JUST 24 hours after a horrific terror attack on the streets of London, millions went about the mundane tasks of their daily lives with a mixture of defiance and bemused nonchalance.
Many were outraged that a security and foreign policy expert based in America had claimed that the incident had “shut down” the city.
Hundreds of Londoners took to social media to berate Walid Phares - and to gently poke fun of themselves. The more serious pointed out that the attack had led to the closure of precisely one of the city’s beloved tube stations.
But the relaxed air adopted by many was perhaps best summed up by public relations executive Ben Rathe, who tweeted: “Nonsense. Everyone knows the only thing that can shut down London is a light dusting of snow.”
Thousands more used the Twitter hashtag #wearenotafraid. Just after rush hour the underground station in Shepherd’s Bush in the west of the city was only slightly quieter than might have been expected on a Thursday morning in term-time.
Travellers were subdued, however, many of them focussing on reading newspapers full of the horrors of the previous day.
There was also an increased watchfulness, as passengers observed each other closely. On the platform at Westminster one well-dressed man in his mid-30s rifled furiously through his rucksack.
On another day his fellow travellers would have assumed he was an ordinary commuter having a bad morning.
Instead, a group who walked past him reported him to a policeman in the station’s entrance hall just a few yards away.
“That way and round to the right,” they pointed. “Acting suspicious...”
By lunchtime the tensions has eased. Most of those who lived and worked in London could have commuted to work, done their job and left as if the terror attack had never happened.
The London Eye, the world-famous tourist attraction beside Westminster Bridge, the site of the first fatalities, re-opened at lunchtime and again began its slow, gentle rotation above the city. Inside the security cordon meanwhile some Londoners remembered previous occasions when they had shown defiance in the face of attack.
The city, famous for its ‘Blitz spirit’, was later scarred by decades of IRA bombing.
London is also where the 'Nail Bomber' David Copeland targeted gay men on the streets of Soho in a 13-day reign of terror that left three dead and 139 injured.
It was where Fusilier Lee Rigby was stabbed and killed in broad daylight not far from his barracks in Woolwich in May 2013. At Westminster a Commons doorkeeper recounted how he had worked in John Lewis in the city centre during the early 1990s when it was bombed by the IRA.
As staff were being evacuated another bomb went off. The terrorists had known and had strategically planted a second device. Remarkably, no-one was killed.
Later that day the employee–owned department store re-opened for what were the final 30 minutes of its advertised opening hours. The move was symbolic, he explained. “We wanted to show that we were not afraid”.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here