On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the London bombings which killed 52 people, Britain needs a time of close introspection. The anniversary remembered for having come against the backdrop of the slaughter of innocent British tourists by a Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) terrorist at a holiday resort in Tunisia. The narrative has changed, since the London bombings were the handiwork of home-grown Al Qaida recruits. But the effects on society are the same: they left a nation numb with shock, grief and a sense of bewilderment that British society, which propagated inclusivity across a broad fabric, could have glaring fissures.
Sadly, these fractures exist. The news of disaffected middle class British youth signing up to promote, fight and kill for the warped ideologies of Daesh in the Middle East is a glaring case in point. The terror attack in 2005 left Britain with unanswered questions. It forced the country to think more about its policies, both. The country’s lawmakers and common people must subject themselves to more stringent examination today and not wish away a problem which, if left unchecked, will spiral out of proportion and, as evidence suggests, eventually come back to haunt them at home. The British government needs to formulate guidelines that bear clarity and are robust. They must continue to be inclusive in the application of such legislation from the grassroots given the country’s diverse population. Terrorism cannot be won by military action alone, or a foreign policy which is viewed as self-serving. Sound and sensitive governance is a key component that will be linked to the current administration’s actions. They must learn from the failures of their predecessors or risk sacrificing the future of the youth who can be brainwashed by just a click of a button online.
