Manchester Arena Incident (22/05/2017)

[DarloRich]

It's Op TEMPERER.

quite right. Fat finger & tired brain syndrome. I will leave it unchanged.

 

[AlterEgo]

Thank you. What an odd name. "Temper" a threat?

UK Military operation names have been generated by a random machine since the Cold War. Op TELIC, HERRICK, are two famous examples. They don't mean anything. Prior to the Cold War the operation name was in some way related to the nature of the plan, like Operation Chastise.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

And now she has called out the troops.

Which I am not entirely sure I like the idea of.
It is not as if troops can actually stop suicide bombers in a public place without Iraqi style checkpoints and stop and search all over the place.
At which point - we are effectively living in an armed camp and not a nation state.

I understand why, but it does leave me worrying that there might be another Jean-Charles de Menezes type incident. I will be a little bit more nervous than usual next Monday on my way to Wembley, and not just for football reasons.

In the meantime we should think of the way Manchester opened its arms to those in need last night. In typical Mancunian style, that was a defiant flicking of the bird to the likes of Daesh and their acolytes.

 

[Bletchleyite]

PM Theresa May: UK terror threat level raised from severe to critical, which means further attack may be imminent

Not the sort of thing that the Government will do willy-nilly.

Has it done before?

 

[RichmondCommu]

Not sure if anyone has picked up on this but....

Last weekend my wife's sister went to see Take That at the Manchester Arena. By all accounts the security checks that you would expect simply did not happen.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Not sure if anyone has picked up on this but....

Last weekend my wife's sister went to see Take That at the Manchester Arena. By all accounts the security checks that you would expect simply did not happen.

That's neither here nor there with regard to this attack given where the attack took place (in the foyer, outward of where any such patdowns etc would take place).

I however suspect they will be restarted.

 

[yorkie]

Our thoughts are with those involved and affected by this.

Not sure if anyone has picked up on this but....

Last weekend my wife's sister went to see Take That at the Manchester Arena. By all accounts the security checks that you would expect simply did not happen.

It would have made no difference on this occasion. See this post.

 

[DarloRich]

Has it done before?

this is the third time this level has been reached.

 

[RichmondCommu]

That's neither here nor there with regard to this attack given where the attack took place (in the foyer, outward of where any such patdowns etc would take place).

I however suspect they will be restarted.

However it does suggest that they were not taking the threat of terrorism seriously regardless of where the bomb was detonated.

 

[JaJaWa]

The cause of the bang is yet to be confirmed, and a number of fake 'photos' of the incident showing mass fatalities are being shared on Twitter.

Those photos weren't fake sadly. Not sure why so many on Twitter thought they were.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Those photos weren't fake sadly. Not sure why so many on Twitter thought they were.

Some of them were, some of them were not.

In particular, the most common one being bandied around is apparently from an exercise some time ago (though it is of the Manchester Arena, just not of events yesterday).

 

[LiftFan]

I truly think everyone who carries out an attack or has been found guilty of plotting/linked to an attack should be done for high treason and hung publicly at the tower then have their head stuck on a pike...

 

[JaJaWa]

In particular, the most common one being bandied around is apparently from an exercise some time ago (though it is of the Manchester Arena, just not of events yesterday).

It's not, it matches photos and videos from both sides of those doors last night.

 

[DarloRich]

I truly think everyone who carries out an attack or has been found guilty of plotting/linked to an attack should be done for high treason and hung publicly at the tower then have their head stuck on a pike...

going to be difficult to do that here...............................

 

[ModernRailways]

I understand why, but it does leave me worrying that there might be another Jean-Charles de Menezes type incident. I will be a little bit more nervous than usual next Monday on my way to Wembley, and not just for football reasons.

In a similar boat here. It's Birmingham Pride at the weekend and I'm not sure if I should make the journey there anymore. As much as I'd like to go about my day to day business and carry on as normal I simply can't when that's an event that is likely to be targeted. I have everything booked so I think it will be a last minute decision based on what my friends are doing.

 

[Antman]

In a similar boat here. It's Birmingham Pride at the weekend and I'm not sure if I should make the journey there anymore. As much as I'd like to go about my day to day business and carry on as normal I simply can't when that's an event that is likely to be targeted. I have everything booked so I think it will be a last minute decision based on what my friends are doing.

I will just go about my business normally, I will not be dictated to by evil. I would however think very carefully about where I took children, I just cannot imagine what some parents who took their children to see Ariana Grande are going to have to live with.

More victims have been named and those who have loved ones missing must be waiting for the inevitable.

 

[Groningen]

In Amsterdam they projected the British flag on Amsterdam Centraal trainstation.

Words can not describe how i feel about this attack. Girls aged around 12 years; give me a break!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Words can not describe how i feel about this attack. Girls aged around 12 years; give me a break!

Yeah, the thing that makes this one worse is the deliberate targeting of children. I don't want anyone blown up, but this is several steps worse than if they'd gone for a gig primarily attended by adults.

 

[AlterEgo]

Home Secretary says it seems likely the attacker was not acting on his own.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Home Secretary says it seems likely the attacker was not acting on his own.

Unlikely, you don't build bomb belts in a shed by yourself.

Still, it'll be a cell of a handful of people. And yes, I'm all for sending them straight to Guantanamo, without passing go and without collecting their human rights.

 

[Railops]

In the meantime we should think of the way Manchester opened its arms to those in need last night. In typical Mancunian style, that was a defiant flicking of the bird to the likes of Daesh and their acolytes.

I imagine seeing those candles and hearing a poem at yet another vigil has put the fear of God into ISIS.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

I imagine seeing those candles and hearing a poem at yet another vigil has put the fear of God into ISIS.

If not that, then the hashtags and flags superimposed over Facebook profile pictures will do.

It's the same every time. All we have is 'love conquers hate' (I must have been off school the day we learnt how we hugged Nazis into surrender) and 'this won't change our way of life' (it already has). The cycle of atrocity, vigil, pray, social media wibble continues ad infinitum. We've done it for god only knows how many Western cities over the past three years and nothing ever changes. We shouldn't be 'stiff upper lip, let's be British and carry on', we should be outraged that eight year old kids are being blown to smithereens at concerts and that unless all of the above changes, it will happen again and again in different cities, at different events and to different people.

 

[Antman]

I imagine seeing those candles and hearing a poem at yet another vigil has put the fear of God into ISIS.

But that wasn't the purpose of the vigil as I'm sure you are aware.

 

[Antman]

If not that, then the hashtags and flags superimposed over Facebook profile pictures will do.

It's the same every time. All we have is 'love conquers hate' (I must have been off school the day we learnt how we hugged Nazis into surrender) and 'this won't change our way of life' (it already has). The cycle of atrocity, vigil, pray, social media wibble continues ad infinitum. We've done it for god only knows how many Western cities over the past three years and nothing ever changes. We shouldn't be 'stiff upper lip, let's be British and carry on', we should be outraged that eight year old kids are being blown to smithereens at concerts and that unless all of the above changes, it will happen again and again in different cities, at different events and to different people.

You're absolutely right of course, the question is what should we be doing about it?

 

[Darandio]

You're absolutely right of course, the question is what should we be doing about it?

I think that ship has sailed now, we're way past being able to do anything about it even if we could have in the first place.

It's an awful thing to have to say, but we are going to have to live with it.

 

[Railops]

But that wasn't the purpose of the vigil as I'm sure you are aware.

I thought the purpose was to "send a message to terrorists" what do you think the point of it was ?

 

[EM2]

If not that, then the hashtags and flags superimposed over Facebook profile pictures will do.

It's the same every time. All we have is 'love conquers hate' (I must have been off school the day we learnt how we hugged Nazis into surrender) and 'this won't change our way of life' (it already has). The cycle of atrocity, vigil, pray, social media wibble continues ad infinitum. We've done it for god only knows how many Western cities over the past three years and nothing ever changes. We shouldn't be 'stiff upper lip, let's be British and carry on', we should be outraged that eight year old kids are being blown to smithereens at concerts and that unless all of the above changes, it will happen again and again in different cities, at different events and to different people.

It is entirely possible to be absolutely furious at what has happened, and still show solidarity and compassion.

 

[EM2]

I thought the purpose was to "send a message to terrorists" what do you think the point of it was ?

Remembrance for those that were killed and injured.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

You're absolutely right of course, the question is what should we be doing about it?

I don't disagree with what Arctic Troll said before, but of society more generally we just need to lose the combination of timidness and inevitability that these occurrences are met with. Forget that 'carry on because we're British', it's got us nowhere.

 

[Tetchytyke]

We shouldn't be 'stiff upper lip, let's be British and carry on', we should be outraged that eight year old kids are being blown to smithereens at concerts and that unless all of the above changes, it will happen again and again in different cities, at different events and to different people.

No, we mourn our losses first. Vigils are about mourning.

I don't think any of us are not outraged at what happened. Nobody with a heart could fail to be outraged. But, beyond that, I'm not sure what your point is. What can any of us do other than carry on doing what we do in our day to day lives?

The problem with suicide bombers, of course, is that the guy what done it was also blown to smithereens.