Yesterday I took part in the 2 minutes silence for the victims of the London terror bombings at 12pm along with many other staff at the university. At the same time it was becoming increasingly apparent that the 4 suspects were all from Leeds, which is only a few miles from here. One, Shehzad Tanweer, who was the suspect for the bomb at Aldgate tube system, was born at St. Luke’s Hopsital which is about 10 minutes walk away from the university and was friends with one of our students (see this Guardian article).
Yesterday in our region the BBC showed a special programme about the bombing suspects, interviewing local people and a panel of guests, including Professor Paul Rogers who is the university’s resident expert on terrorism and the Labour MP for Dewsbury Shahid Malik, bith of whom I have met previously.
It’s all getting a little bit too close to home for my liking.
Terrorists on your doorstep
July 15, 2005
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July 15, 2005 at 12:52
I guess I see why. England is a small country though.
July 15, 2005 at 12:53
I see your point. But England is small…
July 15, 2005 at 17:21
That is what terrorism is all about. Make it hit close enough to home that you think about it.
It is a sad reality
July 15, 2005 at 20:02
Two friends are going to school in Leeds (they are both Canadian) and we evacuated from their building for two days because some of the bombers lived in their neighbourhood. They only got back into their place yesterday. I don’t know why they were evacuated (if there was fear of explosives being present or if the police just needed everyone out of the area).
Crazy world.
July 16, 2005 at 10:37
close to home: i was going to school at virginia tech for the USA’s 9/11 attack, and my girlfriend’s father happened to have an office that was destroyed in the pentagon attack. fortunately, no one in the family was hurt.
but still. everything is too close to home when it comes to an assault on you country!