Five years ago today

Five years ago today four suicide bombers took the lives of 52 people in London. They may believed it was some sort of blow a blow for justice against the evils, real or perceived, committed by Britain against fellow Muslims but it was murder, simply murder. The bombers made no attempt to strike against the machinery of state. They chose instead to destroy the lives of ordinary Londoners.

As Mayor Ken Livingstone put it:

“ This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty and the powerful. It was not aimed at Presidents or Prime Ministers. It was aimed at ordinary, working-class Londoners, black and white, Muslim and Christian, Hindu and Jew, young and old. It was an indiscriminate attempt to slaughter, irrespective of any considerations for age, for class, for religion, or whatever.

That isn’t an ideology, it isn’t even a perverted faith - it is just an indiscriminate attempt at mass murder and we know what the objective is. They seek to divide Londoners. They seek to turn Londoners against each other Londoners will not be divided by this cowardly attack. They will stand together in solidarity alongside those who have been injured and those who have been bereaved.”

Ken Livingstone’s analysis was utterly correct. It was an evil act committed by deluded people. Nothing can justify what the bombers did. And they failed. Their sick and cowardly act has not cowed Londoners. It re,aims a rich and vibrant city and not a place of fear as the bombers hoped.

The BBC still maintains a list of the dead along with brief biographies. Here is just one of them:


Gladys Wundowa

The death of Gladys Wundowa, 50, prompted a visit from the president of her native Ghana at her family home in Chadwell Heath, Essex. The mother-of-two died from injuries sustained on the number 30 bus in Tavistock Square. President John Kufuor, on his way back to Ghana from an official visit to Jamaica, shared his condolences with her husband, Emmanuel, their 16-year-old daughter Azuma, son Zakari, 14, and other relatives and friends.

On 7 July, Mrs Wundowa, who had lived in London for 18 years, finished her cleaning job in the department of civil and environmental engineering at University College London at 0900 BST and was heading towards Hackney on the bus, for a meeting to do with her housing management course.

Her husband, an architect who was working as a security guard, watched the news on television and became concerned when his wife failed to arrive home. After three days of searching, the family received confirmation that she was dead. One year on, Mr Wundowa said the sense of loss was greater than ever. The couple had made plans to move back to Ghana and live in a house they were in the process of building. "She never had a problem with anyone. She would give her last dime to make you comfortable. And cheerful, always smiling." Mrs Wundowa also volunteered at a charity which helped African immigrants to settle in London, and she was heavily involved in Downs Baptist Church in Hackney. She was buried in her home village in Ghana, where 2,000 mourners attended her funeral.

I defy anyone to tell me that Mrs Wundowa's death aided the cause of the radical islamists one iota.

7/7 Memorial unveiled

Four years ago today four suicide bombers took the lives of 52 people in London. They may have believed that it was some sort of blow a blow for justice against the evils, real or perceived, committed by Britain against fellow Muslims but it was murder, simply murder. The bombers made no attempt to strike against the machinery of state. They chose instead to destroy the lives of ordinary Londoners.

While I was never that keen on Ken Livingstone I think his words after the sickening event struck a chord with many people:

“I want to say one thing specifically to the world today. This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty and the powerful. It was not aimed at Presidents or Prime Ministers. It was aimed at ordinary, working-class Londoners, black and white, Muslim and Christian, Hindu and Jew, young and old. It was an indiscriminate attempt to slaughter, irrespective of any considerations for age, for class, for religion, or whatever.

That isn’t an ideology, it isn’t even a perverted faith - it is just an indiscriminate attempt at mass murder and we know what the objective is. They seek to divide Londoners. They seek to turn Londoners against each other Londoners will not be divided by this cowardly attack. They will stand together in solidarity alongside those who have been injured and those who have been bereaved.”

It was a vile and sickening act. Almost as bad in my view were those that saw the attack as some form of justice.

Today Prince Charles dedicated a memorial in Hyde Park to the 52 people killed exactly four years ago, victims of the 7/7 bus and underground bombs.

"The families of the victims, the survivors and the stout hearted emergency services remain very much in our thoughts and prayers.” He said "You are a moving example of holding together bravery in the face of such inhuman and deplorable outrage and you offer us hope for the future,"

The memorial, which consists of 52 steel pillars, each 3.5m tall (11.5 feet) and is located between park's Lover's Walk and Park Lane

Tessa, Jowell, Minister for London, said that each column represented "a unique person and a unique grief. Each one casts a shadow just as they do - each one standing tall and proud just as they did, and each one will in an individual way absorb and reflect light just as they did."

Architects Carmody Groarke said that stainless steel pillars symbolised the random nature of the loss of life - how it could have been anyone travelling in London that day. Director Kevin Carmody said the firm worked closely with the families through monthly liaison meetings to ensure the finished product was what they required."It took a long time to get to the strong ideas like symbolising the single and collective loss of life," he said.

26 of the stelae were grouped to represent those killed on the Underground near King's Cross.Other clusters represented Tube bombing victims at Aldgate and Edgware Road, with the remainder symbolic of those who died on the number 30 bus in Tavistock Square.

"Hopefully people will have an almost magnetic propulsion towards it," said Mr Carmody. He said it could be viewed from afar as a single entity but that as they moved closer, people would discover the significance of the four groupings and individual columns. Though the stelae are anonymous, they are inscribed with the date, time and location of the bombings they represent.

A representative of the bereaved families' group said: "The memorial is a fitting tribute, honouring the 52 lives lost on 7 July 2005, ensuring that the world will never forget them. It represents the enormity of our loss, both on a personal and public level. We hope this memorial will speak to visitors so they can understand the impact of these horrific events."

Saba Mozakka, 28, from Finchley, north London, was one of six family members to sit on a liaison board during the memorial's design. Her mother, Behnaz Mozakka, 47, a biomedical officer, was killed on a Piccadilly line train near King's Cross station while commuting to work.

Ms Mozakka described the memorial as "truly incredible". "I'm very happy. It's very poignant," she said. "It's an amazing tribute to my mum and the 51 others who were so viciously and brutally taken from us."

Grahame Russell, whose 28-year-old son Philip died in the Tavistock Square bus bombing, said the ceremony had been "extremely moving, extremely poignant. The speakers were outstanding. You could see by their faces and the way they spoke that they understood the way we feel."

In addition the prime minister, London Mayor Boris Johnson, Conservative leader David Cameron, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, former London Mayor Ken Livingstone and senior figures from the emergency services were present.

I will have to pay a visit to the memorial shortly. 7 July 2005 was an awful day. I arrived in the City around the time of the bombing and spent several hours hemmed in unable to get out again. On that day I never felt more useless or superfluous in my life.

Forty years for some, a lingering death for another

Muktar Ibrahim, Yassin Omar, Ramzi Mohammed and Hussain Osman who were convicted of the 21 July bomb plot have been jailed for life, with a minimum tariff of 40 years each. Mr Justice Fulford described their plot as a "viable attempt at mass murder”.

In reference to the 7/7bombings he said "The family and friends of the dead and the injured, the hundreds, indeed thousands, captured underground in terrifying circumstances - the smoke, the screams of the wounded and the dying - this each defendant knew. After 7/7 each defendant knew exactly what the result would be. If the detonators had been slightly more powerful or the hydrogen peroxide slightly more concentrated, then each bomb would have exploded."

I hope their sentence passes as quickly and as pleasantly as an ice age.

Meanwhile the would-be Glasgow airport bomber Kafeel Ahmed is unlikely to survive his injuries. One of the medical team treating him has described his condition as "beyond repair". Speaking anonymously the doctor said: "The prognosis is not good and he is not likely to survive. He has third-degree burns over most of his torso and limbs. It is beyond repair and because he has lost so much skin, he is now vulnerable to infection and won't be able to fight it."

I am sorry to hear this as I would have preferred his condition to be treatable so he can stand trial and be sent to prison for a very long time too.

Guilty - now rot in jail for the rest of your lives

It comes as no huge surprise that the four men responsible for the attempted transport bombings on 21 July 2005 have been found guilty. Muktar Said Ibrahim, Yassin Omar, Ramzi Mohammed (left) and Hussain Osman were convicted at Woolwich Crown Court of conspiracy to murder. It is likely that they will all receive life sentences.

The men had tried to detonate rucksacks laden with explosives on the Tube and a bus but their bombs failed to go off. It would seem that the bombers miscalculated the ration of ingredients thus sparing London form considerable loss of life

The defendants claimed that the bombs were fakes, and their actions had been intended as a protest against the war in Iraq. The jury disagreed and found the four men unanimously found them guilty. Jurors are to continue deliberations on two other defendants, Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, 34, and Adel Yahya, 24 tomorrow

The conspirators had stocked up on large quantities of hydrogen peroxide from hairdressing suppliers Yassin Omar's flat had been turned into a bomb factory. The bombs were made of chapati flour and hydrogen peroxide. Nigel Sweeney QC, prosecutor said "The failure of those bombs to explode owed nothing to the intention of these defendants, rather it was simply the good fortune of the travelling public that day that they were spared."

It was a mercy that they got their mixes wrong or London would certainly have seen a second carnage two weeks on from 7/7. The four had been immersed in the evil hatred of brutal demagogues like Abu Hamza. Two of the four are believed to have undertaken jihadi training in Pakistan. Even though they did not succeed, much to the chagrin I’m sure of numerous apologists (a spiteful ersatz Mexican who hates everything american bar his pension springs to mind). I wish the four scumbags long, miserable lives rotting in jail for the rest of their lives.

Two years on

Two years ago today four suicide bombers took the lives of 52 people in London. The second anniversary of this evil act was marked with a low key ceremony at the memorial garden by Kings Cross station. The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Mayor Ken Livingstone and Olympics and London Minister Tessa Jowell.

I have no great love for Livingstone but his words on that day two years ago sum up my feelings : “This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty and the powerful. It was not aimed at Presidents or Prime Ministers. It was aimed at ordinary, working-class Londoners, black and white, Muslim and Christian, Hindu and Jew, young and old. It was an indiscriminate attempt to slaughter, irrespective of any considerations for age, for class, for religion, or whatever.... That isn’t an ideology, it isn’t even a perverted faith - it is just an indiscriminate attempt at mass murder and we know what the objective is. They seek to divide Londoners. They seek to turn Londoners against each other Londoners will not be divided by this cowardly attack.”

Today by contrast London will be alive: This afternoon there is the Live Earth Concert at Wembley Stadium, there is still British interest (albeit in the mixed doubles) on the last Saturday of Wimbledon and, perhaps of greatest interest to me, the prologue of the Tour de France through the heart of the city . Security will be particularly tight, especially after last week’s failed car bombings.

It is also an utter disgrace that about a quarter of victims has not yet been fully resolved after two years: For example, Thelma Stober who lost a leg in the Aldgate bomb has received £33,000 (the maximum value for the loss of a limb below the knee)- but is still trying to get compensation for the rest of her injuries. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority said the outstanding claims were the most serious ones, involving complicated calculations of loss of earnings and estimates for future care. If it takes that long then it would seem that a root and branch overhaul of the compensation system is urgently needed.

Finally for those who believe that the bombings represented some form of justice I hope you choke on your perverted ideologies. You are vermin. You know who you are.