Would you go to London

[limey234]

We have a tourist trip booked in half term. Lots of museums, the tube, shops, tourist destinations with our two kids (under 7).

Would you go? Given the situation in the world right now.

My husband barely watches or reads any news. He doesn't understand why I'm nervous.

I think we should postpone it. I'm a bit nervous of being caught up in a protest, or other activity.

However the bedbugs you may carry back as per the news last week ....we'll there's something to be anxious about ;)

You’ve had lots of good advice on this thread but you don’t heed it.

If don’t want to come then don’t. If you don’t like crowds don’t book half term.

Stop pretending it’s a rational decision though because it isn’t.

@Thepeopleversuswork as a born & raised Londoner I don’t feel offended. And if more posters had self awareness MNs wouldn’t exist 😆

There are a lot of aggressive and nasty comments on this thread.

I have lived in London all my life but have family who live rurally and feel anxious when they visit. To them, London is overwhelming in every sense of the word. I get it. Even when I leave London for the weekend and go to another major UK city, let alone the countryside or a small town, when my train pulls back into its London station and I come out onto the street, the difference in the numbers of people, the noise, the size of everything, hits me afresh. I'm used to it, but if I weren't, I'd find it hugely anxiety inducing, I think.

Let's give people a break. There is a lot of shit going on in the world at the moment, it's frightening, and not everyone is able to control or rationalise their normal 'fight or flight' response to perceived external threats as others.

No, we are not in Israel or Gaza, and I thank whatever spirit in the sky that I'm not. But that doesn't mean people shouldn't be allowed to think of their own safety in the UK at the same time. Global actions do have local consequences, we know this. Jewish schools in London have had to close this week. There are going to be repercussions felt all over the world from what is happening in Israel and Gaza. It would be remiss to pretend otherwise. Ridiculing and chastising people for feeling fear is not only unkind, it's also misguided. We absolutely should all be more wary. Whatever position the UK government takes up in response to the actions both the Israeli government and Hamas choose to make in the coming weeks will trigger consequences. That is the reality. We might not like it, but it will happen. Suggesting we are 'safe' is naive in the extreme. No country or its citizens is in the 21st century, I'm afraid.

Yes I would and it was my office building that was bombed in 1996 (South Quay, Canary Wharf) Id already left work and first heard about it on the news! I didn't have a mobile phone then. Was back working in temp accommodation the following week, in Blackfriars, central London. Went back to south quay when the building was rebuilt.
I was also working in The City and have friends who were caught up in the 7/7 bombings in 2005.
I live in outer London and it was necessary for me to work in central London, like most of us.
Just got on with it.
Hope you have a lovely time.

Having lived in London for 20 years, including going to work via tube on the morning of the July 7th attacks and having to evacuate due to what were described as "power surges" on the line, working in an office building where one of the other companies that shared the building were subject to specific terror threat and we were put on lockdown on more than one occasion, living in central Brixton during the riots in 2011, walking regularly over Westminster bridge etc. I still can't say I give it alot of headspace day to day, and nothing has ever happened to me!

What I will say about most terror incidents is that they seem to come out of nowhere though...You are probably less likey to have anything happen at the moment when there is increased police alert than in a few months when the world has seemingly moved on...Delay your trip if it makes you feel better, but you won't be any safer in a few months. Or just accept that living comes with an amout of risk and don't let fear derail yout life - that's what terrorists want.

I mean If you don't like crowds or unpredictability, maybe visiting London isn't for you?

Marches are also heavy policed and stewarded.Evenif you see a protest nobody is going to go up to you and randomly stab you. There are stabbings in London but mostly gang related.

Nope, plenty of stabbings are not gang related but many see that the victim is a young black boy & assumes there were gang affiliated which is not always the case. The judgement is often made by the same people who think nothing of taking recreational drugs.

Apologies for the tangent but this narrative annoys me so much.

I just feel like a fairly large percentage of people on here are constantly looking for an excuse to slag off London anyway for being dirty/crowded/smelly/full of knife crime/full of Londoners/you name it.

People tolerate rudeness towards London which wouldn't be tolerated towards the inhabitants of any other UK city. It's exhausting.

I tend to let this wash over me most of the time but having this yoked, in the most tenuous way, to the situation in the ME is eye-rollingly tedious. The idea of loads of people who live in incredibly safe rural or corridor towns having a fit of the vapours about coming here for a day trip when a) the risk is absolutely tiny and b) they don't even have to come here, seems ridiculous tbh.

Anxiety is anxiety and if you don't want to come to London don't come to London but don't pretend this is a rational decision that has anything to do with the Middle East.

I will also say that being aware of your surroundings, checking exits and having a plan if anything kicks off is not a symptom of paranoia and nor does it merit recommending someone go and get help for their anxiety or CBT.

I'm a teacher and we now are legally required to include risk of terrorism in all of our risk assessments for school trips. When I do pre-trip visits to venues before taking the kids, I have to check all the exits and work out what routes we could take if a terrorist/s launched an attack in the area while we were out. Paranoia? Not according to the Department for Education!

Whenever I go to unfamiliar venues, I check the fire exits, make sure I know where they come out onto the street, and mentally plan for myself what I would do if I needed to get out quickly, just in case. I had friends who were caught up in the Bataclan attack in France, and my sister was on the tube on 7/7. They were caught unawares and found themselves trapped in places they didn't know how to escape from. I don't ever want to be in that position. It makes me feel much more safe and secure when out and about to know that if the worst happened, I would be able to give myself and anyone I am with the best chance of getting out alive.

It's not anxiety or paranoia, it's pragmatism.

Tbf to the OP I went to Istanbul in the middle of 2016 & I was a little anxious & debated about cancelling.

Honestly, you will be absolutely fine. I’ve lived here for 31 years - through IRA bombings and all sorts of other incidents and have never once worried. London is huge - with over 9m people spread over a very large area. Just come and enjoy!

Hang on, the march is taking place TODAY. Has your DC's school already broken up for half-term, OP?

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/palestine-protest-london-met-police-hamas-israel-war-latest-rishi-sunak-gaza-strip-evacuation-b1113519.html

@limey234 I think we should postpone it. I'm a bit nervous of being caught up in a protest, or other activity.

I live in central London and I think you need to stay where you are. London is a ver dangerous place. Imagine a crowd of people protesting, a double decker passing by or (hold your breath) all those (gasps) tourists queuing everywhere. Best to stay where you are.

I just feel like a fairly large percentage of people on here are constantly looking for an excuse to slag off London anyway for being dirty/crowded/smelly/full of knife crime/full of Londoners/you name it.

This is true @Thepeopleversuswork & it does grate a bit when you have the locals are priced out of Cornwall or Margate or X but never London, apparently locals don’t exist here or my area has been “invaded by Londoners” very common during lockdown, ignoring the fact that “Londoners” hadn’t just woken up & decided to move north en masse but some were just returning to their actual hometowns 😆.

I don’t think OPs worries are completely unjustified.

Weight Watchers cancelled all their in person meetings in the U.K. yesterday due to the increased threat of a terrorist attack yesterday due to the conflict that’s currently going on

Why not? We are avoiding part of Kensington where there will be a demo but apart from that it’s same old same old. I haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary.

@glassyglass

No, there's no such thing as a Londoner and Londoners don't have feelings. They are just cynical, war-hardened capitalist shills who never speak to one another and use their children as human shields during pro-Palestine protest marches.

God forbid that nice people from the respectable parts of the UK should have to stand cheek-by-jowl with them for an afternoon.

You can ask for my comment to be deleted but I’ll say it again. The premise of your thread is based on racism.

Seriously? They thought WW customers were at risk from reprisals?! Unless the meetings were being held in synagogues that is a massive overreaction.

If you wait for peace in the middle east before visiting London, you will be waiting a hell of a long time.

I understand the risk-averse approach to life, but one needs to balance that with the certainty of your death, and all of your family, within X number of years. None of use get out of here alive anyway, it’s important to live the life we want while we can, and that involves taking some risks.

@Chaiandkaafee it's really not. Not everything is race related.

I’d go , I likely will be in London at some point in the next few weeks . You really can’t allow the threat of terrorism to rule your life and how you live it .

I have to go on Monday for a medical appointment, staying 2 nights, I am more stressed about bedbugs to be honest

To be fair to the OP (with whom I completely disagree) I don't think this is based on racism at all. I think you're massively projecting.