On this day, last year

This time last year, went along to this.




VE Day commemorations along the Mall and up to Buckingham Palace.

The number of people that attended really struck me only 2 days after July 7. Just as the 2 minutes silence for Islams terror victims, on the Friday (and again last week) had. London really was utterly silent. Whereas 2 days before it had been utterly jubilant over the Olympics. Such is the nature of this city that by Sunday it was paying its respects in style to an important generation.

A lot was said about the spirit of the Blitz.

It seemed a bit cliche but the reality is London did go back to normal immediately after that morning. Walking back in the evening with hundreds of commuters the joking and chatting and drinking outside the pub invoked a collective feeling of well...humanity really and the best of our national character.

On VE Day it occured to me that 38,000 of Londons citizens were wiped out in the Blitz -
but rarely do you hear or see a regular special tribute to them. In one night alone some 450 lost their lives.

London has also been the target of sustained terror attacks for two decades. Tubes ground
to a halt on a regular basis in response to 'a suspect package'. Oxford Street was devoid of bins for years for fear of bin bombs (and grubby as a result), weve been used to CCTV and the Ring of Steel, armed police for decades now.

I can remember the IRA blowing up the Queen's Cavalry with a nail bomb in Hyde Park, killing 11 soldiers, lascertaing many, including the horses whose limp bodies added to the scene of
carnage in a way I wont readily forget and stuck in my mind as a kid. It Injured 40 or so civilian onlookers. Horrific.

There were 36 bombs in London in 1973. A good smattering of non military targets too. Bombs outside the Old Bailey, Guildford, Hyde Park, Regents Park, Harrods where they killed 6 people. One terrorist accidentally blew himself up on a London bus.

The impact of a bombing campaign in London, a major city, was worth a lot in terms of
publicity. The terrorists learned this and used it to their advantage. Clearly this has been invaluable to others who have followed in their footsteps.

For once im not interested in lamenting the left and its impact on society. Ken. Or Islam.
F*** that. This remains one hell of a city. And it continues, with its tremendous history,
magnanimous, in spite of them all.