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.
It will only get worse as the names and ages are released.
Yep I was called to this nothingto worrry aboutIt was a fire at the Old Halfway house pub
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?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.
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 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.