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July 07, 2005
Being British is Great
At funerals, it is often remarked that it is a shame it takes a death to bring a family together. Similarly, it is a shame that it takes something as tragic as today’s terrorist attack on central London to show just how great Britons really are.
For the most prominent fact that people are taking away from today is the admirable way in which the people of London handled themselves amid a genuinely terrifying situation.
We did not panic, we did not crumble. We did not burst into irrational fits of anger and go rushing out looking for a scapegoat, a religious group to lynch or a country to bomb. We decamped to the pubs and took the rest of the day off.
This isn't even a slap in the face to a Brit; it's a spilt pint on a nice suit; "bastard! I'll have to get that dry cleaned now."
This was due in part, no doubt, to our being accustomed to the tube breaking down, thus those trapped underground felt no immediate need to go crazy. It was also due to the estimably high level of stoic calm that commands your average Brit in such a situation.
The world has always commented favourably on our intelligence. Many simply put it down to our beautiful accents, today we proved it goes much further than the larynx. The only intelligent thing to do when random acts of terror are materialising around you is to stay calm and get on with things. As these acts show with such nefarious fervour, there’s far too much mindless anger in the world already, adding to it achieves nothing, and is usually counterproductive.
A handful of angry Americans chastise limey laissez-faire and appeasement. They are, of course, wrong. This is not appeasement, it’s common sense. We have people trained to deal with this, so we entrust them to work on it diligently and competently in the name of the Great British sense of justice, while we get on with our lives.
From the off, the situation was handled in exemplary manner, a stark contrast from the bumbling, emotional and irrational reactions that too often characterise major crises. There is no reason to think the aftermath will not be handled in exactly the same sensible manner.
We showed the world how to industrialise, how to play cricket and now we’re showing them how to cope in a crisis.
For all of this we should be very, very proud.
Posted by pauldavies on July 07, 2005
