Did anyone read this article in The Times yesterday on the London bombings?

[oliveoil]

I think it is spot on, what do you think? It's a bit long.

here it is

There is a discussion about immigration.

But what the hell does it have to do with individuals who launch attacks?

Stop immigration of all the people who come in good faith to be a constructive part of this country because one in a million might be a nutter?

Dunblane. Hungerford. Timothy McVeigh.

I am quite schocked by this article and very unimpressed. The lines that got to me were "And I ask those mothers: why did you not know what was happening to your sons? I ask their fathers, too, and their community leaders who allow such bile to fester in communities impenetrable to outsiders and kept separate from mainstream British society: do you see what you have done? "

Is it fair to blame the mothers and fathers of the bombers for their actions? Is it fair to blame the mother of a 30 yr old man for what he has done? No I dont think it is. Is it fair to say that the parents of older teenagers should know what they are doing all the times? Judging from stories I have read about children experimenting with drugs/ getting pregnant etc lots of people in all communities dont know what 12/13 yr olds are doing let alone older teens.

We actively encouraged immigration into this country!

"Yet normality is hard to carry on when those in authority keep raking through the rubble. The police leak details of hidden horrors; we are invited to imagine the scene underground at King?s Cross, in the sweat and the stench. Gruesome hints about the difficulty of identifying bodies spattered across track and tunnel are sharply illustrated by the collection of a toothbrush, for DNA, from a potential victim?s relative"

This was poignant for me. We always buy a weekend newspaper and I, like many others, usually have a morbid curiosity to read all the nitty gritty details of terrible news. This time I didn't. I got so far and gave up once the level of detail reached some kind of scene from a horror book. I'm not sure we need to know. It doesn't help anyone and she's right, it certainly doesn't allow for normality if the media are encouraging everyone in the country to wallow in this for weeks to come.

For the relatives of those who have died, it should be their choice if they need/want to find out the full horrible details of what the death scene was like. When it is plastered across over 50% of each newspaper, it is hard to avoid.

yes, Lizzylou, because there are tmes when we have desparatelt needed immigrants in the workforce. OUr transport systems and hospiatls would collapse without immigrant workers.

What on earth does it have to do with individual deluded and twisted individuals?

Should Austrailia and America and Canada have banned the millions upon millions of immigrants FROM this country to theirs because of the occasional mass murderer that white british society occasionally thows up? Shold france and Spain put a stop to all the 'house in the sun' immigrants to their country because GB occasionally throws up a Dunblane or Hungerford killer?

In Britain we haven't been very inclusive of immigrants and tended to make them feel isolated, ghettoised and used as scapegoats..... we have very short memories

Lizzylou - yes, you are right.
I'm so sorry - I misread your intentions behind your last post.

I'd like to see something positive develop from this - maybe a more open debate and discussion within different communities. Cultural commentators are often talking on behalf of whole communities yet there's still a class and gender divide and some people obviously don't feel they have a voice or are being represented. Cities such as London, Leicester, for example seem to have more opportunities for employment and there's less racial tension. Many northern industrial towns are much poorer and it is among working class areas where the BNP gets most support and young British muslims feel alienated. But if they are isolated and/or secretive any extremist views are not going to be challenged.

Basically you do not get English suicide bombers, these bombers maybe British born but that is not their heritage. You can't compare people emigrating to Australia/Canada to the situation in Britain. When did a Brit last launch a terror campaign in a foreign country?

Also I was not trying to be provactive by discussing immigration, I just feel quite shaken by the fact that its bad enough we have all these immigrants coming in and we do not know 100% that hey are not fanatics or would be fanatics, but now we have people that are meant to be 'british citizens' bombing our trains and buses.

Wee allowed Irish people to continue emigrating to Britain and taking on British citizenship throughout the IRA years. Should that have been stopped also?

cod - agree with you 'i HTINK ITS SAD
BUT its "only" 50 poeple imagine a bus crash - that woudlnt get all this coverage
or bhopal - seven THOUSAND lives!!!

example of the mondon centric media'

I started a thread kinda on this point last night about africa.

I don't think you can compare the number of Irish that come to live in Britain to the amount of people, therefore a greater risk of fanatics , of these people entering our country today.

Really?!

Really?!

I am not a bigot, batters and what have you told me that can educate me in any way? I am not forcing my opions or trying to 'educate' you as you so patronisingly put it.

I will voice my opinion as others voice theirs, isn't that what a discussion is about? Grow up.

On a slightly different note - did anyone hear about the suicide bomb in Iraq yesterday which killed 24 children? This would have been headline news 8 days ago.(despite how immune we seem to have become to hearing about suidice bombs in Iraq) I can barely find any coverage of it today.

yes i did hear beattie - unfortunately the news from the rest of the world doesnt seem to hold the same interest for our tabloid.. they would prefer to know if posh and becks are having another baby

yes i did hear beattie - unfortunately the news from the rest of the world doesnt seem to hold the same interest for our tabloid.. they would prefer to know if posh and becks are having another baby

yes beatie

I did think at the time of the bombings - this is what people in Iraq have to live with EVERY DAY

Oh come on stop this, this thread was mainly about the media onslaught, there is enough threads about the pros and cons of immigration. And it's MYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY thread .

Can I change my mind about the 2 mins silence? I am in Mcr and crowds were outside the town hall and all the traffic stopped and I got goosebumps.

er...Guy Fawkes was probably the first suicide bomber wasn't he? That was 400 years ago.

Ok there was one suicide bomber 400 years ago.