Falkland Islanders to hold referendum over sovereignty

[MikeH]

Don't be ridiculous, he never grew up.

[Sava]

[MikeH]

(I see that as a compliment.)

[MOBIUS]

Mobius grew up in the early 40s?

Ha ha, very funny!

All these occurred whilst I was living in London:

27 March 1976: A bomb placed by the Provisional IRA exploded in a litter bin at the top of an escalator in a crowded exhibition hall, Earl's Court. 20,000 people were attending the Daily Mail (Everyone hates the Daily Mail!) Ideal Home Exhibition at the time. 70 were injured, 4 people lost limbs.

30 March 1979, Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Airey Neave was killed as he left the House of Commons car park by a car bomb planted by the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) in 1979.

10 October 1981: a bomb blast on Ebury Bridge Road next to Chelsea Barracks kills two people and injures 39.

26 October 1981: a bomb planted by the IRA in a Wimpy Bar on Oxford Street kills Kenneth Howorth, the Metropolitan Police explosives officer who is attempting to defuse it.

20 July 1982: Two bombs in Hyde Park and Regent's Park, London by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) kill 11 members of the Household Cavalry and the Royal Green Jackets. Seven horses are also killed. (Vividly remembered this one because they killed the horses! )

17 December 1983: Harrods was bombed by the IRA. Six people were killed (including three police officers) and 90 wounded during Christmas shopping at the West London department store. (See Harrods bombing)

16 May 1990: Wembley IRA detonate a bomb underneath a minibus killing Sgt Charles Chapman (The Queen's Regiment) and injuring another soldier. No one was ever convicted of Sgt Chapman's murder.

20 July 1990: London Stock Exchange, the IRA detonated a large bomb at the London Stock Exchange causing massive damage.

7 February 1991: Mortar attack on 10 Downing Street

18 February 1991: A bomb explodes in Paddington Station, damaging the building's roof but causing no casualties. Three hours later another bomb explodes at Victoria Station. One man is killed and 38 people injured.

10 January 1992: Small device exploded. No injuries, Whitehall Place, London SW1.

28 February 1992: A bomb explodes at London Bridge station injuring 29 people.

10 April 1992: Baltic Exchange bombing: A large bomb explodes outside 30 St Mary Axe in the City of London. The bomb was contained in a large white truck and consisted of a fertiliser device wrapped with a detonation cord made from Semtex. It killed three people: Paul Butt, aged 29, Baltic Exchange employee Thomas Casey, aged 49, and 15-year old Danielle Carter. Several people were critically or severely injured. The bomb also caused damage to surrounding buildings (many of which were further damaged by a second bomb the following year). The bomb caused £800 million worth of damage—£200 million more than the total damage costs resulting from all 10,000 previous explosions that had occurred relating to the Troubles in Northern Ireland. A new skyscraper (The Gherkin )was built on the site of the previous historic building.

11 April 1992: A large bomb explodes underneath the A406 flyover at Staples Corner, causing serious damage to roads and nearby buildings including a B&Q DIY store and causing the closure of the junction. The blast was large enough to be felt many miles away.

12 October 1992: A device exploded in the gentlemen's toilet of the Sussex Arms public house in Covent Garden, killing one person and injuring four others.

16 November 1992: the IRA planted a bomb at Canary Wharf in the Docklands. The device was spotted by security guards and was deactivated safely.

17 December 1992: A bomb hidden in a litter bin in a third-floor men's lavatory of the John Lewis department store, Oxford Street, London, was detonated by the IRA just after 11 am. A second bomb exploded 15 minutes later at the rear of the store, in Cavendish Square, while shoppers and staff were still being evacuated. Four people were injured.

28 January 1993: a bomb exploded in a litter bin outside Harrods, injuring four people.

27 February 1993: a bomb exploded in a litter bin outside a McDonalds restaurant in Camden Town, injuring several people.

24 April: 1993 Bishopsgate bombing: the IRA detonated a huge truck bomb in the City of London at Bishopsgate, It killed journalist Ed Henty, injured over 40 people, and causing approximately £1 billion worth of damage,[23] including the near destruction of St Ethelburga's Bishopsgate church, and serious damage to Liverpool Street station. Police had received a coded warning, but were still evacuating the area at the time of the explosion. The insurance payments required were so large that Lloyd's of London almost went bankrupt under the strain, and there was a crisis in the London insurance market. The area had already suffered damage from the Baltic Exchange bombing the year before.

October 1993: Over eight days, a series of IRA bombs were left in various London locations. On 1 October, four bombs were left on Finchley Road, three of which exploded, causing damage to buildings and several injuries caused by falling glass. On 4 October, pairs of bombs were left in Highgate (where one failed to explode), Hornsey, and Archway, causing significant damage but no injuries. On 8 October, bombs exploded in Staples Corner and West Hampstead, again causing damage but no injuries.

March 1994: Heathrow Airport, The IRA launched a series of mortar attacks on the airport, partially paralysing the capital's main air route.

9 February: 1996 Docklands bombing: the IRA bombed the South Quay area of London, killing two people. (This one the shockwave buffeted the windows of the office I was working in! )

15 February 1996: A 5-pound (2.3 kg) bomb placed in a telephone box is disarmed by Police on the Charing Cross Road.

18 February 1996: An IRA bomb detonates prematurely on a bus travelling along Aldwych in central London, killing Edward O'Brien, the IRA terrorist transporting the device and injuring eight others.

29 April 1997: Britain's transport industry claimed minimum losses of £30 million after a series of IRA bomb alerts in southern England brought traffic to a standstill. In the London area, the Heathrow airport and the M25 motorway were closed.[25]

Real IRA attacks after the Belfast Agreement

1 June 2000: A bomb exploded on Hammersmith Bridge at 4.30 am.

September 2000, The Real IRA, a group which had split from the Provisional IRA, launch an RPG-22 at the MI6 building in central London, causing damage.

4 March 2001 BBC bombing: At around 00:30 GMT, the Real IRA detonated a car bomb outside the BBC's main news centre in the Shepherd's Bush area of west London.

6 May 2001: A bomb exploded at a Royal Mail sorting office in Colindale, London at 01.53 GMT, injuring one person. This bomb came just three weeks after an almost identical blast at the same office.[26]

3 August 2001 Ealing bombing: The Real IRA detonated a car bomb in Ealing Broadway, West London, injuring seven.


Actually, that's loads more than I remember happening myself!!! I only thought it was about a dozen or so attacks - though I was out of the country between '92 and '95 because of a tip off...

Which just goes to show how meh your average Londoner felt about the bombings...

Not to mention countless hoaxes, bomb scares etc - I remember being evacuated from an area in Soho once because of a bomb scare.

[MOBIUS]

Don't be ridiculous, he never grew up.

And I don't intend to start now!

[Dauphin]

I didn't move to London until late 1997, so mostly before my time...

[Sava]

I'm still amazed that this supposedly civilized country couldn't handle **** in it's own backyard... in my lifetime.

[MikeH]

Clear demonstration of how difficult it is to deal with embedded terrorist elements in civilian populations if you are also trying to not hurt civilians.

[kentonio]

I'm still amazed that this supposedly civilized country couldn't handle **** in it's own backyard... in my lifetime.

You just wait until those rednecks start their campaign of terror for a free white state, then you'll see how difficult it is to prevent.

[MichaeltheGreat]

We'll welcome them all to leave.

It's also pretty easy to spot them among the civilian populace - just make 'em open their mouths, and the five teeth and wad of Red Man chaw will give 'em away every time.

[Sava]

You just wait until those rednecks start their campaign of terror for a free white state, then you'll see how difficult it is to prevent.

I'm not sure it hasn't already begun. This whole gun thing is pretty freaky. It could spiral into into a real mess... a Waco Texas incident every other week.

Some prison official in Colorado was shot to death. I haven't read the latest details. That may have been an assassination considering the timing was so close to the signing of a new gun law in state.

Gun people are psychos. Just like there's no safe cigarette, there is no such thing as a responsible gun owner. Responsible people don't possess firearms.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Actually, millions of them do. They just don't do anything to make the news.

[Sava]

millions of them do.

Which directly correlates to high rates of gun violence and murders.

Freedom

[MichaeltheGreat]

No, the tiny minority of idiots correlates to high rates of gun violence and murders, just like the tiny minority of idiots who drive drunk or grossly unsafely correlates to the fatal automobile accident rate.

Intelligence

[Alexander's Horse]

and so we move on to gun control...say what you like about the IRA, they have some catchy songs, Tiocfaidh ár lá is a gaelic phrase which means "our day will come",





God save Ireland, said the heroes
God save Ireland, said they all
Whether on the scaffold high
Or the battlefield we die
Oh, what matter when for Erin dear we fall

High upon the gallows tree swung the noble hearted three
By the vengeful tyrant stricken in their bloom
But they met him face to face with the courage of their race
And they went with souls undaunted to their doom

God save Ireland, said the heroes
God save Ireland, said they all
Whether on the scaffold high
Or the battlefield we die
Oh, what matter when for Erin dear we fall

Climbed they up the rugged stair, rang their voices out in prayer
Then with England's fatal cord around them cast
Close beside the gallows tree kissed like brothers lovingly
True to home and faith and freedom to the last

God save Ireland, said the heroes
God save Ireland, said they all
Whether on the scaffold high
Or the battlefield we die
Oh, what matter when for Erin dear we fall

Never till the latest day shall the memory pass away
Of the gallant lives thus given for our land
But on the cause must go, amidst joy and weal and woe
Till we make our Isle a nation free and grand

God save Ireland, said the heroes
God save Ireland, said they all
Whether on the scaffold high
Or the battlefield we die
Oh, what matter when for Erin dear we fall