The politics of fear and defiance:
I feel a long way from home today. Watching the coverage of the attack in London Bridge last night, on BBC World. Cradling a cup of tea (from the few remaining English Breakfast teabags I have left) and knowing if I'd been at home last night, I would have been in a cab to the newsroom to help out in an 'all hands on desk' kind of way, without request or invitation, just because. Because that is what we do. I remember reading a description of the BBC Newsroom on 9/11 as 'a newsroom at full tilt' as journalists did just that and turned up on their days off simply to help exhausted colleagues get the news on air. Because that is what we do. We're not out there saving lives like the incredible paramedics, doctors, nurses and policemen, but we do provide a service, a source of information, a sense of unity, reflecting the tone of collective strength and defiance of the nation, as we speak to the people who lived through the events we're trying to make sense of.
To wake up in sunny Istanbul, a city steeped in the calm, lazy haze of Ramadan this morning, where by the way, a lot of people asked me when I announced I was going; 'Are you sure about this, it's really dangerous there, lots of terrorist attacks...' feels odd to say the least this morning.
After the attack on Westminster Bridge in April, the UK terror threat level remained at 'severe', meaning an attack is highly likely, but not imminent - a fairly fine line if you ask me. After the attack in Manchester the country was put on high alert, the threat of an attack was raised from 'severe' to 'critical' the first time that has happened since 2007. The threat level was then once again reduced to 'severe' in the following days. A decision I felt was possibly a little hasty at the time, but assumed that my government knew something I didn't and had the whole thing in hand. But this morning I find myself wondering again at the decision to lower the threat level, was it subconsciously a bit of 'keep calm and carry on' by the government, in the run up to the general election?
Which then got me thinking about how our feeling of safety or vulnerability affects the way we vote. Will people stick with the Tory government now in a feeling of 'the last thing we need is a new lot finding their feet when we are so clearly under attack' or will they say 'This bunch haven't done a great job of protecting us from these lunatics, maybe a new lot would do a better job...'
Campaigning has been suspended for today, but does that really matter? The media coverage of the attack and the political analysis offered by anyone with half an opinion and a backdrop of Westminster rumbles on, whether the politicians are pounding the streets or not. And as we march toward the vote on Thursday I can't help but feel people will vote out of both fear and defiance in equal measure. What that will mean for the result remains to be seen, but I'll be watching with interest from a city who faced with their own terror attacks voted to give their government more power, in what many here say was a bid to strengthen national security, motivated in part by fear. After all better the devil you know...
I feel a long way from home today. Watching the coverage of the attack in London Bridge last night, on BBC World. Cradling a cup of tea (from the few remaining English Breakfast teabags I have left) and knowing if I'd been at home last night, I would have been in a cab to the newsroom to help out in an 'all hands on desk' kind of way, without request or invitation, just because. Because that is what we do. I remember reading a description of the BBC Newsroom on 9/11 as 'a newsroom at full tilt' as journalists did just that and turned up on their days off simply to help exhausted colleagues get the news on air. Because that is what we do. We're not out there saving lives like the incredible paramedics, doctors, nurses and policemen, but we do provide a service, a source of information, a sense of unity, reflecting the tone of collective strength and defiance of the nation, as we speak to the people who lived through the events we're trying to make sense of.
To wake up in sunny Istanbul, a city steeped in the calm, lazy haze of Ramadan this morning, where by the way, a lot of people asked me when I announced I was going; 'Are you sure about this, it's really dangerous there, lots of terrorist attacks...' feels odd to say the least this morning.
After the attack on Westminster Bridge in April, the UK terror threat level remained at 'severe', meaning an attack is highly likely, but not imminent - a fairly fine line if you ask me. After the attack in Manchester the country was put on high alert, the threat of an attack was raised from 'severe' to 'critical' the first time that has happened since 2007. The threat level was then once again reduced to 'severe' in the following days. A decision I felt was possibly a little hasty at the time, but assumed that my government knew something I didn't and had the whole thing in hand. But this morning I find myself wondering again at the decision to lower the threat level, was it subconsciously a bit of 'keep calm and carry on' by the government, in the run up to the general election?
Which then got me thinking about how our feeling of safety or vulnerability affects the way we vote. Will people stick with the Tory government now in a feeling of 'the last thing we need is a new lot finding their feet when we are so clearly under attack' or will they say 'This bunch haven't done a great job of protecting us from these lunatics, maybe a new lot would do a better job...'
Campaigning has been suspended for today, but does that really matter? The media coverage of the attack and the political analysis offered by anyone with half an opinion and a backdrop of Westminster rumbles on, whether the politicians are pounding the streets or not. And as we march toward the vote on Thursday I can't help but feel people will vote out of both fear and defiance in equal measure. What that will mean for the result remains to be seen, but I'll be watching with interest from a city who faced with their own terror attacks voted to give their government more power, in what many here say was a bid to strengthen national security, motivated in part by fear. After all better the devil you know...
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