05-24-2017, 10:45 AM
It is desperately sad, especially because many of the victims were so young. There will be a lot more victims who although physically unharmed will be traumatised by this attack.
The BBC has very good coverage of this. The Guardian also has strong Manchester connections so also a useful news source.
The problem with this terrorism is it is just too easy. These are soft targets. Anyone fanatical enough to die in their own terrorist attack is almost by definition extremely hard to stop. It seems this attacker used a homemade explosive that was crude but filled with nails/bolts to cause maximum injuries. The ingredients for making a bomb all have legitimate uses, so they are easily available. As the IRA pointed out many years ago, the security services might successfully stop most terrorist attacks, but they only had to succeed once...
Not sure whether US friends are aware, but the UK is having a general election in just over two weeks. I would generally predict that putting soldiers on the streets is likely to make undecided voters stick with the status quo. Theresa May has a large enough lead in opinion polls she is virtually certain to win, but being a parliamentary system the number of seats the Conservatives win is crucially important. The size of their majority affects what they can do. It isn't good news for the opposition candidate, Jeremy Corbyn, because while the election campaign is suspended, May gets to be on TV looking prime ministerial. Prior to this, he had been closing the gap, but I suspect that is now over.
I hate to drag what is a tragedy for so many families into a political issue, but I think this could influence the outcome of an election.
The BBC has very good coverage of this. The Guardian also has strong Manchester connections so also a useful news source.
The problem with this terrorism is it is just too easy. These are soft targets. Anyone fanatical enough to die in their own terrorist attack is almost by definition extremely hard to stop. It seems this attacker used a homemade explosive that was crude but filled with nails/bolts to cause maximum injuries. The ingredients for making a bomb all have legitimate uses, so they are easily available. As the IRA pointed out many years ago, the security services might successfully stop most terrorist attacks, but they only had to succeed once...
Not sure whether US friends are aware, but the UK is having a general election in just over two weeks. I would generally predict that putting soldiers on the streets is likely to make undecided voters stick with the status quo. Theresa May has a large enough lead in opinion polls she is virtually certain to win, but being a parliamentary system the number of seats the Conservatives win is crucially important. The size of their majority affects what they can do. It isn't good news for the opposition candidate, Jeremy Corbyn, because while the election campaign is suspended, May gets to be on TV looking prime ministerial. Prior to this, he had been closing the gap, but I suspect that is now over.
I hate to drag what is a tragedy for so many families into a political issue, but I think this could influence the outcome of an election.