Explosion at MEN Arena/Victoria Station

[bobmcfc]

It will only get worse as the names and ages are released.

 

[dickie davies]

My nephew was working there last night on the merchandise stalls about 50 yards away from the explosion
He's safe and physically unharmed, but very very shaken.
I've not spoken to him or his mum and dad, but I'm left wondering what horror he witnessed

 

[BlueRockape]

Like most of us on here I've been to hundreds of sports events, concerts etc any one of which could have been a target.

It's not so much the geographic closeness of the event, but that sense of how easily it could have happened to one of us.

While I applaud all sentiments of defiance it's a bit futile. It won't send a message to such attackers. They aren't listening. They don't care. It's senseless, pointless violence which won't advance or further any political or religious cause. Absolutely tragic.

All we can do is crack on and support the emergency services, the victims and their relatives.

What a dark day for our great city.

So well said

 

[chaddblue]

It will only get worse as the names and ages are released.

Just reading on another forum a blue who knows a fella who lost a leg and his 7 year old daughter was killed. I felt physically sick reading it

 

[Blue Maverick]

It was a fire at the Old Halfway house pub

Yep I was called to this nothingto worrry about

 

[I'm With Stupid]

As some have already noted, there is no such thing as total security. If you tighten security at the Etihad then what do you do at City Square? if you tighten security at City Square what do you do with the long lines at the security check points, and what do you do at all the other places people gather, the Arndale, Trafford Centre, and how far down the chain do you go, school yards, sports days, fun runs, summer fetes, churches, pubs, restaurants, the metro system.

Security no doubt will be tightened at high profile events, but there's always a point where the security stops and people still gather, which seems to have been the thinking with this arsehole. A suicide bombing has a familiar MO to it, so we know where this is heading. Problem is there doesn't seems to be an identifiable structure with these people which you could isolate and then cut its head off. We seem to be in a situation where individuals do these things because they are inspired by rather than directed by an organisation, and they can strike anywhere, a Christmas market in Berlin, a pop concert in Manchester, Bastille Day in Nice.

There doesn't appear to be any short term solution to this and we should be wary of those that suggest there is.

Absolutely, but it's worth mentioning that the police have been one of the hardest hit of all the public services by budget cuts. Do they even have the resources to increase their presence at major events, not to mention their monitoring of potential terrorists?

 

[abu13]

The people responsible for this attack are absolute scum, to target an event knowing there are children present is beyond disgusting. There are no words to comfort the families who have lost friends and relatives or who have had life changing experiences. All we can do is pull together and not allow ourselves to be dragged down to the levels they want us to.

Lets not jump to conclusions on who is to blame until we know the fact, it is to easy to jump to the conclusion that this was ISIS.

My heart goes out to those families who have not been able to contact their missing friends and family, it looks increasingly likely that some of the faces being circulated are likely to be among the victims.

An shocking and disgusting attack on innocent people.

 

[Magicpole]

That's really touched me, I'm less than sympathetic to the homeless and forget they're people too often.

I need to take a long hard look at myself.

I read that story and it also had me thinking. Here is a young man with nothing. As you said at times not even afforded respect as a human being ffs. And what does he do? When others need help, does he run or think nobody cares about me, why should I bother? No, he goes into a situation that he had no way of knowing was over.

He comforted a child who was terribly injured. Just think about that. A person that has fallen and that must see disdain in people's faces day in day out. We are more likely to get angry at them being there than why they are there. We don't know their stories, or what they have endured but we judge and walk by.

This young man is also of the best of us. He has nothing materially, but by fuck he has a heart and courage and I too feel sad with myself for every time I felt irritation.

Heroes come from unexpected places and this young man reminds us of that. Kindness costs nothing, even if that only consists of a smile, in a day when all you see is faces who would rather you weren't there, imagine how a smile would make you feel?

Well done Richard Parker a true British hero and I hope you and all like you get the help you need. You fucking deserve it son.

 

[hammocity]

I cant just square this, an Asian guy is on the Jeremy Vine show just now saying ISIS believe everyone in the West is a target and there are no innocents, even Children. Better people than me will have ideas and thoughts on how to deal with this problem but anyone who has been abroad with ISIS should never be allowed back into the free world. We are spending billions on defence and end up monitoring ISIS members who have returned to our Country and we are letting them live "normal" lives. They have so much hatred in their sick, poisonous minds that they will never be welcome in our civil society, they are the dog shit in our shoes.

 

[DrBlueBob]

I read that story and it also had me thinking. Here is a young man with nothing. As you said at times not even afforded respect as a human being ffs. And what does he do? When ithers need help, does he run or think nobody cares about me why should I bother? No, he goes into a situation that he had no way of knowing was over.

He comforted a child who was terribly injured. Just think about that. A person that has fallen and that must see disdain in people's faces day in day out. We are more likely to get angry at them being there than why they are there. We don't know their stories, or what they have endured but we judge and walk by.

This young man is also of the best of us. He has nothing materially, but by fuck he has a heart and courage and I too feel sad with myself for every time I felt irritation.

Heroes come from unexpected places and this young man reminds us of that. Kindness costs nothing, even if that only consists of a smile, in a day when all you see is faces who would rather you weren't there, imagine how a smile would make you feel?

Well done Richard Parker a true British hero and I hope you and all like you get the help you need. You fucking deserve it son.

Your rhetoric is very moving MP