiped off the planet

Yep.

Theresa May is using the situation to show how robustly she handles terror attacks - y'know, two weeks before the election. Turning child murder into political capital, lovely.

You do realise she doesn't make the decision don't you?

How about you think before spouting lies?

It says more about you than anyone else.

I'm sure someone's already said this, but JTAC (an independent security committee) is in charge of changing the alert status, not the PM.

Why do they have alerts? Because government sites and staff, police etc, have a set response to different alert levels. When the alert level changes key infrastructure etc know what they have to do in the way of protection. All this stuff is planned and practised over years.

Used to be a government-only system called BIKINI, but when threats became more wide (i.e. not just targeting government) there was a decision to make the status public (as well as simplify the codes), with the aim, I assume of increasing vigilance.

Not to be rude but an attack isn't imminent an attack has already happened.

Yes it wasn't in London for once and yes it's overwhelming that the world has become what it is but have some sensitivity about what's happened in Manchester to prompt this being front and centre in people's minds.

So sick of being told being scared is letting them win.

It's human nature to be scared, I appreciate many of you have no choice but to use public transport into the city or don't feel afraid to carry on as normal and that's great.

What isn't great is telling people how they should feel or act.

I remember the IRA. It wasn't terribly frightening (speaking from a personal perspective)e. If you were a politician, policeman or member of the armed services you were at risk - and car bombs in particular were an issue. As an ordinary member of the public - generally speaking warnings were given and there was time for evacuation.

Also agree that ramping up the fear is very handy for Theresa May to be able to divert attention away from the social care fuck up.

I know people try and be reassuring when they say " the risk you will be involved is minimal" but its not much comfort is it for the parents who have lost dc last night.

The risk of all sorts is minimal but it happens to someone. I know, I have suffered them myself. Its not much comfort.

Its terrifying, and stupid and pointless and awful. (this new terror threat)

My DS goes on an overnight to Edinburgh tomorrow and I don't think I'll breathe, never mind sleep til he gets home, irrational as that may be/

Can I ask, how long has the threat level remained "critical" in the past? How exactly do they decide it's no longer critical? I feel like things can only get worse, so how can they ever lower it??

Sorry didn't mean to babble and not make Sense i just think the Ira were run differently. These lone men murdering at random seems different