7/7

I remember watching people come down for breakfast at a London hotel and the difference between those who had heard the news and those who hadn’t. Half the room was filled with people happily debating the Olympic bid the day before, whilst others sat eating quietly, occasionally discussing travel arrangements as if whispering in church. I remember the businessman covered in soot being checked in at reception as if nothing had happened and how the whinging in the queue at the hotel taxi rank changed to offers for cab sharing after the news was passed around. I remember my mother being surreally blasé about the whole situation and being on the verge of a row with her as to whether we should get a bus or not. But they’ve just bombed a bus, Mum. She sighed, shrugged and gave in. We shared a cab to Victoria and walked south of the river from there.

I just remember thinking that the world has gone to shit and that the stupid bastards who did it missed the entire point of the G8 protests in Scotland. I mean, how many hundreds of thousands of Brits were protesting foreign policies at that moment? How many were praying for peace? Stupid dumbf**ks. I'm still angry. I'd spit on them, if there was anything left of them on which to spit.

I was watching tv whilst I was Abc, I remember Jude coming on and asking what was going on outside as she could hear/see all the emergency vehicles but nothing had yet been reported online.

I was cycling through Tuscany. We stopped for a drink at a little cafe in a beautiful village and the owner came out and asked it we were English. We said that we were and he said we might want to come in and watch his television. We all spent hours trying to get through on our mobiles to friends, family and colleagues to check that they were OK. My mate Mustafa, who shares our office with Mark and David as Social Spider, was not so lucky. He's written about his experiences today in the Times online: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,6-2259077_1,00.html

The stupid f**king bastards ruined a lot of lives, and unfortunately the Muslim community will be pressed to 'answer for' the atrocities of a very very minority few for a long time to come, as if being a Muslim is like being The Borg. Sorry, I don't get wound up about much, but this is an exception. Stupid f**king idiotic morons and their stupid f**king warped ideologies making the world a shittier place for everyone, -especially- other British Muslims. Bet they didn't think of that when they strapped on the explosives, the f**king tits. *stomps off, still cursing, to make a cup of chamomile tea and hopefully unwind*

I was at home when news of the first blast hit, it just came on the TV, as soon as it said I knew, as they reported it the news of the other blasts came through confirming it all. I just watched all day hoping no-one I knew had been caught up in it all. nobody

My key memory is listening to Ian Blair on the radio, barely an hour before the bombs went off, doing a puff piece on the olympics, explaining how part of the reason we won the bid was our excellent record on combatting terrorism. I remember the initial reports that it was a power surge and standing around with other engineers trying to work out if that was feasable, and I remember the relief when every londoner I knew had checked in. Today has left me with a bitter taste. The headline I just saw read 'silent memorial' and for a blessed two minutes it was silent, but for the rest of the day there has been endless mawkish newsreaders and solemn survivors telling their stories, sometimes with weepy background music. I have no problem with those affected marking the anniversary, but the massive media attention smacks of wallowing in victimhood, which is ugly and dangerous, dangerous because victimhood is an insiduously attractive state and it leads to anger and the need for someone to blame, both of which are damaging.

"Stupid f**king idiotic morons and their stupid f**king warped ideologies making the world a shittier place for everyone, -especially- other British Muslims. Bet they didn't think of that when they strapped on the explosives, the f**king tits." I think that's probably exactly what they did think. That's one of the more logical reasons why - from their apparent starting point as people with a fanatical agenda - they might have chosen to do it. One of the main points of domestic-based Islamic terrorism (and rabble-rousing from 'radical' clerics) is to promote the idea that it's not possible for people to be both Muslims and citizens of a Western country. The aim is to force all Muslims living in the West to pick one side or the other in what the bombers perceive to be a holy war. There's a big danger that politicians can - usually accidentally - appear to be doing the same thing from the opposite direction.

You're probably right, B, but the problem is, most British Muslims don't actually have a problem being both, and I'm not sure how successful the f**cking bastards will be, trying to 'force' people to choose between being a 'good' Muslim or watching innocent friends and coworkers get blown to pieces. I hate the idea of 'send them all back' as a policy, but, if people are so unhappy living in the evil West, then there are several very conservative Islamic countries available where they are free to go and practice their oppressive ideologies on each other, and not benefit from all the other wonderful freedoms (like, the freedom of political and religious dissent, for example) they are 'allowed' here. It's very strange to me that, after a long history of resistance to Christianisation, they would turn around and try to Islamise the rest of the world. I mean, it just doesn't -work-.

It's terrifying to even contemplate what it must be like to live somewhere like Iraq where similar things happen every day!

I just hate the bloody hypocrisy of it; the Palestinians' anger I can understand, or the Egyptians', or certainly the Iraqis, who have suffered so much. But these were well-fed, decently-educated Brits, some who had well-paid jobs and reasonable lives, who suddenly decided everything was all wrong and should be blown up. All the while living well off the fat of the land. How it must have rankled them, wearing their expensive sneakers and designer hoodies and playing with their iPods amongst the heathen British who hadn't a f**king clue that all Westerners are devils and support the evil deeds of our governments. What galls me the most is... well, everything really. Just the sheer DUMBNESS of the idea that blowing oneself up will somehow make a 'point', and that killing people, including oneself, makes one a 'hero' to a certain faction. What a bunch of f**kwits. Stupid, stupid twats.

"I hate the idea of 'send them all back' as a policy, but, if people are so unhappy living in the evil West, then there are several very conservative Islamic countries available where they are free to go and practice their oppressive ideologies on each other" Most extremists aren't unhappy living in the West. They're very happy - or at least fulfilled - living in the West because, as you point out, Western governments tolerate behaviour that Islamic governments don't tolerate. While there's plenty of unpleasant regimes with governing structures in some way connected to a view of Islam, the Taliban aside, it isn't the version of Islam promoted by the groups of people who are believed to be behind most recent terror attacks. They wouldn't be free to practice anything other than obedience to a brand of nastiness that they don't support.

Aye, and there's the rub. That's what's so f**cking hypocritical about it. Most of them appear to have preferred a more Taliban-like ideology; I suspect that, if they had to live under such such a regime for more than their three-months-in-Pakistan-let's-go-visit-Afghanistan-and-get-real-angry-with-the-West sojourns they apparently took, they wouldn't be as pleased with the real living conditions under such a government. They wouldn't be allowed to listen to iPods, for one thing.