As I’m sure is the case with many of you, I’ve been giving serious thought to how best to Stand Up To Terrorism, Show The Terrorists They Cannot Win and Maintain Our Values. The Belgian Prime Minister said we should all be doing this, followed in short order by every other European politician apart from Marine Le Pen, who has a different take on the whole thing. Again no doubt in common with everyone else, I’ve been brooding over the German Chancellor’s observation that ‘our strength is in our unity and that is how free societies will prove themselves stronger than terrorism’. Well, apart from colouring in my homemade ‘Je Suis Bruxelloise’ sign – which, tbh, I didn’t quite feel so good about as my previous ‘Je Suis Parisienne’ one – I have been at a bit of a loss about how you do show you’re united. I mean, we’re not going to go around bawling abuse at Muslims, are we?
So how do you show the terrorists they can’t win then? Plainly if you stay at home and don’t go anywhere, it shows that they’ve struck at our very way of life, values etc. But frankly, it’s hardly an option. I’ll be going to a crowded railway station today – Paddington – and the only thing stopping my husband going to Heathrow is the Tube strike. You could make out that this is an act of defiance; in fact it’s because otherwise we’re not going anywhere this Easter. Lots of people seem to be staying away from the Brussels Metro, but I’ll be travelling by Tube…that’ll show em. Actually, it won’t. You can’t not travel by Tube in London unless, as I say, the Tube unions have other plans.
Where terrorism really would change our way of life would be if we had to be frisked going into airports. It’s bad enough having to take off your shoes and have your marmalade nicked by security when you’re actually a passenger. If you have to get patted down just going into Departures, it’ll be hell. I remember when it first dawned on me that the IRA had in fact won the great struggle against the British state, and that was when I had to spend a good 15 minutes at a Tory party conference waiting to put my handbag through a scanner along with a lot of Tory ladies. It was really annoying and really inconvenient, and a very real alteration to Our Way of Life.
And what about standing up to terrorism in the choice of holiday destination? I mean, money allowing; frankly I can only afford to visit my mother right now. And obviously if it were just me, I’d go anywhere. But would I take my children to Istanbul this weekend? Possibly not. To Egypt? Yes; there I trust the repressive Egyptian government to take a robust approach to would-be terrorists – police gunned down a homicidal Islamist at Karnak recently. Brussels? Well, I’d probably boycott Brussels on the basis of its revolting euthanasia laws, but apart from that, I suppose so. And if I did go, I’m not sure how it would be possible to follow the weaselly Foreign Office advice to avoid crowded areas. As for Paris, I’d have been over like a shot to show solidarity with its restaurants and shops after the Bataclan attacks if I hadn’t been broke; the children were very keen too.
Ah, but what about crowded shopping malls, which are an obvious target for terrorists. Reader, I’m sorry, but here I must put up the white flag. There is no power on earth that would make me visit Westfield.
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