Blitz spirit or bluff determination?

By Denise Winterman
BBC News Magazine

Brave or just busy getting to work?

The London bombings have invoked talk of the Blitz spirit. But are Londoners going about their business as an act of defiance or do they have little choice?

It seems to be an unwritten rule that in times of trouble the British show the Blitz spirit.

The Queen and the prime minister are obliged to speak of it and the media are guaranteed to report it.

So it was inevitable that after last Thursday's bombings in the capital, Londoners returning to work would be praised for "refusing to let their spirit be broken".

But most Londoners simply have no choice but to get on with their lives, according to some. What has changed is people's interpretation of their actions.

"A familiar complaint about London is that it is soulless," says Julian Baggini, a philosopher.

Closer

"There's the old cliché that you could drop dead in the street and no one would notice. But when there's a disaster carrying on with life suddenly becomes a virtue. It's not seen as indifference anymore, it is viewed as showing great resilience.

I have to laugh at the suggestion that Londoners are sending out a defiant message to the terrorists by going to work Londoner Martin Jay

"That's rather flattering, going about your business is neither praiseworthy or blameworthy."

Martin Jay, from north London, says people have no choice but to use public transport and little bravery is involved.

"I have to laugh at the suggestion that Londoners are sending out a defiant message to the terrorists by going to work," he says.

Londoners seeking a show of solidarity from the US In pictures

"I know I'm not. For me it's simply a case of go to work or be out of a job."

Others point out that people in cities around the world face similar dangers every day.

But many disagree and believe getting on with their lives is sending out an important message.

"The people of London have come together in a remarkable way to get the city back on its feet so fast," says Romano Plescia, who works near King's Cross.

"In doing so they are making the most important statement that we as a society can make, that something like this only brings us closer together and makes us stronger than ever."

Londoner Sue Hudson says it's evidence of the type of British stoicism shown by past generations.

"Our grandparents had WWI, our parents had WWII, many of us have lived with the IRA attacks, and now modern-day London is facing its own blitz," she says.

"Londoners will never be cowed by fanatics of any type."

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I've been really proud to be British this week. We've clearly demonstrated that we won't be intimidated by a small group of fanatics. That said commuters in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem have had to cope with the same threat for decades. They seem to manage pretty well too.
Peter , Nottingham

All this talk of defiance is nonsense. I worked from home on Friday because the boss let us. I would still be working from home now if I could. Politicians are constantly manipulating reality. The only reality is that Blair has put Londoners' lives at much greater risk of terrorist attack by invading Iraq (with the exception of himself, of course as he doesn't take public transport). He can't even admit that.
HR, London

As a Londoner, I can say that we should be proud of the fact that we're brave enough not to get bullied into giving in, and the best way forward is to carry on with our daily lives, whilst staying vigilant.
Karl Chads, London, UK

I'm not a Londoner, instead I'm an ex-pat Scot living in the Victorian beauty of Leeds, but I visit London often and have always liked the place, including the Tube. Full marks to Ken Livingstone for travelling on the Underground, and to the Queen for her open air parade on Sunday. In other countries such public figures would hide away in armour-plated limousines, it's a tribute to the British spirit that our leaders don't hide. I'll be back shopping and partying in London (well, Camden to be precise) as soon as time and funds permit. To misquote Braveheart, "They may take our lives, but they will never take our freedom".
Jack Howard, Leeds, UK

Londoners are emotionless dolls. Blow up some, and the rest will simply keep on walking. It's true, there is no other choice.
Yomiko Readman, London

I would say carrying on as normal is a clear and definite choice, and an act of defiance. It was for us, as we had planned a weekend break in London for our children. We considered cancelling, but decided that doing so would be allowing the bombers to dictate how we run our lives, so we came down on Friday evening as planned. We had a very good weekend, too.
Kelvin Walker, Glos, UK

Blitz spirit is what is needed in this situation and Blitz spirit is what we have it would have been easy to give in and shy away in fear at a time like this, but we have shown all the evil in the world, you cannot beat us! we are not scared! London we are proud.
Blain Calderwood, Blackpool

I agree isn't exactly a case "let's all work together and beat the terrorists". But I found the familiar moaning about the traffic into mobile phones on the bus today oddly reassuring. Not so much defying as stubbornly ignoring the bombings and their aftermath. This dismissive attitude towards these murderers does send a clear message though.
Tony W., London

Sadly, if you work in London you have no choice but to use public transport. Perhaps some are doing so in a defiant spirit, but for most of us it was a case of 'stay at home on Friday, but by Monday you'll need a sick note or a good reason not to be in the office.' It is certainly 'business as usual' though in London - the Londoners have quickly returned to their surly, untrusting manner.
Joe Crook, London

People need to work, and need some form of transport. I don't see how using the only forms of public transport to go to work can be described as being defiant in the face of terrorism. Its more like "I need money, so i better go to work". Coming up with some crap about blitz spirit is trying to glorify a person's daily journey to work
James, Edinburgh

I don't think the bombings resemble the Blitz in any way whatsoever and such a comparison is indicative of a lazy media and an inability on the part of modern society to judge or interpret anything that has ever happened as not referring in some direct way to itself. The bombings were foul and the pain inflicted on the victims and their families is heartbreaking. It shows enormous lack of respect to these people to compare their suffering to previous events in such a shallow way.
Simon, London

I would love to be able to say that it is bravery and 'blitz spirit' which returned us all to work on Monday, if not Friday, but put quite simply, we'd all be sacked if we didn't! Since we cannot walk everywhere in London, we are forced to use public transport, rather reluctantly. We have to accept that we will be attacked again and nobody can tell where or when. It cannot be avoided unless you leave London altogether and that simply isn't going to happen.
Julia Bainbridge, London

Very interesting. In any 'war', there is the overbearing presence of propaganda at every turn. I suspect that it is indeed people continuing with life as they have little choice rather than a symbolic act of defiance against the barbaric will of murderousness, although i do admire those who live and work in the hub of the outrages for not being cowed.
ryan, UK

This article struck a real chord with me. I wouldn't disparage the real and true courage of many Londoners, who are facing this challenge with defiance and spirit. However, more than once, listening to Londoners being interviewed on the news, I heard callous indifference rather than defiance. People who simply didn't care that their fellow citizens were maimed and dead, so long as it didn't affect them. Sadly, there was, I'm sure, more than one 'I'm all right Jack, so who cares?' attitude being displayed and wrongly interpreted by the press as courage.
Hilary James, UK

I think there's no doubt that London has demonstrated resilience, defiance and a knuckle-down attitude to regaining normality after the events of 7th July. However, I think it only fair to say that our peers in other national capital cities would have behaved in exactly the same way - as demonstrated by NY in 2001. These qualities are not be peculiar to Londoners, nevertheless they are to be applauded.
Pamela Brooke, London, UK