The Lion Challenged

TWO minor items, hiding in the massive media coverage of the London bombings, illustrate the vast problems of social psychology facing the British. One is the report that the former home secretary (Britain’s version of a homeland-security czar), David Blunkett, has left a wreath in memory of the bomb victims lamenting that he had not been able to do more to ensure their security. The other is a story-headlined “‘Guardian’ man revealed as Hardline Islamist”-about a trainee reporter hired under an ethnic-minority program who turned out to be a member of an Islamist group, Hizb ut-Tahrir, that advocates an Islamic world government. In a culture where mawkish self-regard and sentimentality meet religious fanaticism and terrorism-Osama bin Laden hits the Me Decade!-doubt must arise that any firm, sensible response to the Islamist bombers will be possible.

Some modest hope can be drawn from the fact that voices are being raised to question the official sponsorship of Grief and Sensitivity as the best answer to the bombers. London has been getting in touch with its emotions ever since the explosions. There was a national moment of silence and a vigil in Trafalgar Square. Bouquets and wreaths, like that from Blunkett, are piling up. And Londoners have been comparing themselves, understandably but perhaps a trifle complacently, to their forefathers who survived the Blitz. Like them, goes the refrain, we carry on with our lives, showing true British grit.

About the Author

John O’Sullivan

John O’Sullivan is a senior fellow at National Review Institute and a contributing editor of National Review.

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TWO minor items, hiding in the massive media coverage of the London bombings, illustrate the vast problems of social psychology facing the British. One is the report that the former home secretary (Britain’s version of a homeland-security czar), David Blunkett, has left a wreath in memory of the bomb victims lamenting that he had not been able to do more to ensure their security. The other is a story-headlined “‘Guardian’ man revealed as Hardline Islamist”-about a trainee reporter hired under an ethnic-minority program who turned out to be a member of an Islamist group, Hizb ut-Tahrir, that advocates an Islamic world government. In a culture where mawkish self-regard and sentimentality meet religious fanaticism and terrorism-Osama bin Laden hits the Me Decade!-doubt must arise that any firm, sensible response to the Islamist bombers will be possible.

Some modest hope can be drawn from the fact that voices are being raised to question the official sponsorship of Grief and Sensitivity as the best answer to the bombers. London has been getting in touch with its emotions ever since the explosions. There was a national moment of silence and a vigil in Trafalgar Square. Bouquets and wreaths, like that from Blunkett, are piling up. And Londoners have been comparing themselves, understandably but perhaps a trifle complacently, to their forefathers who survived the Blitz. Like them, goes the refrain, we carry on with our lives, showing true British grit.