ES Views: Britain will stay strong after this act of cowardice

My heart sank as I awoke yesterday morning to the horrific news of the terrorist attack on innocent children at Manchester Arena. I thought of the grieving parents who had only wanted to fulfil the wishes of their young children to attend a concert.

As I turned to social media my heart filled with admiration as I encountered shining examples of solidarity from all walks of life. While our hearts weep for the victims, the resounding voices of support and resilience in the face of horror are certainly needed in this time of sadness and fear.

Home owners, taxi drivers, restaurant owners, doctors, nurses, paramedics and more in the city came together in a show of solidarity that defied such cowardly provocation. All ages, faiths and ethnicities condemn this barbarity.

My hope is that as the details of this atrocity and its perpetrator surface the nation and its people will continue to show our true greatness.

We may disagree on politics and the north-south divide. But when we come together as Great Britain, we are still a force to be reckoned.
​Maleeha Mansur

It is bad enough to wake up to the news of the death of 22 people in Manchester and many more injured through a barbaric and cowardly terrorist attack. However, it was made worse when I heard Katie Hopkins on Twitter making an apparent reference to the Holocaust in response to the attack.

If LBC radio has any self-respect as a media organisation, it should reprimand Hopkins for her comments.
Chris Key

After Monday night’s atrocity there should be grief for the dead, commiseration with parents who have suffered the loss of their children through this act of terror, and solidarity with the people of Manchester.

There should also be support for any innocent people who may be held responsible by association with the twisted minds who use bombs to advance an agenda of hate.
​Sasha Simic

Ariana was right to postpone concerts

My little sister and I were meant to attend Ariana Grande’s concert at the O2 Arena on Friday before it was postponed following the Manchester Arena bombing. She has dreamt about seeing Ariana for years so she is very upset.

I only want my sister to have the best time and I think Ariana has shown respect by suspending all concerts on her world tour out of respect for the families of the bereaved. Feelings are still very raw and the dates can be rescheduled.

Many parents would have taken their children to their first concert on Monday night, singing the songs they love in the car, and people from all walks of life would have come together to share memories. It is so tragic that many won’t be coming back.

I wasn’t there in Manchester and probably shouldn’t be this upset. But how can you go to concerts in the future with the knowledge that even when you are in your happiest place, you are not safe?
Katy Harding

Security has never been more tested

A second terrorist incident just two months after the attack in Westminster brings questions of public safety, intelligence gathering and suitable response to the fore.

Co-operation between government agencies, police and private security teams is paramount in identifying threats and developing strategies to interrupt and mitigate the danger they present.
Stuart Nash

Are courts being tough enough?

Reports in your newspaper on Monday highlighted that a social worker stole £21,500, a school worker was caught with 30 bags of cocaine and a tutor stole £25,000 from a charity. All three admitted their offences yet all three received suspended sentences. This is before you get round to reading about more deaths as a result of knife crime.

What are our judges and magistrates doing? We might not have enough prison places but offenders will keep committing more and more serious crimes until eventually the courts are left with no option but to incarcerate. Far better to jail criminals earlier and let the deterrent have its effect.
David Barratt

Crossrail 2 cost is a cause for concern

Theresa May is right to remain cool over Crossrail 2, given that cost estimates have shot up to more than £30 billion [“Give Crossrail 2 your backing, rail bosses urge Conservatives”, May 22]. Considering Network Rail’s lamentable record on project management and cost control, I fear this may increase even further by the completion date.

What will we get for all that money? While Crossrail 2 will connect to HS2 and Eurostar, as well as the Elizabeth line at Tottenham Court Road, these interchanges should be made at Acton and Stratford, outside Zone 1. It also doesn’t address the lack of fast public transport from south London.

Perhaps the money should be invested outside London for a change.
Stephen Spark

Mrs May is not so strong and stable

Your editorial [“U-turn on social care is neither strong nor stable”, Comment, May 22] was spot on.

Given that within less than a year Theresa May has moved from being a Remain campaigner to a hard Brexiteer and called a snap election after publicly ruling out such a move, one might suggest that a better description of her leadership is “weak and wobbly”.
Paul Hunt

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TfL's roads policies increase pollution

I see that Transport for London is overseeing another wheeze which will compress traffic into an ever-decreasing area, with the inevitable result that pollution is bound to increase.

Its latest initiative is to change the bus lane on Lambeth Palace Road in to one that operates 24 hours-a-day. This might seem a minor alteration on its own but combined with similar changes all over London it is part of the wider farce which is TfL’s approach to managing its roads.

TfL has an underlying hardline anti-car ideology and displays a wilful failure to adopt a systemic approach. The often dormant roadworks that pepper London’s roads and the bungled redesign of crucial major junctions, for example in Lewisham and at Elephant and Castle, have created an average speed around town now for vehicles of about 4mph.

If the steep rise in the pollution which all of this creates was simply down to incompetence that would be just about bearable. However, it is clear that TfL’s policy is to deter reasonable and often essential road usage, rather than sensibly facilitate it so that delays and pollution are minimised at all times.
Jeremy Walker

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Loyal Terry's exit was just a reward

John Terry’s final appearance for Chelsea after 22 years at the club was always likely to draw attention. During Sunday’s 5-1 win over Sunderland he left the field after 26 minutes in a staged substitution that has been criticised by many pundits.

It was fitting that Terry should leave on his own terms. We often bemoan the lack of loyalty shown by players but Terry — like Man Utd’s Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs before him — is the epitome of the one-club man.

Terry is not the perfect role model but his service to Chelsea, and indeed the Premier League as one of its best ever defenders, means it was right to let him bow out the way he did.
Michael King

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