Suspected suicide bomber shot at Stockwell station.

[cori]

Have just heard an unconfirmed report on the radio. Anyone else?

But any of you with sons and male partners (like me) could be equally offended because I said I wouldn't stay in any closed railway carriage with a lone male or group of young males.

Isn't the idea of these incidents to sour relations between Muslims and non-Muslims? To create friction and instability?

I am quite security aware I am normally the idiot checking for left luggage at the airport and watching for them at the train station as well.

But then I hvae been delayed so many times and evacuated due to security risks it becomes second nature. IMO it is normally the Pi**ed up white bloke who causes the most problems.

Sorry to repeat you Twiglett! it DID sound ridiculous, didn't it?

The muslim community should be doing their utmost to expose these extremists, it is they that are doing the damage to their own religion. You can't blame people for being jumpy.

Isn't it similar to the IRA bombings?? I wouldn't hold every Catholic accountable for the actions of the IRA... and I certianly wouldn't think I was in imenant danger associating myself with anyone who was Catholic..... In fact I married one!

I hate all this "THE MUSLIMS" lark.

agree with dinosaur, hester: I think it was a brave and helpful thing for your colleague to have done. I hope people thanked him for it privately despite management's pomposity

It's not out of racism in the least! The vast majority of men aren't rapists but I am still extremely conscious of my own safety and won't walk down a dark street if there is a lone male behind me.
Dh was offended once because a woman couldn't get away fast enough when he gave her something she had dropped - it was late afternoon in Winter when it was dark and the street was empty. I said I would react in a similar way to this woman, even though he is a very nice man with the best intentions!

Well QoQ, i certainly didn't mean to offend you but we can all go down the route of "this person is this colour, this person is this colour".
My best friend of 10 years is black and I have several other friends who come from all sorts of backgrounds and have an assortment of skin colours.

I have stressed several times now that this is now about being racist.

i have cancelled a hospital appointment for my dd in london next week as I have to take both my children with me on the train and then swap on the tube twice. i am waiting until december for a local appointment. i feel totally neurotic tbh It is so unlike me to worry soi silly, I rang my mum and asked her and she told me not to go. Not the response i was expecting. Anyway that me loonville. But if my dd got seperated from me hell knows what would happen

argh, I have finally turned into one of those women and i feel so sad that I feel like this. My husband has worked in the middle east for years, I have no idea why i feel so scared to take my children on the tube atm - well i do but I should be able to find persepective on it

suppose i have offended everyone who lives in london now

There are plenty of female suicide bombers out there.

Glad to see some of us don't have to use public transport. A lot of us have no other choice.

My feeling is this: if my time's up, it's up. My faith is strong. I trust God to know what is best for me and my family. I won't let myself be ruled by fear of death, b/c I know where I'm going when I die.

Why should it be the responsibility of the muslims to expose the extremists? To the muslim community, the extremists are not followers of Islam. It is the responsibility of society as a whole.

the mosque has been given the all-clear so the cordon has been lifted.

And I didn't say anything at all about Muslims btw.
I want to stay alive for my kids first and foremost. Of course I wouldn't be abusive in any way! But I would quietly get off the bus if a young Asian man with a rucksack got on.

dinosaur, my guess is that they were worried not so much about his post, but about the possibility of someone responding with a 'well I hate muslims get out of our country'-type response. I work in a large organisation (7000 staff) and so he was sending out to people he didn't know. The response could have triggered a lot of bad feeling around the place and ended up being divisive - NOT this guy's intention. So I think they were right to nip it in the bud, but I wish they could have done it in a way that didn't demean him.

Poor guy . And so sad that he felt the need to do it. I work with loads of Muslims, and feel terrible that some of them may feel the need to personally disassociate themselves from this. It's like the pressure I sometimes feel to explain where I stand in relation to Israel (as someone from a Jewish family) - but worse.

No aloha, it's not the same. Because if you get off the bus because someone black or asian with a bag gets on it you are assuming
a) they might be muslim and a fanatic one at that
b) they might be a muslim/fanatic bomber
because that's why you'd be getting off. And 99% of the time you'd be wrong about the second and a fair percentage of the time you'd be wrong about the first too. You cannot tell from the colour of someone's skin whether they're a) a loon b) a muslim or a muslim loon or c) a bomber
but if you get off the bus you are making an assumtion that they might be one of a or b above and in most cases it just aint so.

Sorry if i am going to get shot down in flames for this but i personally would rather be extreme and get off of a bus or tube to protect myself from what i tink may be a potentially bad situation to be in, than sit tight and think, it wont happen to me.

And I am very, very sorry that it has come to this.
And yes, I know I am lucky that my dh and I don't have to use public transport. I stay home and work and dh walks.

My feeling is this: if my time's up, it's up. My faith is strong. I trust God to know what is best for me and my family. I won't let myself be ruled by fear of death, b/c I know where I'm going when I die.

Nice one Expat. - I need to remind myself of that sometimes.

But if we all did this the Asian communtiy would becoem so alienated ans all the progress that has been made in interracial relations would be lost. That makes me sad.

I'm agreeing with you aloha

Well lots of people felt uneasy about Irish people at the time of the IRA bombings. But most of my Irish male friends understood why strangers might be jumpy around them. Of course they're statitically unlikely to be a terrorist, but someone somewhere is, so why shouldn't it be the person next to you? That was their attitude. They didn't expect people to repress their thoughts. OTOH, they would have been aggrieved by open rudeness or hostility.

News 24 have got an eye witness on at the moment saying there was a "smoking bag" on the same train, but different compartment? I think