A Big Thanks

[Ali]

It's not my place to speak for others here - although I'm sure I do. 
It's been fantastic to see all the good wishes and out pourings of 
solidarity today.

Like many Londoners (I'm now living in exile), I lived through the 
IRA bombings and the fear that engendered - the bombs, the bomb 
scares and the evacuations. Like many of you there is almost nothing 
I hold dearer than my belief in certain fundamental freedoms. The 
terrorists have killed and maimed today. They have frightened 
people, but they haven't cowed us.

What has been most apparent here is the stoicism: it was always 
going to happen. It was just a question of when, and how bad. Now it 
has happened. For the people who have been affected, my heart is 
with them. I'm still waiting to hear from a couple of friends who 
work in that area and it's painful. But, whatever has happened, we 
will move on. In the words of a certain professor "We are only as 
strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided....Differences of 
habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and 
our hearts are open". 

The strength and unity today has felt amazing.

Ali