The Mayor of London:

“Finally, I wish to speak directly to those who came to London today to take life.

I know that you personally do not fear giving up your own life in order to take others – that is why you are so dangerous. But I know you fear that you may fail in your long-term objective to destroy our free society and I can show you why you will fail.

In the days that follow look at our airports, look at our sea ports and look at our railway stations and, even after your cowardly attack, you will see that people from the rest of Britain, people from around the world will arrive in London to become Londoners and to fulfil their dreams and achieve their potential.

They choose to come to London, as so many have come before because they come to be free, they come to live the life they choose, they come to be able to be themselves. They flee you because you tell them how they should live. They don’t want that and nothing you do, however many of us you kill, will stop that flight to our city where freedom is strong and where people can live in harmony with one another. Whatever you do, however many you kill, you will fail.”

Momus:

“I suppose this will just click more locks on the manacles of the “security state”. The tedious bag checks, citizens treated as potential criminals, the erosion of the civil justice system, queues and paranoia, the compulsory carrying of ID cards. We’re all now guilty until proven innocent, and especially those of us who look like strangers, who look like people who think differently. Higher suspicion means higher anomie and higher stress. The delights of the high density city are displaced by the stresses and (still largely imagined) dangers of the high density city. The high density city is always poised delicately between heaven and hell; this tips things over to the hell side. And yet I still believe in the utopian potential of big cities.”

London, ten years my home – and soon to be home again – got hurt today.

For what it’s worth, my thoughts go out to those who have also been hurt or have lost someone.

One reflection from far away in Helsinki, and quite a selfish one I suppose – that I’m glad all of my friends are wired-for-context through things like Flickr, mailing lists, moblogging, community sites or posting their status on their sites.

I have a folder in bloglines called “Friends” which reassuringly filled up with “I’m OK” blog post titles through the day.

Glancing at each other across all our little networks that lit up with “I’m ok, you’re ok” – the basic transaction, the best thought.