Quote Originally Posted by Bob's World View Post
Isn't this largely true everywhere? At the end of the day one has to balance the likelihood and potential damage of such an attack against the cost of defending every potential place such an attack could occur.

London is a city famous for being able to shake off far worse attacks on a nightly basis, and to brush itself off and get on with business the following day. While no Londoner would want to return to the dark days of WWII, nor to have a Mumbai-style attack launched against them; I suspect they also would not want prefer a London designed to prevent/quickly squash such an attack either.
Bob,

I agree, although I only visit London. Yes, a Mumbai-style attack would be mayhem for a time, even say if London Heathrow was the target - lots of people, symbolism and lots of armed police. What contemporary Londoners think I know not. I am not convinced the popular London memory stretches back to the WW2 Blitz, let alone the Irish bombings; institutions can be different.

We have an unusual coincidence here: a UK defence review, a Conservative Party conference (in Birmingham), a terror alert and forthcoming cuts to public spending (including the police and other agencies).