Listening To: WWIII : KMFDM

Allright kids, how fŨcked are the times we’re living, eh ? I’m referring of course to last Thursdays London bombings. It doesn’t matter which school of thought you follow – the rational conclusion of genuine terrorist bombings, or the conspiracy theory hypothesis of ‘NWO tightening their global chokehold’ / ‘keeping the masses in fear’. Regardless of who is actually responsible, it’s a frigthening catastrophe and my sincerest sympathies go out to the victims and their families. I’ve always maintained that the September 11 WTC attacks, whilst also tragic and lamentable, at least had some measure of twisted logic / inevitability from the point of view of US foreign policy. Further, I’ve always viewed the September 11 attack on the Pentagon as a separate and distinct issue, which on its own could be viewed as a ‘legitimate’ military attack given the nature of the target (which nonetheless was ‘tainted’ by the use of a plane-load of innocent airline passengers to carry out the actual strike on target).

The subsequent Bali bombings, and now the recent London attacks, are an entirely different kettle of fish however. There can be absolutely NO logic and NO justification for such cowardly and barbaric attacks on entirely innocent citizens of countries which are simply allies of the United States, with little to no actual influence on the foreign policy of ‘The Worlds Self-Appointed Sherriff’ ! Further adding insult to tremendous injury, in the case of both the UK and Australia, the majority of citizens in these countries don’t even agree with the policy stance our governments have taken with regards to issues such as Iraq & Afghanistan – precisely the issue the terrorist attacks are ostensibly ‘about’.

One of my best mates has been living in London for about two years now, give or take, so the recent bombings took on a particularly personal edge for me as I found myself deeply worried about his welfare. Turns out the double decker bus on which one of the devices went off exploded about 100 metres up the road from his office. Very, very close call indeed (thank the deities for that one !). I know of several other people from highschool who may also be living London, and I made a fair few English mates when I was on exchange in Sweden also. Conceivably then, a fair few people who have been in my life at one time or another may have been directly effected by this tradgedy, and this thought really scares & sickens me.

From my late teens, and throughout most of my twenties, it was always my dream to work and live in London town at some point. I love Soho, I love Picaddilly Circus, I’ve been to Gossips & Slimelight & The Hippodrome, and dodgy Australian pubs and even dodgier ‘underground’ trance-nights in some shitty industrial park on Londons outskirts. I’ve bought curries from Bethnal Green, leather pants from gay-shops in Soho, I’ve had to walk halfway across town at 3am during taxi ‘changeover’ hour. I love the Beeb, The Streets, The Bill, Guy Ritchie & (sometimes) even Eastenders … in fact, I love just about everything about England, and especially London ! Circumstance alas, is a strange beast, and I never ended up doing “the London thing” unlike so many others I know.

With my EU passport however, it nevertheless remained a perrenial possibility. True – my first priority these days is the lovely IG, so if I ever do go in the end, it most certainly won’t be without her. Unfortunately, last weeks bombings have taken some of the shine off the idea. Not all the shine of course – a decade of wanting something doesn’t disappear overnight, regardless of how dangerous that desire has suddenly become. Certainly however, there are many more factors to weigh up now (i.e. the potential risk to ones life and limb) if I ever made the decision to follow through on this particular dream. As I said at the start of this rant “how fŨcked are the times we’re living, eh ?”

Once again – my sympathies to all the victims, their families, and everyone else effected by this tradgey. Will light a candle for you.