Life, or what passes for it

A year ago, the bombings in London left me cold. Terrorism was not new to England, or to London, growing up the threat of the IRA was always there. Even today there is a noticeable lack of bins in central London, in the stations there is a wealth of junk food and no bins to dispose of it in. I'm surprised there's even post boxes.

But this was a different animal.

And then exactly two weeks later, another group of young men tried to do the same thing again. Where are they now? It hasn't occurred to me to think of it since that time, but now I do wonder what happened to those men after they were arrested. Are they in prison, in holding cells? Have they been shipped to some overseas detention centre? I'm not overly concerned for their welfare -- however callous it sounds -- I just dislike how these things disappear from the public eye.

Fast forward just over a year, and our secret services -- or whoever -- foil a major terror attack. Men are in custody, the press are full of dire warnings, and London is on the highest alert possible. The city seemed unnaturally quiet today, perhaps because this level of alert says an attack is imminent.

The trouble can be, though, when do we know who to believe? It was only a couple of months ago that there was a dramtic raid and men were arrested, one was shot, and it was said a chemical weapon attack on the UK had been avoided at the zero hour. Tabloid newspapers were full of warnings of an impending attack, an attack that didn't come. The men were released without charges, without any evidence of chemical weapons or criminal activity, and the police made awkward apologies for shooting one of them.

Then remember even before July 7, there was the time with the tanks at the airport. They wouldn't say why they were there, what they were achieving, we just had to believe we were being kept safe. Sometimes it feels like a lottery. We weren't kept safe on July 7, and two weeks later an attack only failed through luck.

Are these men guilty? Were they planning the largest scale terrorist atrocity we have ever seen? Should the government be allowed to detain without charge potential terror suspects for longer? Or will they soon be released without charges, as just as convenient smoke screen to distract people from other troublesome issues? I have no answers for this, only more questions.

I resent and bristle at the press statements about people who hate freedom or want to destroy our way of life. I doubt very much these people are consumed with rage about people having equal rights to vote. More likely they are displaced, angry and frustrated -- like so many of us can be, like so many of us are. They are easily influenced and easily led and they think Britain sending bombs to Israel or invading Iraq, Afghanistan, is the same thing as blowing up commercial airliners.

But it comes down to what can you do? The official lines are remain vigilant, go about your normal life. Life has to go on. But I wonder, when will it end? Will it ever end? With the IRA there were ceasefires, peace talks, negotiations -- but how do you sit down around a table with people who plan these things? If indeed these things are real at all.

Maybe this is just how life is going to be.