Long-term Kos reader and London resident here. I have to say that the Larry Johnson diary made my eyes pop when I first saw it on top of the RecList on Friday. There I am, sitting at my work desk, two floors above Oxford Street, with police cars screaming down the road throughout the day, and news of tube cancellations and evacuations coming through in the office email - and here is this diary on my monitor, saying it's all a crock of crap. It's true that American media has a tendency to blow everything way out of proportion. (I was a first-hand witness to that too in Denton, TX during and after 9-11 - our mosque happened to get firebombed.) But for Larry Johnson to be so dismissive when he is so ill-informed was a very poor reflection on this great website.
Londoners are a tough lot, I admire their sang-froid tremendously, and I am proud now to call a Londoner myself. But they're not stoic to the point of indifference. Further tube lines got cancelled that evening during rush hour. A lot of people had to take difficult routes home. At least a few were jumpy or nervy. Londoners believe in the general competence of their cops, but you need luck as well and no one is dismissive of the possibility of further attacks here. Instead of hysteria, we respond by being blase and getting on with it. Last night, I went to the theatre (to see an American play, funnily enough!) and it was packed again, like it is every Saturday night.
I can only hope that this Larry Johnson won't jump the gun or trivialize reported incidents in future without having more facts in hand. It makes him, and this site by association, look foolish. When I heard about the Glasgow attempt, I was reminded of this post again. It's true that these terrorists seem to be a bunch of utter incompetents and belong on the set of a farce. But you only need to get lucky once. There are still too many crazies out there who are itching to kill innocents. And I say this as a Muslim myself. You see hardline Muslim youth every day on the streets of East London. As a Muslim from a moderate country (Bangladesh), I find nothing in their conversation or attitude that links my faith to theirs. If there were to be further successful attempts, and if the perpetrators do turn out to be disaffected Muslim youth from a working-class immigrant background, then very few people - least of all the Muslim community here - will be surprised. It's become that kind of world.
And yes, British policy is certainly a major provocation, but living in this city in this time, with a hundred civilians in each tube carriage, coming from a score of different countries to make something of their lives, lost in their newspapers or iPods or paperbacks - nothing justifies their attempted murder. Many of them would be Muslims too, like the Bangladeshi bank clerk who died on 07/07. What is needed is a change of policy from the Western governments, but the need for vigilance is also a constant.