Signing off for a bit

To my faithful readers

This will be my last column for the next 6 weeks or so. On Wednesday I will be flying out to Canada to catch up with my buddies from uni and I will be in and around Toronto for most of the next month.

I originally started this blog as a mean of keeping up to date with everyone in Canada and by and large I think it has been successful. We have all shared in my run ins with the law, my brushes with death on an English motorway and of course who could forget the memorable night when Liverpool finally regained their title of Champions of Europe. I hope that these stories have amused you all as much as they do me when I think back over them.

What does the future hold? To be honest, that is as much a mystery as ever. The most likely outcome is that I will spend the next year working for a law firm in Ireland articling, etc before taking the bar course which I have decided to defer on taking by a year (for long and complex reasons). There is also a small possibility that I will be in Canada next year as I attempt to qualify there instead. Immigration currently has my application for residency and we shall see how that progresses.

It is fair to say that since I started this blog I am little further in working out where exactly I see myself in life. However, I genuinely believe that my character has developed throughout my confusion. Thomas Jefferson once said that "it is in our lives and not our words that our religion must be read" and I do believe that my experiences have enabled me to do this even more.

So, I hope to be back in September, maybe with new ideas, perhaps with new dreams although those of you who know me well will be expecting nothing less than an entry on Liverpool Football Club.

Why?

I had hoped that my next post could reflect the fantastic mood in the UK that has been present in the last week. I wanted to capture the mood following the Live 8 concerts last weekend that we as a people could change things without needing boring bureaucrats to 'show' us the way Furthermore, whilst changing thing we can enjoy ourselves as evidenced through perhaps the greatest line up of music of all time which I was privileged enough to see.

I also wanted to reflect on a rare sporting occurence in which a player actually put his love for his team ahead of personal ambition both in terms of money and in terms of personal success (Steven Gerrard of Liverpool). Finally, I had thought that I could talk about the opportunity that London and indeed the UK had as a whole following the decision to award the city the 2012 Summer Olympics.

My hope to discuss these events and the sense of optimism within the UK was shattered this morning when 4 bombs were detonated in London killing 38 people and injuring hundreds more. I simply ask the question - why?

I grew up with terrorism. While always living safely outside of the dangerous areas of Belfast, I was always aware of the danger of IRA attacks and it was not unusual to feel at least indirectly the consequences of their actions. But at least with the IRA, I had an understanding of what they were fighting for. Sure, I didn't particularly agree with their goal and I was certainly opposed to their use of violence in striving to achieve it but at least we as a people knew where we stood.

If we assume (as seems likely) that todays attacks were a result of so called Islamic terrorists, then this certainty of the purpose behind an attack on the UK disappears. What do they want? Those looking for simple answer say that they are evil and have no desire other than that but to reak havoc - in effect that the terrorists are mindless killing machines. Certainly I would agree that they are evil but would they honestly say that their objective is solely destruction. Surely they must be motivated by something On the other hand, I can't agree with those people who say that the attacks were a direct consequence of the British decision to go to war in Iraq. Surely the horrific events of Sept 11th 2001 took place well before any invasion of Iraq (even if such an invasion was always inevitable) and does anyone really think that if the British had pulled out of Iraq it would have prevented todays attacks. Last time I checked the French (opposed to the war) were equally at risk from such an attack.

And so I am left with the conclusion that as with so many other things in my life, I don't have an answer. All, I do know is that the overwhelming sense of pride and joy that has existed in Britain over the last week has been shattered and replaced by feelings of uncertainty and fear. A summit which was meant to present to be an historic opportunity to do some good in tackling world poverty and climate change will now be remembered for world leaders standing together in the face of another horrific terrorist attrocity.

Bono sings the memorable line "Don't let the bastards grind you down". My hope is that in time and with Gods help the UK can do even better than that and recover some of that optimism and joy that existed only 24 hours ago. But for now, I am angry and simply left with that question - why?