How are your coping?

[deuces wild]

OMG. Sorry to read that another attack was made/attempted.

How are Londoner's coping with this?

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tony Blair urged Britons to be calm and resolute after a second spate of bombings in London on Thursday, but further attacks may tarnish his image as a statesman which has won him praise.

Blair was lauded at home and abroad after bombs on London's transport network killed more than 50 people two weeks ago.

But if Thursday's fresh attacks, albeit smaller and taking no lives, turn out to be the start of a trend, the political flak could start to fly.

Even before the latest incidents, Blair had been forced to fend off accusations that his backing for the Iraq war has made Britain a more dangerous place.

He did so again on Thursday after four small explosions hit London's transport system, saying: "The roots of this are deep ... the terrorist attacks go back over 10 years.

"The people who are responsible for terrorist attacks are the terrorists."

But an opinion poll this week showed most Britons thought their country was less safe as a result of Iraq.

A leaked document from intelligence chiefs essentially said the same -- that the terrorist threat had increased after the 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.

More attacks on home soil and some of that mud may stick.

"You get a period when everyone rallies around," one member of the Labour party said. "But you've seen the Iraq factor raised not long after the first bombs. It will happen again."

MUTED OPPOSITION

But Blair has sustained no political damage so far and his opponents have little choice but to support him, or look opportunistic.

And polls show that while he may not be liked by the public, the overwhelming majority still pick him as the leader they want in times of crisis.

London mayor Ken Livingstone, a strong opponent of the Iraq war, avoided criticising the prime minister on Thursday.

"Those people whose memories stretch back to the '70, '80s and '90s will remember there were horrifying bombing campaigns in London," he told a news conference.

"We got through that and we'll get through this."

Londoners -- hardened by the Blitz of World War Two and a prolonged bombing campaign by the Irish Republican Army -- are ill-disposed to fracturing in front of a terrorist threat.

Historically, attacks like these have united not divided.

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticl...ITAIN-BLAIR.xml

[expertec]

Probably shouldn't, but this time it made me laugh. Those "attackers" today were so incompetent, if the terrorists can't do better than that then we don't have anything to fear. :rolleyes:

[r4may]

Cowards will Not prevail.

[nellie2]

I don't live in London or anywhere near London, so I can't speak for Londoners, but we coped with the IRA bombing campaign and I'm sure we can cope with this!

[Thos]

OMG. Sorry to read that another attack was made/attempted.

How are Londoner's coping with this?

I was in London on Thursday and having lunch at a pub near to Tottenham Court Road tube station at the time the "bomb" attempts were carried out. No-one seemed bothered although there were police sirens wailing and police rushing about. Afterwards, as much of the traffic was diverted, the roads were clear for us to wander along to see the matinee of "The Far Pavilions" at the Shaftesbury Theatre and a bonus was that as the theatre was not full we were able to get top price (£47.50) tickets for £17.50. After the show we strolled back through crowded streets to Charing Cross where we caught the 18.10 running normally back to Kent.

So it really didn't bother us.

As for the terrorists... :censored:

Thos

[D4\/!d]

...I've noticed there are far fewer people upstairs on the buses at the moment.