But last night, for the third time in recent memory, Manchester was targeted by terrorists.
In December 1992, 65 people were injured when the IRA detonated two car bombs, one on Parsonage Gardens and the second on Cateaton Street. Then in 1996 the IRA detonated a 3,300 lb truck bomb on Corporation Street. The biggest bomb detonated in Great Britain since World War II, it targeted the city's infrastructure and economy and caused devastating damage, estimated by insurers at £700 million (£1.2 billion as of 2017), injuring over 200 people.
At the time of writing, no group has claimed responsibility for the horrific suicide attack at the Manchester Arena - quite sickly aimed at young people and their parents. 22 victims were killed, including children and 59 injured.
What sort of sick ideology deliberately targets young people?
Manchester was hit hard during August and September 1940 during the Manchester Blitz of World War II. The city came through and rebuilt, and life carried on.
Again, after the Corporation Street truck bomb in 1996, that part of the city was rebuilt and once again life carried on.
Watching the news coverage from Manchester this morning, it is obvious that the city is traumatised, shaken and bloodied, but people are carrying on as normal, going about their daily business. This in itself is the best message to send to those who would seek to disrupt our way of life my means of terror - we will not be cowed, we will not change our way of life, we will keep calm, we will carry on, YOU WILL NOT WIN.
For those who died -
Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescant in pace.
