The Mourning After
‘WE knew it was coming. It was, we had been told, inevitable.
At the moment when Londoners were chatting about the Olympics in 2012 – how they were going to pay for it with higher taxes; how the Games will be a great show; how public transport wont cope; how its good to have something to look forward to – evil struck.
Why then? Why when people were happy? Well, thats just the way with terrorists they like to spoil things. When the rest of us are having fun and enjoying life, they get their sick kicks.
But the Games will go on; no cowards hell-bent on killing the biggest show on earth can stop that. We cannot let them.
‘OUR SPIRIT WILL NEVER BE BROKEN,’ vowed the Sun on its front page, those words written in deepest black ink below shots of a bombed-out bus, a man with horrific wounds and the news that many were dead.
The Sun is often given over to jingoism and anachronistic references to the World War II, but its mention of the spirit of the Blitz was apt.
Even Tony Blair, who so often sounds like one of Dr Whos Daleks in a dog collar, hit the right note.
Tony’s words were spot on. ‘When they try to intimidate us, we will not be intimidated,’ he began, ending his message with: ‘We will not be terrorised.’
He was right. We wont be. But we can feel pain. We can become apprehensive about something so every day as getting on a train or a bus. We can search bags, install more CCTV cameras and remain vigilant. And we can be made to carry ID cards.
But none of it will stop the scumbags from trying to ruin things, from trying to achieve their single goal of causing death and fear.
So we carry on. We raise our motherf****** hands in the air and wave them like it just doesnt care, as Snoop Dogg told us to at Live 8.
At the big anti-poverty convert, Madonna wanted to know if London was f****** ready’. It was. Razorlight’s lead singer Johnny Borrell urged us to sign the f****** petition’. We did. We didnt. We can sign or not sign whatever we like. Its a kind of freedom.
We all have choices. Eat or dont your own body weight in crisps.
Nod like a mad cow when Jacques Chirac told the world that he doesnt think British cuisine is up to much: ‘We cant trust people who have such bad food, said Chirac: After Finland, it’s the country with the worst food.’
So eat crap. Were pretty fat. Were out of shape. Things arent perfect. But, even so, we did win the Olympics – which makes us fitter than our rivals.
And gives us all something to look forward to…
Paul Sorene’
Posted: 11th, July 2005 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
