It’s hard to think of anything to say that hasn’t been said already about the horrific events in Manchester on Monday night. The deliberate targeting of innocent children enjoying the night of their lives is unspeakably evil.
Terrorists want us to live in fear and, let’s face it, to an extent they succeed. Monday’s suicide bomber lived only a mile from my own teenage daughter, a student at Manchester University. She and her boyfriend have tickets for a concert in the city this weekend, and I’d quite understand if they decided to give it a miss.
But, even in this darkest hour, I genuinely believe that Manchester will come back stronger. It will find a resilience, an inner strength — just like my own city, Birmingham, did after the IRA pub bombings that so frightened me as a child. I’ve found the same determination in other cities I visit, like London, Paris, New York and Boston.
My mother’s family, the Partingtons, were Mancunians. For centuries, they never strayed far from the working-class Manchester suburb with which they shared their name. And I know my grandfather, Ted, would have appreciated the cartoon in today’s Daily Telegraph. Ted was an artist and was proud to have studied at Salford College of Art at the same time as the legendary LS Lowry.
The cartoon is in the style of Lowry and shows his famous “matchstick men and women” holding hands. They include a man wearing the red and white of Manchester United and another in the blue and white of rivals City. Ted supported United, his brother City, and they would watch those local derby games together, before putting the world to rights over a pint of Bodingtons.
For me, this Telegraph picture says it all. Manchester stands united now with decent people all over the world. Yes, today we despair. But that unity, that mutual respect, that bond of common purpose, will ultimately prevail.
The Bishop said it right when he addressed last night’s vigil outside Manchester Town Hall. Love, in the end, is stronger than evil. It really is.
Credit: Daily Telegraph
Robin is a journalist and campaigner for positive change in global investing. He runs Regis Media, a niche provider of content marketing for financial advice firms with an evidence-based investment philosophy. He also works as a consultant to other disruptive firms in the investing sector.
