'carrying on as normal'

[veritysims]

I appreciate that we cant let the fear of terrorism dictate the way we live out lives and that we would be playing into their hands if we stopped using public transport or going to crowded places. however if there's one thing that really does my head in its politicians banging on about how we are 'letting them win' if we stop using public transport. Excuse me but i dont ever recall seeing any of blair's army on the bus. It seems to me that they are panicking about roads becoming congested if people decide to drive to work instead. Be on a train with a suicide bomber or 'let them win' by taking the car?....hmmm. It all sounds a bit too much like propoganda from where im sitting.

[Loosehead]

The difficulty politicians have is trying to get their points across to the public and given that the average IQ is 100 they are contrained in the things they say so tend to use small sound bites and quick sentences like the one you describe. They are correct but what they would like to say to explain the issue would have people turning off very quickly.

The point is and I don't think it's propaganda, is that they are correct that if we change our lives, if we live in fear, if we cancel our holiday's then that is what the terrorists want. If we legislate ourselves into a straight jacket , if impose so much security on ourselves then we self impose tyrranny then that is the aim of the terrorists. Their bombs themselves do very little it's what we do to ourselves that really hurts us. It's our own media trying to sell papers by exposing "security weaknesses" .

In a society where there are so many competing factors for public attention, politicians have just tried to do the best they can before they turn over to the latest relaity TV drivel.

In the end what they are really saying is: Don't let the cure be worse than the desease.

[SteveD]

Politicians and high profile public figures do not need to use public transport to be at risk of terrorist attack (the Brighton bombing, Lord Mountbatten etc).

Doesn't Ken Livingstone travel to work on the Tube?

[Brugel]

As far as I know there are quite a few MP's who use the tube - but they're probably not cabinet ministers.

[acw]

It's not an appeal to get everyone to use public transport - it's an appeal to get us to carry on regardless.  That includes getting the tube to work if you always used to (pre bombings). 

By changing our lifestyles ONLY because of the bombs, we ARE letting them win!  And as the terrorists SEE their success, they'll be tempted to do it again and again until they cripple the country and we are in the straght jacket Loosehead so eloquently described. 

I'd also like to make a point based on Loosehead's mention of the media and "exposing security weaknesses".  The tabloid press's behaviour prior to the bombings was DISGUSTING.  It is the press that allows the terrorists to win and makes us live in fear.  They are, by scaring their readers with tales of "Our reporter got through airport security with a 'bomb' in his bag", in fact supporting the terrorists and should be treated with the contempt they deserve for so doing!  They're also the ones who make us so cynical that we can't believe the government would ever try to protect or help us, even in a time of terror.  The media makes us believe there's always a hidden agenda. 

Rant over!

[suewh]

Its ok the tubes will not be overcrowded due to politicians trying public transport - theyre all off on an eleven week holiday!

[beamer]

As a London cyclist I can say for a fact that the number of (new) cyclists on the road has quadrupled (at the very least), which I think is a good thing.

Though so has the number of cars with one person in during rush hour in affluent areas such as Islington, which I think is definately a bad thing.

Presumably all these people are ex-tube users...

[Dom Tuk]

Despite all the bombings by the Coalition forces, schools, colleges, universities, hospitals, offices, insurance services and a myriad of other people continued with their lives and tried to live as best as they could. They did not have 4 bombs they had a few hunderd thousand thrown at them from all sides. But exams, elctions and weddings took place. Some caterers cooked meals for the weddings (in some cases the last supper), but life moved on. The wedding pictures were printed and people had parties. Hey there are 2 sides to all stories. So let us not get carried away.....