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Britain must not be cowed

We must not give in to those who attack what we hold dear  - Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
We must not give in to those who attack what we hold dear - Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

They stood, arms folded, waiting for their girls to come running into their arms. They craned their necks, better to scan the crowds and pick out their child, as parents always do – at school gates, on sports days, at the end of long-promised nights out to packed concert halls. But some parents had to keep waiting, in growing anguish. For some, the girls never came back. For them, and for popular perception of terrorism in this country, everything has changed.

A threshold has been crossed. Until yesterday, many of us did not acknowledge, even to ourselves, the extent to which we were prepared to coexist with the threat of Islamic extremism. Adults commuting to work, in packed trains and Tubes, shrugged in the face of what they knew to be a minuscule yet persistent risk.

But the vile suicide bombing at the Manchester Arena, which targeted children – specifically adolescent girls – has changed that. Dry, intellectual assessment of the danger has been replaced by an emotional response. How could it be otherwise when one of the first victims identified was an eight-year-old, Saffie-Rose Roussos? The lives of our children are now in the crosshairs. Despite the astonishing depravity of Islamic State, which claimed the attack, this, somehow, has come as a shock.

Eight-year-old Saffie Rose Rousso
Eight-year-old Saffie Rose Rousso

Of course, this bombing was calculated to upset, and in that it has achieved its aim. But it was also designed to provoke and in that, it is a matter of great pride to record, it has failed. Mancunians rushing to the aid of their fellow citizens on Monday demonstrated their selflessness and solidarity within minutes of the bomber's grotesque strike.

That the nation has responded with its traditional stoicism does not mean, however, that this is business as usual.

We must take this attack for what it was – a direct assault on Western values, on a liberal way of life which enshrines, celebrates, and vows to protect joyful self-expression of the kind which, when it animates excited adolescents heading out to their first gig, is gloriously unmatched.

This was, moreover, an attack on girls – many at the age when the extremists would have been demanding they cover themselves from head to foot and take a jihadi for a husband. The fate of women in Britain – and throughout the Western world - is, thankfully, very different. It hardly needs stating that opportunities to study, work, and enjoy life must be protected.

Targeting an Ariana Grande concert was a clear attack on young girls and women - Credit: OLI SCARFF/AFP/Getty Images
Targeting an Ariana Grande concert was a clear attack on young girls and women Credit: OLI SCARFF/AFP/Getty Images

But it does need stating. For in the days to come parents will themselves consider curtailing the freedom of their children. Fathers pressed into taking their daughters to see the latest teeny-bopper sensation may wonder if it isn't best to call the whole thing off. Why take the risk on entertainment? We have to go to work, but concerts for adolescent girls, surely, are optional?

That is a perfectly reasonable point of view, but to be resisted. We may have to adapt, our exceptional security agencies may issue new guidelines, but we do no service to our children if we do not preserve their freedom to dress up, put on a bit of make up stolen from mum's dressing table, head out with friends and scream ecstatically, for two solid hours, at the stage. That was a freedom, after all, that many of their mothers enjoyed in turn.

And that is a message that politics too, must relay. It demonstrates no great respect for victims to allow public life to grind to a halt. In the face of a implacable enemy which wishes to destroy our way of life, we need the firm direction that an elected government provides.

So the general election campaign must resume. Terrorists have attacked the democratic process before; they have attacked places of entertainment before; they have attacked women and girls before. But this is the first time they have struck at all three at the same time. They wish to send a message. By our acts must we demonstrate that we have understood; that we will respond; and that we will not be cowed.

Key articles | Manchester Arena explosion

 

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