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

Reading the other thread going about Muslims I'd like to say that I don't condone any backlash or voiolence towards Muslims, just to make that clear, and I do not consider myself to be racist, I just think this country has a big problem with being a soft target.

Reading the other thread going about Muslims I'd like to say that I don't condone any backlash or voiolence towards Muslims, just to make that clear, and I do not consider myself to be racist, I just think this country has a big problem with being a soft target.

gave lovely man our old tv a few years back - he came to carry it home but as he lived about a mile away (he couldn't speak english, he had his address written down) i insisted dh drove it round there that evening..they tried to ply him with delicious food (but he'd just eaten, pah!) and were incredibly welcoming. i'd have him back for tea any time.

The comment about Londoners is a bit unfair - I lived there for 16 years and of course people felt sorry for those involved in disasters in other partsof the country - Hillsborough shocked a LOT of people, as did the M1 plane crash, the Herald of Free Enterprise sinking, Heysel stadium, Lockerbie... every disaster. If a public mark of respect was organised for another part of the country, I'm sure many Londoners would join in.

However, I am uncomfortable with the way silences are becoming routine for disasters. It was very moving to see people standing out on the street at noon... but the silence was orginally for the end of WW1 and WWII 'lest we forget' ie to remember those who had sacrificed their lives and resolve to prevent anything like that happening again.

We aren't in danger of forgetting the victims on Thursday yet - and we weren't in danger of forgetting the Tsunami victims when we had a silence for them either.

As for sacrifice, the poor people who died and were injured weren't making a sacrifice, they were just trying to get to work. And I wouldn't want to dignify what the bombers did by in any way at all linking it to the idea of sacrifice.

I''m concerned that we are diluting the idea of the traditional silence. Last Thursday was a terrible, terrible day but I'm not sure a 2 minute silence is the correct response.

I live in Oldham, but I live in an ok bit. There is a part where, to be white, it is dangerous. I have several friends who have been attacked.

I hate it here, and don't want dd growing up thinking this is the norm, with a 'them and us' attitude. It's not how I was brought up.

How would I meet any? Nobody mixes here.

Have to go to the bank now, be back later.

x

Why on earth would anybody just invite a random immigrant family for tea? I wouldn't invite any family for tea unless I knew them, tbh. And in fact, I wouldn't invite anyone for tea on a "family" basis at all. I'd invite someone I'd got chatting to on an individual basis, and if they had kids or a child, I'd obviously say "why don't you pop over for a cup of tea?" Nobody goes round with a cup of sugar nowadays and says "please bring your whole family for tea/ supper." (Do they?) The turn this has taken is quite bizarre.

No - not a "random" family, that would be creepy of course. But: I live right in the middle of London in houses that have all been divided into flats. Almost no-one is native British, people are either transient foreign or immigrants, and when people move in and out it is entirely normal to invite them over to welcome them - surely that's not weird? And ds and dd are at a very international school & the efforts people make to make new parents (who are usually new to the country too) feel welcome and integrated is fantastic.

No but you're asking oliveoil why she hasn't asked an immigrant family to tea. Sorry if I haven't read the thread carefully enough, but you appear to be annoyed with her because she hasn't asked any immigrant families to tea because she doesn't know any. I don't understand what she's supposed to have done wrong in that respect.

Binkie it would be nice if it were normal, but ime it's not. I think it depends on what kind of street you're in and whether there are quite a few of young growing families - they tend to be more friendly. But when I moved in to my new house 3 years ago, literally not one neighbour spoke to me, except the people next door, who co-incidentally had a DS 6 months older than mine, so it gave us an excuse to talk to each other.

well if you read the 'lighthearted' thread about the London bombing it seems that even Londoners don't take it that seriously

I am sorry for that, Caligula. Ironic, though, isn't it? Your presumably anglo-saxon heritaged neighbours being "allowed to hide away" behind their net curtains? And that the very melting-pot nature of my area means that people are readier to reach out.

"Almost no-one is native British, people are either transient foreign or immigrants, and when people move in and out it is entirely normal to invite them over to welcome them - surely that's not weird?"

Wow - that would be nice. If only all neighbourhoods were that community-spirited, wherever they originate from.

Hmmm, I'm about to move to a village and judging by the amount of Conservative and UKIP banners I saw there two months ago, I very much doubt I am going to come across any immigrant families or many white British families I have much in common with.

enid, that is merely metropolitan sang froid which would obviously go over the heads of country yok- dwellers

seriously though, you'd be very wide of the mark if you thought those comments meant that londoners didn't take thursday very seriously indeed.

wow you are all so cool

and I so wish I was like you

haha

Whymummy - You said that the only culprit here is George Bush. Did the bombings in Nairobi/Dar es Salaam not take place before Bush was in power? I am of the opinion that Bush is an ignorant tos**r but he did not blow himself up at Aldgate last week did he?

People like these bombers are just looking for excuses to cause trouble and give themselves glory. I doubt they even cared about the situation in Iraq. If they do care then why did a terrorist blow himself up and kill a load of innocent children yesterday in Iraq?