One year on, how have the 7th of July bombings affected London, the UK and the world.

I'd like this thread to reflect a bit on what happened and how it changed ordinary people's lives, both those directly affected and those indirectly affected such as the majority of people here. Further how did it change the view of the UK to people from outside the country, has it had a detrimental affect to the economy? Has it changed the political climate in the UK much and has it changed foreign policy?

Whenever I'm on the Piccadilly Line and it passes from Kings Cross to Russell Square I always remember the people who died in that tunnel and try not to think about what those people went through. :( I remember for a few weeks after the bombings whenever I got on the tube there was a sense of nervous mindfulness about everybody; but this uneasyness passed soon after and everything was back to normal and the bombings were a distant memory.

Also, gone are the days when I used to go wherever I wanted and take pictures from whatever angle I fancied. Nowadays you are very much likey to be stopped by some security guard :bash:

As for your other questions I leave them for more talkative forumers ;)

It's only made people more determinded to live their lives as they did before the bombings. Just look at how big those crowds in London were the day after the bombings (I can't remember what the event was).

How have the IRA bombings affected London? How has the Blitz affected London? How did the Great Fire of London affect London? How did the plague affect London?

As much as I can appreciate it was a tragic event I can't understand the complete hysteria people are still feeling over it. The city has seen massive disasters over its time and yet it and it's population still carries on being resilient. It hasn't affected me anymore than remembering the three people who died outside the Baltic Exchange everytime I stand by the Gherkin, or on the Marchioness on the River Thames, or the thousands that perished in the Blitz.

^ Exactly. London has always been a city of death and violence, yet somehow it just carries on as normal.

(No disrespect to those who died in the bombings last year, of course)

It's been used by the Government to tell us we are under seige and that we need more of their authoritarian laws.

It's been used by the Government to tell us we are under seige and that we need more of their authoritarian laws.

Trouble is, we are under siege. Al'Qaeda infiltrating the M15, endless terrorist attacks prevented in the past five years, parts of a community unwilling to integrate into British life and having no quams about its people attacking the country they live in.

It's the debate of whether we try to stop these things happening without compromising our democractic freedoms. That's the challenge.

One guy who commutes on my train, now walks from Waterloo to his office in Hackney everyday, as he has vowed never to go on London public transport again since 7th July. Given the way people drive in London, I think he's increased his risk of getting hurt, but it's his choice.

When i'm on the tube and we are squeezed in to bursting point I do sometimes wonder 'what if one went off now, what would happen', but given the amount of people who travel on the tube and buses every day, the chances are far too small to bother worrying about.

i dont think they have really affected people at all. i mean, do you know anyone who has changed the way they live over it? all we might do is think of the victims as we walk through that station, just like with the kings x fire or remember the marchoness as we get drunk on a boat.

It's been used by the Government to tell us we are under seige and that we need more of their authoritarian laws.

Sadly so. I do think about the victims everytime it gets mentioned and sometimes on the tube and I'm still a bit wary but when you think of the chances your mind doesn't worry about it.

amazing isnt it how few of the victims are in favour of the govts new laws.

Call me cold hearted....but i can't stand all this self pitying, sentimental nonsense that the media is pedalling about the bombings, its dwelling on a terrible event and can't be good for the families of the victims and the small number of people who are scared about travelling on the tube.

I saw on the news today some pictures of the bombings that school kids had drawn one year on from the 7/7........i'm just cynical.....but COME OFF IT, jeeez.

I'm not saying we should ever forget about what happened, but life goes on and I think it would be far more dignified to open a small rememberence garden, put up plaques e.t.c. Rather than constantly reminding us, feeling sorry for ourseves....asking questions such as "how have the bombings affected London" e.t.c.

London has been through so much death and destruction and people have always got on with it, not forgetting, but moving on with life. I think its only since september the 11th that the media has had a morbid fascination with constantly dwelling on tragic events.....

i dont think they have really affected people at all. i mean, do you know anyone who has changed the way they live over it? all we might do is think of the victims as we walk through that station, just like with the kings x fire or remember the marchoness as we get drunk on a boat.


do you get drunk on boats regularly Sailor Boy?

I don't know if there's much of a lasting legacy. Perhaps, a bit more of a paranoia, a bit more police presence. Nothing too different though.

I think the Brits as well as the Londoners are used to this type or terrorism. We endured those IRA bombings (including the Guildford incident), why can we not endure this one then? Life goes on, not so different apart from the fact that you see more police around.

i dont think they have really affected people at all. i mean, do you know anyone who has changed the way they live over it? all we might do is think of the victims as we walk through that station, just like with the kings x fire or remember the marchoness as we get drunk on a boat.


spot on.

So for the majority of people it seems to have had little impact on their lives. Further there is no withdrawal from Iraq, or Afganistan, the Londoneconomy has grown faster than the rest of the UK (and much of Europe).

Maybe this is the best deterence against future attacks.

i think too that the police and govt have handled the attacks worse than the public. they are the ones really fuelling and reacting to their own paranoia. is there a threat? yes. but its no worse than the IRA were, they had big plans too for death and destruction but we didnt have the police doing what they did to charles menezes and have since repeated without having learned their lesson it seems. it makes me sad the terrorirsts have won, not because of the response of londoners but the response of the authorities who come up with ever more laws, ever more erosion of freedom until we will have nothing left. these days carrying a copy of vanity fair is evidence of an illegal demonstration.

but its no worse than the IRA were

It is, actually.

ok i guess i missed the literally dozens of bomb attacks happening in this country every week, shoot outs, kidnappings, and general mayhem.

Whilst I agree with most of what you said Gothic, I think with the IRA there was a sense they would only attack "legitimate" targets and would usually give a warning. Their goals appeared more managable and understandable to the majority of the British populace.

It is, actually.

That's ridiculous! There were dozens of IRA bombs, and many more were killed than so far have been killed in the london transport bombings.

I've seen news articles of people switching to bikes and walking, but I think London has moved on from the bombings. I didn't change my travel plans because of it, and there were still a lot of tourists walking around as I was back in May when I flew in for another visit (third time in three years).

i think that people are using bikes for other reasons. ask monkey. hes certainly not doing it out of fear of terrorists. its becoming fashionable now even. the more people who cycle on london's streets the better, you should be blaming the congestion charge not islamic terrorists.
the IRA believed they were attacking legitimate targets, so did the guys on 7/7 and those guys on trial now, just hear them ranting on about how no one would give a shit about "slappers" in a night club being blown up. in my book the IRA blowing up pubs because a soldier might drink there one night is as legitimate as terrorists targeting chav slappers. that is, not at all.

That's ridiculous! There were dozens of IRA bombs, and many more were killed than so far have been killed in the london transport bombings. The IRA is nothing compared to today terriosts, think about it. Today they prepared to fly planes into buildings, blow up trains and buses without any warning. Compared to IRA i say todays terror threat is much, much worst.

They're all the same, murdering bastards whatever their weapon of choice. The IRA never went down the suicide tactic as they are a bunch of cowardly bastards who wanted the whole of Ireland for themselves not just the six counties..but not at any cost obviously, these Islamic nutters believe they will be rewarded with 12 virgins at their death so thats a bit of an insentive to blow yourself up :)

^^
A common theme between the two of them is hypocrisy. The IRA declared war on the UK, yet complained that the government had a shoot to kill policy.

Elder Islamic terrorists are grooming naive young men to be suicide bombers with the promise of paradise in the afterlife.

The IRA is nothing compared to today terriosts, think about it. Today they prepared to fly planes into buildings, blow up trains and buses without any warning. Compared to IRA i say todays terror threat is much, much worst.

Yes, they are prepared to do these things but so far many have failed to materialise and if we're talking about the effect on the UK, it's clear that the IRA did more damage and killed more citizens (even if they did it in a different way)

^Agreed. The US Driven hysteria about muslim extremists has blown this way out of proportion, when compared to past events.

We've had this argument about the IRA vs Al-Qaeda before...

Indeed, it's probably not worth it either. Both were bad groups of people.